Oil leak when jump starting??

[tomanique]

Any reason why there'd be a small oil pool leak out when I jump start the deli? Never happens any other time, but has happened everytime (5 so far) I jump the nearly dead batteries.

Cheers

[Green1]

Any reason why there'd be a small oil pool leak out when I jump start the deli? Never happens any other time, but has happened everytime (5 so far) I jump the nearly dead batteries.

a couple questions:
1) are you sure it's oil and not some other fluid?
2) where is the leak coming from?

A few possibilities, right near the batteries are some coolant hoses and the coolant overflow bottle, those could be getting knocked and leaking coolant. if your batteries are really bad, they could be leaking too... the fuel lines also run near there, but would be harder to knock.

If it truly is engine oil, I'm a little baffled to be honest.

[jessef]

That is somewhat of an impposibilty.

If you see oil after jumpstarting, you will see oil starting without a jumpstart.

Like green said, either your batteries are leaking (dangerous) or you have a typical engine oil or diesel oil leak.

Most common leak areas for engine oil are the oil pan drain plug and the rear half-moon gasket seal at the rear of the valve cover.

Most common diesel oil leaks are from old seals in the injection pump, the fuel filter drain plug and the fuel tank lines.

[tomanique]

Apparently not an impossibility. My nice aggregate driveway shows the pool everytime I've had to jump it. Yes it's engine oil, looks like it's coming from rear of engine or where the oil filter is. Didn't have time to pinpoint it today, I spent all day changing out the batteries in the blowing cold...nice tight fit those batteries....left behind some knuckle skin as extra padding for the new batteries.

[Green1]

I'm afraid it simply doesn't sound plausible, jump starting is electrical, it has nothing at all to do with oil, or even the mechanical systems of the vehicle. in fact the only fluid involved at all is battery acid.

Coolant is nearby and can be knocked if something is really off to start with... but beyond that jump starting will have no affect on any liquid.

If you have an oil leak (quite a possibility) I can assure you it has nothing to do with jump starting the vehicle.
Now it is possible that it has something to do with time or temperature (which may also be the reason you had to jump start the vehicle in the first place) but that's correlation, not causation.

[jessef]

Oil leak has nothing to do with jumpstarting a vehicle period.

Oil go up, down and sideways so it can be coming from anywhere.

See my post above regarding some leak areas.

[pwagner]

Ignoring the "when jump start" ....

I have the 88 L300 DELICA and just last month had a bad oil leak from the "oil filter" area, (sort of). the short (app 15 cm) high pressure hose between the oil pump and alternator sprung a bad leak.
I took it out - getting really black & oily in the process and had it re-made at a hydraulics hose supplier (5 min job) -

Over 2 years prior I had oil dripping from engine but unable to pin-point the source before it was catastrophic AND now no more leak (from that side!)
You should check if this hose is your oil leak source.

[loki]

try to think of anything else that you do differently when jump starting your van, like say letting it sit there idling while you put the jumpers away and move the other vehicle? maybe you normally just drive away slowly? if this is the case then there is a strong case that the leak is only active when you running and so you never see accumulation of oil as it never sits in one place for long when running. Just a thought

[tomanique]

try to think of anything else that you do differently when jump starting your van

Yeah loki, I've been thinking about that. Maybe I should've been more descriptive. When jumping it's always been a hard start with the starter running quite a while(anywhere between 20-40 seconds...the glow plug control was shot at the time too) . The hard starts maybe it. But no, at no other time is there a leak. Weird.

Oil leak has nothing to do with jumpstarting a vehicle period

Yeah, I know

I'm afraid it simply doesn't sound plausible, jump starting is electrical, it has nothing at all to do with oil, or even the mechanical systems of the vehicle. in fact the only fluid involved at all is battery acid.

I think I may have somehow lead you to believe I know absolutely nothing. I understand what jump starting is and what is involved. I'm figuring the hard starts may be the culprit, but still don't get why the oil comes out at only this time, I have had the occasional hard start before with no problems.

