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Oily grime in undertray normal?

10K views 39 replies 20 participants last post by  patvr 
#1 ·
I had a rattle comming from my diffuser because of one the big bolts was backing out. When I tried tightening it I found that the bolt was covered in oil. I then dropped the diffuser (not the undertray) last weekend and found it covered with oil and grime (as were the bolts) which I wiped away. I then put the diffuser back on with the intension of waiting a week to see if the oil builds up again.

When I pulled the diffuser today I found that it was clean though the smaller bolts up front were coated with oul and the rear edge of the undertray was full of oily grime again (pic below).

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rnair/318076078/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/142/318076078_a708696266.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Saturday 2:06 pm 12/9/06 Oakland, California" /></a>

My dipstick oil level seems normal. Is this grime normal or should I be running to the dealer asap?
 
#3 ·
Not normal. And no... tadts.

That is a sign that some fluid is leaking out. Probably not a fast leak. Probably from the undertray area and you are only seeing what is blowing back to the top of the diffuser. The design of the car tends to hide minor oil leaks.

A slow leak will not be obvious on thr dipstick and is not a reason to panic and go to the dealer. But it should be looked after.
 
#5 ·
Oil leakage

I changed the oil at 875 miles (first change) and noticed some oily/dirt accumulation on the tray under the engine extending to the area around
the NASA vents. I traced it to a very small leak from the oil filter. This is the way it came from the factory. The filter, however, appeared to be tight. I'll check it again the next change. Take a look at your oil filter. There was a drop hanging from the bottom of mine.

2006 Elise Sport #46
 
#7 ·
I couldnt really see the bottom of the engine (didnt have ramps) but the differential (or at least thats what I think it was) seemed to have a thin film of oil on it when I first checked last week.

Rob Dietsch said that my filter had a small leak on it when he did my last oil change (about 1500 miles ago) but that he had cleaned it up after that. I guess I'll check again next week and also ask the dealer to have a look when I next get it serviced.
 
#12 ·
VINSTA said:
I stand corrected. I work with NASA....force of habit.
I made the same mistake. The oil-change post at the sandsmuseum site called them NASA ducts. What does NACA stand for?

I had a tiny bit of oil near one of the ducts when I changed my oil. It was directly below the oil filter... I ran a papertowel around the filter and sandwich plate but didn't pick up any noticible oil. I'm not concerned yet. I guessed that maybe there was some residual oil that could have dripped from the bleeder valve??
 
#14 ·
Mine was filthy when I did the second oil change. The dealer did the first one and I suspect the spilled a lot of oil that dripped onto the diffuser and started collecting dirt.

I clean it good and haven't had any oil there since.

I did notice that it looks like the serpentine belt is splattering some extra muck on there, but it's definitely not related to what I first saw.
 
#18 ·
JnC said:
An update on mine too. Was still leaking since the last svc (about 4k miles ago) :( Dealer replaced the o-ring (i guess in the sandwich plate) today. Ran it awhile on the lift... no drips so far. Fingers crossed.
I had the same problem, I replaced the O ring, and that did not fix it. The sandwich plate was warped and had to be replaced. :sad: Lotus got a bad batch of them.
 
#23 ·
I had a similar leak in my new car after the 1K checkup. It was an extremely slow leak which I monitored. It went away after I changed the oil myself at 5K.

In my old car I spilled some oil while refilling the oil, and it later scared the hell out of me when it formed a stain right below the tranny. It took me a minute to remember my spillage and I had to laugh.

Whenever you pull a wheel, take a flashlight and look across the top of the service panel. Any leakage is easily visable and should be dealt with promptly.
 
#24 ·
FWIW, there was an oil film all over the filter when I caught it the first time. I doubt it was from spilt oil... they would have had to spill at least 1/2 quart and spill it during both oil changes. This was a good bit of oil... there was oil dripping from the access panel screws and a fair amount windblown to the rear diffuser.

I haven't pulled a rear wheel. I'll try your flashlight advice on a warmer day. Thx.
 
#25 · (Edited)
Surferjer said:
I had a similar leak in my new car after the 1K checkup. It was an extremely slow leak which I monitored. It went away after I changed the oil myself at 5K.

In my old car I spilled some oil while refilling the oil, and it later scared the hell out of me when it formed a stain right below the tranny. It took me a minute to remember my spillage and I had to laugh.

Whenever you pull a wheel, take a flashlight and look across the top of the service panel. Any leakage is easily visable and should be dealt with promptly.
I notice a little bit of oil on the top of my service tray too. FVMC changed my oil on the first service at 800 miles. The car was at about 1600 miles and I changed the oil myself tihis time around, just before this winter. That's when I noticed the oil leak, there was a small oil stain on the top of my engine service panel. Upon inspection there was a drop of oil waiting to fall right at the bottom of the oil filter, how convenient, I gather from this that it looks to be a very slow leak at the oil filter. I did not see any leaks when I replaced the filter and ran the car for a bit.

I drove the car yesterday and will keep an eye for a leak there at the oil filter area and see if it happens again.

I seem to be following the same experience. We'll see if it disappears at the next engine oil change.
 
#26 ·
I used this 2 LED headlamp and held it in my hand behind the rim and shining it on top of the service panel.


You can look through the LSS rim spokes (no need to take the tire off or jack the car up) and clearly see the top of the panel for any oil spilled. I cleaned the panel very well so it should be easy to tell if there's any new oil leaking now. I did not see any but I have just driven the vehicle for about 10 miles. I did hit the 2nd cam so the oil pressure should have gone up enough that if there's a leak I would have been able to see it, even a drop would have shown up and I'm pretty sure I could have spotted it. We'll see I will pediocally check for it now.
 
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