Help :( oil-leak and Blow-out

[RichyH]

Hi All, i need some of your expertise as i find myself in a bit of a pickle i have recently bought a 95-GPX (which i love to bits) and just discovered that:

1- The Flexi pipe at the bottom of the down pipe has stated to Blow and people are laughing at me. problem is iv put everything into the car and have very little money to put it get a new one and need some advice on how to get a replacement down pipe as cheep as possible or how to fix the flexi blow out.. i left it into the garage and they said they can do nothing with it , cant weld it or even wrap it temporarily . has anyone any suggestions on were i can get a down pipe?

2- When I left my FTO in get the Exhaust i asked them to look at an Oil leak as every morning there seems to a few drips of oil on the road. to my Horror the garage said it looked like it was coming form the corner for the Cylinder head but there may be a little bit to much oil round there to be totally certain. are FTO’s prone to Oil Leak round there or if it is the head what can i expect to pay to get it fixed. the guy at the garage said that if it were him he just keep topping it up with oil and drive away at it but im at a loss what to do i love my FTO to bits and cant bare loosing it

any advice would be very much welcomed and appreciated. im going to have to go wash the back of the engine and see if i can see for defined that it is the head. There is only 5200 Miles on the clock and apparently it hasn’t had a hard life to im very disappointed

[Muad_dib77]

Hi there,

Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your pride & joy.

There's a few places you can get downpipes - Try Rory/Steelroe, Camskill or RiceRocket.

You can find Steelroes details here:

http://www.fto-ireland.com/parts.html

Scroll down to the part suppliers section and you'll see him there.

Camskill are here: http://www.camskill.co.uk/

As for Rice he's here: http://www.ricerocketuk.co.uk/

With a bit of luck you might find a 2nd hand one on eBay or with either of these guys.

Now with regards to the oil leak - my previous engine was weeping from pretty much every seal - if you want to identify the culprit with 99% certianty get the engine steam cleaned - or atleast cleaned so it's spotless then it'll be easy enough to spot the leak. As for fixing it, well the depends entirely on where it is and how bad it is

I hope this helps mate.

[Myfeckin FTO]

Sounds like you need to find a replacement for the downpipe - you should be able to pickup a second hand part for this fairly handy - I'd be surprised if steelroe didn't have one.

On the oil leak - just try putting a squeeze on the bolts around the Cylinder head - it just might do the trick.

[CJ]

As you're up North, give Brian @ the Mitsi Specialists of NI a shout, details @ http://www.fto-ireland.com/parts.html , he should be able to sort you out with exhaust parts.

Re oil leak, it sounds like the cam seal - this is very common on GPXs, I've had this problem for about 3 years - keep an eye on the levels and get it fixed when you have the cash - its a labour intensive job to fix. The other possibility is the rocker cover gasket is leaking, this is very easy to replace. If its the cam seal, the leak will be coming from the back of the engine, you should be able to see if oil is seeping out of the rocker cover from above.

CJ

[kevinod]

On the oil leak - just try putting a squeeze on the bolts around the Cylinder head - it just might do the trick.

If you do go squeezing the bolts be careful not to over tighten, I've seen some of those sheer from time to time.

Re the downpipes, there's various aftermarket downpipes you can get, like the Mongoose ones, so there's bound to be a good few used standard ones people are looking to get rid of too.

[RichyH]

Thanks for the advice everyone, is very much appreciated. Have managed to source a stranded one on E-Bay for £60 so I guess that or another second hand supplier like ricerocket will be my best option for now. I’m going to have the engine cleaned as you guys suggested and see where the damage lies and get the head torqued down a bit if the leak is coming from there. Would anyone happen to know the correct torque tension for the Head bolts? I know it’s not exactly on of those things you would be common knoledge.lol

Thanks again

[kevinod]

Don't know offhand, but it should be in the workshop manuals (see downloads page)

[RichyH]

Managed to get Second hand GPX downpipe of Ricerocket for £80 + £15 for Gaskets. hopfully be all up and running again soon. Cheers