If anyone else has had this problem or if anyone has an idea of why this is happening instead of why this can't be happening I'd be glad to hear from you.

Cheers

[jessef]

If anyone else has had this problem or if anyone has an idea of why this is happening instead of why this can't be happening I'd be glad to hear from you.

9 out of 10 Delica owners I know including myself has had this happen to them.

It's one of two things. An engine oil leak or a diesel oil leak.

Figure out which one it is first.

It could be a number of things.

The winter diesel blend at the pumps is different than the summer blend.

Your oil seals just happen to be on their way out and the weather made that change happen sooner than later.

Your valve cover gasket was on it's way out and the little tiny corner in the rear where the halfmoon seal meets the main cover gasket finally expanded enough to let the engine oil seep through.

It's difficult to diagnose where the oil is coming from without more info.

Letting us know if it's engine oil for certain would help.

Then I'd look at the above mentioned areas that are culprit to engine oil leaking.

What engine oil are you using ? 15w40 or under ?

Did you make any changes recently ? If not, then I would guess at one of the seals somewhere leaking.

But guessing is the best I can do with the information you gave.

Since we've ruled out that jump starting has no effect on oil leaks, gaskets, seals and oil filter and temp sensors are the places where I would look first if you determined it's engine oil.

If it's diesel oil, take a rag/paper towel and clean the underneath of the fuel filter and the injection pump.

Once cleaned, then start and feel with your fingers to see if the diesel is seeping out in that area.

Look at the lines attached to the fuel filter from the tank, ip and vice versa. They get old and can deteriorate after a while.

Hope this list helps you get closer to finding it.

[loki]

one possibility could be that there is a leak that is pooling somewhere and the excessive shaking from the long, hard start could be shaking the puddle of oil free onto the ground?

[Delikatoon]

Oil Leak

Greetings---This is a strange one for me. I have determined the cause of an oil leak but it makes absolutely no sense (to me). I would appreciate any and all help.

I have a 93 Delica, Exceed, 4D5 Diesel with automatic transmission with 112,000 kilometres on it, oil is Shell Rotella 15w40. Bought it a year ago with just over 90k and everything well so far. My son uses it in La Ronge, where it has not gone above freezing since October. The one day it did go above freezing, about 2 weeks ago, he noticed an oil leak. I then brought it down to Saskatoon on a trailer, garaged it and raised up the front end to have a look see. Photos 38 and 40 are taken directly below what I believe is the oil pump which pumps through the oil filter. The pump is attached to the back end of the alternator. The hole in photo 38 is covered in photo 40 by the screw, pointed to by the head of the Phillips screwdriver

What confounds me is that the leak is from the alternator side of the alternator/pump flange. There is a tiny hole, maybe 0.1 mil or so, from which the oil drips. To stop the drip, I had to do an oil change to get rid of all the oil, and then plug the hole when empty and as dry as I could get it. The second photo shows a micky-mouse repair job I did with a self-tapping screw and some two-part epoxy to hold the screw in place. I have no doubts that this repair will fail during freeze-thaw cycles, so that is why I have come to the experts!!!. However----this pin hole is definitely the cause of the leak.

Is this hole simply a drain screw that has worked itself loose? If so, can you let me know the diameter and thread count? I stuck a pin in there but it is hard to get at and could not tell if the inside was threaded. Trying to explain to myself why the oil is leaking from what I think is the alternator housing is hurting my brain so I don’t need that answered; all I want to do is stop the leak. Many thanks in advance.

Bill

[thedjjack]

my guess is that is a drain hole to let you know that an internal seal is gone. Plugging may fill the alternator with that oil (sort of like plugging the hole on a water pump to let you know the bearing seal is leaking).

Never had the alternator off so just speculation.....

[Delikatoon]

Thanks. Seems about the only logical explanation.

Jury rig plug didn't really last and I have about 30 days to fix it before the cold weather breaks and it starts really leaking....

[jelbon]

That's a vacuum pump, not the oil pump.