its doing bad things

[pitslayer]

changed oil last week in car, since then i have noticed that i have had that oil leak from the back of the engine, doesnt look like rocker cover. Also notice a really bad oil/plastic smell through the heaters aswell now....but today started it up, foot on brake into reverse, and it just made bad noises.
from the right hand sideish of the engine bay, it sounds like there is fan spinning but when in gear it gets louder, and then sounds as if the fan noise has a blade hitting of something...then with the brakes fully on it kept juddering every time that noise was made, pulled of drive stopped in middle of road, put it netural...stopped making noise.....put it in drive held it on foot brake, and it did it again....
it was, like when you kangaroo a manual car, but i was stationary not moving the car would jolt, then keep doing it every 5 seconds or so, with a bad noise, drove through town, slow for traffic, come to stop, hold on brake, was jolting on the spot, like a power surge.....
cant describe the noise well, but was like a drrrrrrr dndndndndnd drrrrrrr dndndndn and on the dndndnd bit it would do the jolt

whats broken!, its coming from the right side rear of the engine

[White Lightning]

right side looking from the front of the engine or inside the cockpit?
have you checked the gearbox oil level and condition?
when was it last changed?

[pitslayer]

from inside the cabinet, i would say more left of the alternator, around the turbo area, but a bit lower maybe....dont think its gearbox related, wrong side of engine bay, and the drrrrrrr is there when i start it up in park, and the gearbox has oil and its red

[Starscream]

Try running with the power steering belt off, mine made a right racket when the power steering idler pulley was gone.

[White Lightning]

That's a good suggestion Rich ... when were your power steering and alternator tensioner pulleys last replaced Kyle?

[Kieran]

Check your engine mounts too.

[Physician]

Cripes! I'm not particularly technical but couldn't that be the cambelt tensioners? Particularly the hydraulic tensioner. If you don't find anything outside the cambelt cover in that area I'd be whipping the cover off to check ....... good luck (and obviously don't drive it until it's identified).

[pitslayer]

i've had to drive it, doesnt seem to be getting massively worse, but the idle is fine then the engine jolts....imagine if you were sat in the car, and someone pulled a spark lead off slightly then pushed down on the engine, thats what its like, noise has gone, checked the tension on the 2 aux belts(pas alt)
the cambelt and tensioners Don had done when it came into the uk, so about year or so ago?

[Turbo_Steve]

Er...it sounds rather similar to what mine is doing, actually....ours isn't jolting, just at low speed it feels like a brake is caught, whilst braking at low speed it seems to be as though the engine is "misfiring" a bit.


I think the gearbox needs a service, or a caliper is sticking.

[pitslayer]

doesnt matter if its held on the brakes or not, it just jolts, only does it in drive, and on top of this i also noticed a bit of brake fluid on the exterior of the reservoir

[Physician]

Umm, just to explain MY thoughts in my previous post ......... it was the SOUND you described that worried me and made me think cambelt tensioners. The surging etc you explain doesn't fit with my explanation though ....... so hopefully something less serious. Goodluck!

[pitslayer]

you know when you rev like a V8 stationary or a big lump and the car rocks side to side, it does that basically, but once and quite hard, then does it again

[Turbo_Steve]

but, presumably, front to back?

Sounding VERY much like gearbox........

[pitslayer]

no side to side,

[bigoxo]

My old granada did something similar to this and it turned out the gearbox oil cooler had broken down internally and the coolant was contaminating the auto box oil which in turn destroyed the braking bands inside the box. I needed a new cooler and a box overhaul....

[pitslayer]

cant be gearbox, it does it in park and neutral.... hmmm a theory i have been pondering
brakes make it worse, have brake fluid on exterior of reservoir, servo pressure pipe of inlet manifold, is off an FTO and i know the non return valve in it, is not happy....
could the engine vacuum, going down the pipe, surge into the servo unit causing this?
if the engine sent a pulse of air down the line, the engine would loose some vacuum, which could cause rough running, and could explain the brake fluid outside the reservoir?

[Turbo_Steve]

No, but if there IS a problem here, the engine could be pressurising the line, forcing the servo back, which will push the master cylinder up and forcing brake fluid out of the resevoir.
If the non return valve is not the right one, it's also possible it's leaking and drawing in air under weird circumstances (like when you press the brakes). It's possible that if the non-return valve is the wrong way round, it's damaged your servo diaphragm with boost pressure (which it's not meant to see).

If this is a fault with the NR Valve, I'd suggest a proper inspection of the diagphragm, and possibly a rebuild of the master cylinder, as forcing it outside it's usual operational range is what tends to damage the seals.

[pitslayer]

the FTO pipe is the same, all of them are i think, and if you put them on the wrong way round you dont get any brakes....hmmmm will check it, if it is that, my kind hearted nature of helping a mate out has buggered my car

edit: sorry steve, i rethought about it, when i was running it before i was loosing boost through a leak, so was naff all pressure to effect it, same time i changed the oil, i fixed that boost leak.... so its quite possible your theory is correct, which mean after lending my mate my pipe for when he went to germany as a last effort to help his brake problems out, has possibly now screwed my servo.....I have been asking him for months to buy a servo pipe so i can have mine back...

[pitslayer]

not the brake pipe, its a misfire, but whats causing it i dont know....brakes work really well now though

[pitslayer]

anyone? taken engine cover off, listened, its coming from the rear bank, looked behind the manifold there is no oil or leaking rocking seal, so counts out oil on spark plugs, pulled fault codes, nothing there, checked hoses are connected, connecteors connected