R53 with oil leak - worth buying?
Discussion
Worst outcome...... New engine, cost £5000.
Really?
We have no idea!
Where is it from?
How much oil is there?
You haven't even seen it so how could we know?
An advisory like that needs to be looked at if you are considering it.
It could be a 5 min job with a 20p o-ring. It could be an engine out crank main-seal costing £1000 or anything in between.
Really?
We have no idea!
Where is it from?
How much oil is there?
You haven't even seen it so how could we know?
An advisory like that needs to be looked at if you are considering it.
It could be a 5 min job with a 20p o-ring. It could be an engine out crank main-seal costing £1000 or anything in between.
You're a bit vague for a decent answer but here's the main places where they leak & how much trouble it is.
Valve cover, no biggy
Crank position sensor o-ring not much of a problem once you get to it.
Oil pan gasket - not a big problem
Rear main seal. Gear box off, major job, change the clutch at the same time..
Crank seal - easier but still a big-ish job.
Oil filter housing gasket - awkward, not the end of the world.
The best thing you could do is find out where it's leaking from top, bottom, front or back of the engine & that would give us half a clue what's leaking but out of all of those the only one I would run away from is the rear main seal.
Valve cover, no biggy
Crank position sensor o-ring not much of a problem once you get to it.
Oil pan gasket - not a big problem
Rear main seal. Gear box off, major job, change the clutch at the same time..
Crank seal - easier but still a big-ish job.
Oil filter housing gasket - awkward, not the end of the world.
The best thing you could do is find out where it's leaking from top, bottom, front or back of the engine & that would give us half a clue what's leaking but out of all of those the only one I would run away from is the rear main seal.
^^^^^^ what they said. I bought an R53 a few weeks back and every single one I looked at had "oil leak" as an advisory.
Also, most of the ones I looked at had 100,000 miles on them now due to the age of these cars, so you'll probably be stripping the car down anyway to do the 100,000 service & change the supercharger oil. Whilst you have it in bits, its a 5 min job to do the crank position sensor. I did the crank main seal on mine last week whilst I had the gearbox off to change the clutch and whilst its again a 5 min job to replace the seal - the work involved in getting the box off is a mission.
Also, most of the ones I looked at had 100,000 miles on them now due to the age of these cars, so you'll probably be stripping the car down anyway to do the 100,000 service & change the supercharger oil. Whilst you have it in bits, its a 5 min job to do the crank position sensor. I did the crank main seal on mine last week whilst I had the gearbox off to change the clutch and whilst its again a 5 min job to replace the seal - the work involved in getting the box off is a mission.
I'll get to it someday.. but my oh my that whine!!they don't 'all' always leak oil but many have been left with oil leaking that's for sure,
if a rear main or any other substantial seal has been left leaking the chances are the bearings could have accelerated wear from reduced oil level working harder over time,
worth buying regardless and dealing with it, even if you don't get the price down, you'd be doing the work for you not them, and any of the cars you see may need the same work or have other concealed expense lurking, plenty of these with neglected cooling systems, even general stuff just left due to low perceived value,
buy on the best overall condition and lack of rust or crash evidence with the best condition trim all over, with a silent engine from cold and well into hot with the cooling fan experienced also, people selling with barely any fuel in them, get them to add some or you add some to test it until hot but only if you had it from cold to the touch to begin with. These should be quiet bar the ticking from the injectors.
If they have cheap arse tyres and/or large areas of rust on the disc faces etc you can guarantee they're no enthusiast and a similar view will have been taken with outlay for complex areas probably.
a heavy clutch needs a new clutch if not some other things also,
only my2p ;O)
if a rear main or any other substantial seal has been left leaking the chances are the bearings could have accelerated wear from reduced oil level working harder over time,
worth buying regardless and dealing with it, even if you don't get the price down, you'd be doing the work for you not them, and any of the cars you see may need the same work or have other concealed expense lurking, plenty of these with neglected cooling systems, even general stuff just left due to low perceived value,
buy on the best overall condition and lack of rust or crash evidence with the best condition trim all over, with a silent engine from cold and well into hot with the cooling fan experienced also, people selling with barely any fuel in them, get them to add some or you add some to test it until hot but only if you had it from cold to the touch to begin with. These should be quiet bar the ticking from the injectors.
If they have cheap arse tyres and/or large areas of rust on the disc faces etc you can guarantee they're no enthusiast and a similar view will have been taken with outlay for complex areas probably.
a heavy clutch needs a new clutch if not some other things also,
only my2p ;O)
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