I took my diffuser off to fix one of the blades on it (what a maddening job its removal is, anyway).
It’s the first time it’s been offer in about 9 months and a couple of trackdays, probably only a 1000 miles or so and a handful of oil top ups.
At the rear of the diffuser was a load of black gunk (oil) with lots of dirt stuck/mixed with it. Is this common?
There was no dripping on the drive whilst the diffuser’s been off (a few days) although the car’s not been run. I suspect I have missed the hole for the oil a couple of times whilst topping up.
Oil drain plug is known to leak very slightly. The aluminum ring is not the best.
Try some silicone at the ring next time (not the thread).
Oil cooler hoses get cooked with time and they start to leak slightly with time as well. Check the fittings, if the hose can move within, it’s time to change the fittings (or maybe also the hose)
There was lots of road grime caked on/in the muck. The gunk was on the engine/inside of the diffuser only visable when I took it off. It stretched across the centre half and about 5 inches up it (wish I’d taken a pic now).
Oil cooler hoses get cooked with time and they start to leak slightly with time as well. Check the fittings, if the hose can move within, it’s time to change the fittings (or maybe also the hose)
I suspect it will be this fella as mine was the same - a job for winter replacing the hoses.
There’s plenty that are better quality than OE.
I could have gone to Demon Tweeks for those, or you could just send your whole OE hoses+fittings to Think Automotive and they’ll do them for you but I went in steps, thinking it was only the fittings that were at fault, I changed them but then the hose cracked just above, so I cut and refit - twice.
But meanwhile bought a new hose, industrial quality, good for sustained use at 150 DegC.
Here’s the data should you want to DIY:
Stock Oil hose: W=SAE 100R6 1/2", 2cm OD
Oil fittings: 1/2" BSP female for 1/2" push-fit, 45� and 120� bends
Male thread: 2cm OD (at the tips of the male thread), 1.75 tpmm step
Front oil fittings:
(code M0246-0621) push-on -8 straight aluminum hose end nickel plated (to -8 x M22 x 1.5 proline adaptor)
I had this problem, it was a leaking main crank oil seal! B&C wanted about �800 to fix the problem. I had a beter idea and just fitted the head oil breather kit and oil catch tank. This cost about �120 and to this day (& about 10,000 miles) it has never leaked since.
If it is the main crank oil seal you would want to sort it out fairly promptly because it could contaminate the clutch with oil. If you take the engine under tray off, have a look at the clutch bell housing you will see a drain hole at the bottom. See if you have any traces of oil seeping out of there.
If you go to my very small web site on the Exige, www.ItsAllGo.com you will see the amount of oil mine dumped out.
Its the first picture in the section where you click on the spanner & screw driver icon. You can see the oil dropped onto the engine under tray and then blew back from there. It did not look very much but was not a welcome site!