I earlier sought advice on obtaining a series one V6 12v and I am pleased to report that I have since found and bought one! Overall I am very pleased with the car, which despite it's 17 years is in reasonable shape. So far I have put 1800 miles on the clock and, apart from a few minor niggling problems, including a broken boot catch, all is going well. More recently an oil leak has developed, which appears to be occurring between the engine and gear box, and I wondered if anyone has ideas as to the likely cause (I assume either a failing seal or gasket, possibly on the drive shaft?). Many thanks and regards, Matthew T.

Hi mtxm

The sump gasket would be the optimistic/ cheaper possibility, but more likely to be crankshaft oil seal or gearbox input shaft seal
Give it all a good clean under there then you should easily see what fluid is leaking and from where.
Is it a much hated auto? Good luck anyway, hope the leak is easy on your wallet.

Congratulations by the way, oil leak aside, she's a nice looking car and good colour for hiding the dirt, i had an si that colour you never thought it was dirty until you started washing it!

Hi Dean. Thank for your reply to my message and suggestions for the oil leak. Although I do not have very good access underneath (no ramp or pit), the oil is definately engine rather than gear oil and coming from somewhere higher up, between the engine and gear box, so I fear it might be the box input seal. It is most noticable on the section of the exhaust pipe which runs beneath the engine, which also smells somewhat! I am visiting a local Citroen specialist tommorrow, but I wanted to gather any ideas from members first. The car has manual transmission, which was part of the appeal for me and I gather is quite rare for an early V6. I was not sure about the colour at first, but it is quite distinctive and has grown on me. Some other photos are attached. Regards, Matthew T.

If Its engine oil it will be the crankshaft oil seal or sump. hard to tell from your description. Have a look in anything goes chat there is a few ideas for getting the car up in there, Peter n has the best though. Good luck anyway hope you enjoy your new toy

Hi Dean. I am sorry for the belated response, but just to let you know that I got advice from a local Citroen specialist and the verdict is 'crankshaft seal'. The good news is that I have got another more reasonable quote for the job, which is fairly involved with detaching the gearbox etc. - but at least I get a new clutch!! Regards, Matthew T.

Hi mtxm,

when u get the clutch job done let us know of the hours it took your indy to do, I recently had mine done -engine in-, took them 8 hours.

regards
George

Hi George + Dean. Just to let you know that I picked up the car today and the clutch took around eight hours to replace. The good news is that I have a nice new clutch and the bad news, despite the replacement crankshaft oil seal, there is still a leak, if anything it might be worse!! It has been suggested that either the seal is not mating corectly with the crankshaft, due to wear possibly, or the oil is coming from somewhere else. There is a reasonable chance the problem is now the upper sump joint, which could be pushing out oil in the location of the crankshaft end. I am seeking further advice from a friendly local garage, but does anyone know what sort of job it is to remove the complete sump, apart from having to take the gearbox and clutch off again? Any further advice would be greatly appreciated. Regards, Matthew T.

Hi Matthew

sorry to listen the complications with your oil leak.....I hope u find the problem soon (are u sure the garage is trustworthy?). Can't help on that one I'm affraid. Know how u feel though, once I had the car unoperative for about a month till they found the (electrical) problem, I missed it so much that period!

regards
George

ps. really like that champagne-golden color combined with MK1 alloys!

Hi

Cam covers are sealed ONLY with sealent gaskey.. they did not use a shaped gasket AT ALL, mine leaked from the front bank over the altinator.. wasn't untill my altinator died and I investigated I found this.. so check the top , front cylinder bank above the exhaust manifold...

Good luck..

NICE MOTOR and RARE with manual box, one of the very first!!! Lucky its a manual, if it was auto, it would be engine out job..

Regards
citroenxm

Hi Matthew

Sorry to hear of your complications, With the gearbox partialy seperated from the engine it should of been fairly easy to trace the leak, and if it has now become worse then something must have been disturbed during the procedure to cause this. I hope you get it sorted soon though

Dean