P38 DT - please help me diagnose my oil leak...

Hi while under the car adjusting the hand brake ready for the Controle Technique, I noticed quite a bit of oil leaking from somewhere.

I was wondering if there are any obvious things to check before I start a clean it/monitor it process involving lots of crawling about under the car? ;-)

Points to note:

- cannot see any oil leaking from within the engine bay, so I think it is either low down at rear of engine or coming from one of the transmission units
- the oil leaking out is clean
- it does not smell like gearbox oil, do any of the transmission units use ATF type oil?
- everything seems to work OK
- it is not bad enough to leave drips on the driveway, but is bad enough to have covered quite a bit of the transmission system and also drips onto the exhaust a bit.... = burning oil smell when parked up!

I realise it won't be possible to give me a definite answer from this description, but any clues as to where I should start looking gratefully received!

Cheers,

Jerry

What's the oil colour ?
Manual boxes use MTF94, which has a orange/red colour.
ATF is red and is used in the transfer box and auto gboxes.
Diff oil is more yellowish and engine oil is offcourse black

Thanks Mcapinha this is exactly the sort of info I am after

Does the centre diff have its own oil or is it all part of the transfer box using the ATF fluid?

The oil is definitely not black, I would say yellowish is the best description - but is there any diff oil in centre diff or is it just in the axle diffs??

If it is centre diff oil, any idea where it may be coming from??

Cheers,

Jerry

There's no center diff, just the gearbox and transfer box. If it is a clear looking oil, I would say it's coming from the transfer box. Best bet would be to open the plug and check what is the oil in there.

Centre diff is in transfer box. If oil is around hand brake drum it is rear output shaft oil seal leaking. Transfer box uses automatic transmission fluid.

Had a closer look while the car was on ramps yesterday for its MOT, the fluid seems to be yellow.... any further ideas?

Cheers

Jerry

jerrytlr said:

Had a closer look while the car was on ramps yesterday for its MOT, the fluid seems to be yellow.... any further ideas?

Cheers

Jerry

Click to expand...

Wouldnt the MOT tester advise where the leak was coming from? They would over here