Oil Leak in the Kootenays

[rockyturtle]

Hey folks!

Bought my L300 at the end of March from the great guys at CCA. They sent me off with the works, and she was running beautifully. Since May I've been camping out on logging roads: not doing anything 4x4 worthy, but putting her through the runner with constant logging road wear.

For the past month, I noticed I've been leaking oil, and it's all over the engine too. As well, it's always a hard start in the morning (no matter the temp), with lots of black/white/grey smoke and coughing. Air filter is clean, but that's as far as I've been able to dig. I'm not mechanically inclined, and nowhere near Vancouver where I know there are good guys to take care of it, so any help/diagnosis would be wonderful!

Also, if anyone has recommendations for good mechanics in Calgary or anywhere in the Kootenays, I'm all ears!

[Big-Bird]

Your photo shows a wet engine block and the most common oil leak on our diesel engines is the valve cover gasket and 1/2 moon gasket in the head. Thankfully a simple fix with a socket, paper towels/rags and a good quality automotive gasket sealant which will help ensure a leakproof bond.

As for the hard starts.....glow plugs, fouled injector(s), fuel injection pump, EGR, faulty coolant temp sensor are among the usual suspects.

The white and black smoke are a sign of various concentrations of unburned fuel exiting the engine. Glow plugs are easy to check as is the EGR valve....the other 3 items need a bit more knowledge. There are 1 or 2 shops in Calgary who reportedly know the Delica but its unknown how many of our Deli forum have used them and if they have direct experience/sucess with Mitsu Fuel issues.

Adair Auto Repair (South Calgary)

[definingdigital]

I also was dealing with a pretty bad oil leak in the recent past. Oil all over tranny, pass side of motor etc.. After doing some digging around we found that it was due to a broken seal on a little cover plate on the pass side of the motor, I don't really know what it's officially called, but it's about 8" wide and 2 or 3 " tall, and held to the block with a couple 10 mm bolts. We pulled the cover off, cleaned it up and just used a RV High temp gasket to seal it, and it fixed the leak. I used to have to park over a drip pan it leaked so much. Oil level stays now after the fix. Go figure. =)
Worth checking out. but there's many areas that it could be leaking from. Just tossing in what I just did to cure my leak..