Oil leak and oil in water bottle.

vx_kev

Hi folks, new on here. Hunted tinternet high and low to get diagrams and info on these engines as ive got a couple probs, any help would be greatly appreciated :thumbup:
Have an Z22SE Astra Sri, has done 83000 miles, fsh. just had the head done with new cam chain etc. before it got it. The guy however never changed the cam chain casing gaskets and just sealed them up. I have a leak from the bottom half of the chain casing which seems to be more so from the water pump end. Having looked at a few of the Queries on here i'd say its prob the crank seal leaking onto the belt and spraying up. If its easy enough would it just be a good idea to change all the casing gaskets aswell as the seal ?
Also i dont do huge journeys in it and have just recently done a full service inc anti-freeze. After checking a week later a found oil sitting on top of the water in the water bottle. There are no signs of head gasket failure etc. what so ever, car runs great with no smoke or soup! dunno..
Someone did make a good point but not sure, do these engines run oil coolers and if so are they water cooled? Thing is the water appeared after a long journey and well i wasnt hanging about so the oil temp would be up and therefore the oil cooler would be open if it has one. I sucked all the oil out the bottle at the weekend and since doing this no more has appeared, i havent done a long journey since and so maybe the oil isnt getting hot enough to open the cooler :?
So if it has a cooler could this be the problem or could it be something else, Any help appreciated :thumbup:

MikeS

no oil cooler on this engine in the astra / vectra

if he has taken the head off then he might not of flushed the coolant completely

any sign of milkshake developing under the oil filler cap, dipstick, throttle body ?

could do a compression test but it would not prove if your Head gasket is failing,

take off your coil pack and check to see if the spark plugs are dry and free of coolant

vx_kev

Yeh done all this m8, i flushed the coolant out myself. Theres no milkshake/soup on cap, dipstick, in the oil or in the water etc. It was perfectly clean oil in the bottle which was strange! (Just incase someone says it, no i didnt put the oil in the wrong place :lol: ) Car runs spot on. The other idea i thought was could it possibly be getting into the water through the water pump seal?

MikeS

possibility but u would be losing coolant, practically filling it up every week

vx_kev

Yeh. Its totally got me stumped. Just gotta keep an eye on it a see if it developes into anything!
Was hoping to do gaskets and possibly sort that prob out while i had it in bits too.

MikeS

just keep an eye on coolant levels and your oil

vx_kev

Ok! Clean Oil appeared on top of water again, done all relevent checks, oil cap, plugs, dipstick, throttle body etc. etc. everything ok, really annoying! Dont know where to start but dont want to be ripping things apart if they aint the prob!
Got the timing cover gasket, inspection plate gasket, crank seal, crank bolt and water pump gasket ordered so hopefully find something when im in there.....

vocky

possibly a cheap head gasket has been used ?

vx_kev

vocky said:
possibly a cheap head gasket has been used ?

Hmm, quite possible. Just would expect the normal signs if it was a head gasket notsure.gif
Was having a wee look today, i take it the head gasket is a relatively thin one on these engines compared to the likes of a C20XE?
Just doesnt seem to be much there dunno..

vocky

it is very thin on the z22se

vx_kev

As much as it pains me i think im just gonna have to bite the bullet and do the head gasket if i cant find anything else :cry:

MikeS

wot do your spark plugs look like

vx_kev

MikeS said:
wot do your spark plugs look like

Spark Plugs as they should be!
Watched it today as it heated up, as soon as it got hot enough for the stat to open and let the water flow through the radiator you could see the oil coming through the top hose from the rad into the bottle. Pretty conclusive now i'd say having checked absolutely everything now so just gone ahead and ordered a gasket kit, hopefully il do what should have been done right 1st time by what is suposed to be a qualified machanic at a local garage. :thumbdown:

Anyhows, Sorted my oil leak with thanks to this forum :clap:
Was the crank seal :roll:

dodger

the crank seal went on my z22se engine, its a common problem

MikeS

and mine 🙂

sorry to hear about your problems

i would get the head skimmed as well m8 as it might be warped, but no doubt u get an idea of whats wrong when u inspect the head gasket

get some pics up and keep us informed m8

vx_kev

:thumbup:

vx_kev

MikeS said:
and mine 🙂

i would get the head skimmed as well m8 as it might be warped, but no doubt u get an idea of whats wrong when u inspect the head gasket

get some pics up and keep us informed m8

Was thinking with regards to skimming on these as they are an all alloy engine, if the head has been warped is there not a good chance the bottom end would be the same? notsure.gif
Do you just do the head as you would normally like with Xe's etc. or is there anything else to do or look out for?

MikeS

same as xe's but with chain

vx_kev

Well had time today so got fired in about it. Striped the head off, must say being the first time ive dealt with one of these engines was a bit fiddley and took a bit of time. Had it been a C20XE id have had it off and built back up in the time it took showo..

Anyways, found what seemed to be the problem. On cylinder 1 closest to the exhaust there was signs of oil/soup in one of the water ports which goes right up into the rocker and signs the head gasket wasnt too clever around about it! One port only though but was obviously enough to make a mess 🙁
Get everything cleaned up and checked tomorrow and take it from there.....

vx_kev

Got it all done n dusted at the weekend then, seems to be behaving itself so far!
Cleaned the throttle body, inlet and egr valve aswell and must say it seems to be going a lot better than before so bonus 8)
Will run it a bit more and do another coolant system flush just to make sure all the gunks gone and all being well problems solved :thumbup: