Gearbox problems - Major oil leak

My dads car has been very juddery lately and I when he drove off today I noticed a huge brown patch on the road where my dads car should be parked. I had a look underneath expecting to a loose oil sump plug or somthing but I found the bottom of the engine block was fine not a sign of oil.

I then looked at the gearbox and it was dripping with oil. The whole gearbox is covered in oil.

This picture shows some of the gearbox but I couldn't get to the right angle without rsiking getting oil on my camera



This is how much oil the gearbox leaked in 15 minutes



The car is also burning oil which is not surprising, what is this problem likely to be? Could it be the gearbox itself that is cracked?

There is a seal which can fail but according to Hayes this is nearer to the drive shaft, the leak appears to be at the front of gearbox.

My dad understandably is quite worried as if it needs a new gearbox the car will have to be scrapped.

 

The burning oil is probably oil falling onto the exhaust. You need to take it in somewhere where they've got a ramp. The juddering will be oil on the clutch, so it could well be a seal where the gearbox joins the engine. don't know about the Escort, but it could well be a big job, on some cars they prefer to haul the engine and gearbox out. If you know a good little man though it could well be repairable. It might not cost too much.

 

Thanks, that sounds reasonable. The Haynes manual said its a fairly simple job they gave it 3/5 for difficulty, they said that there is no need for gearbox removal. The judder also seems to happen when changing gears i.e when the clutch is just being released.

 

Is it gear oil or engine oil?

Paul

 

Engine oil but I believe on Ford's they share the same oil, i.e when you put oil into the engine that goes into the gearbox as well.

 

Sounds like the rear crank seal leaking and oil going onto the clutch. Valve stem oil seals + piston rings will cause blue smoke out of the exhaust AT. what car is it and how old, On some cars breather pipes block causing oil to spill out. How old is the car and what model

 

That seems rather unlikely, especially with a relatively modern vehicle.

Anyway if it's engine oil then suspect the crank seal. Or chuck the car and buy a new one.

Paul

 

Hiya its an N Reg Escort 1.6 Zetec with 82k on the clock. If its the rear crank seal will that make it appear thats its coming from the Gearbox? I have only managed to look at it from the front, so I have no idea how much oil there is at the back of the gearbox where the drive shaft is.

I haven't noticed any blue smoke of any kind and apart from the juddering the engine is running perfectly.

 

Well I all know the car is burning oil but the oil appears to becoming from the gearbox rather than the engine, there is no signs of oil near the sump or engine block. There is a bit of oil on the rocker but that gasket was replaced only two years ago.

The problem is chucking the car isn't really an option, we've only had that car for 2.5 years there is no way on earth we can afford a new one, unless you can buy working Mondeo's for £200.

My dads taking in on thursday so hopefully we will find out what the problem is, I guess its worth spending upto £200 to have it fixed.

 

Just an update, my dad started the car this morning and it was belching out with hazey smoke, it really was quite bad. A quick look under the bonet and there is loads of oil there as well, so maybe the oil is leaking from the engine and pouring onto the gearbox.

Either way its looking more likely that the car will need to be scrapped as we reckon its not worth spending any more than £300 on it.

 

Ok problem solved, the smoke was becuase the engine had too much oil in it, the dip stick is very hard to read.

The leak was a seal on the cylinder gasket, it cost £70 including labour to repair. The car is running much smoother now and the judder as gone.