Engine oil leak typical causes

[David2269]

Not having too much joy at the moment with my Stag although it has a nice new stereo (if the electrics weren’t dead). I discovered a major oil leak after a recent drive on a country road would. A long shot I know but any suggestions what the cause of the leak could be? It’s located around the centre of the vehicle approximately below the auto transmission selector (gear selector). I checked the engine oil and it is very dry. I checked the auto gearbox oil and that appeared completely full as did the power steering reservoir so they are not the cause.

[FrenchStag]

Start from the top down as fluids can travel a long way before they start to drip.

Might be engine oil, or transmission fluid.

Typical engine leak points (from top down) are:

Cork gasket on oil filler cap.
Valve cover gaskets
Felt washer on dipstick
Oil transfer housing cover gasket
Oil pump gasket
Oil filter bowl assembly (i opted for a spin on one)
Sump plug
Speedo drive connection into gearbox (don’t know if same issue with automatics.

That looks like a lot of oil or transmission fluid, so might be more than a dodgy gasket. Might it even be power steering fluid?

Not a pleasant job but jack it up very securely on axle stands (use some wood to protect the chassis members you put them under) get under it with lots of rags and a can of degreaser spray and start cleaning…

[APS]

For the amount of oil you have lost you should be able to see if the oil level for the engine and power steering is low. More difficult to tell if your auto box oil level is low if the car is not driven and has been standing a while.
If the oil is red then it is your auto box or power steering that is leaking. If oil level in power steering is ok, then I would highly suspect the auto box.
Get under the car and clean the auto box best you can with rags and brake cleaner.
Put a sheet of cardboard underneath and check it to see where the drips come from, though the oil can travel.

I had a major oil leak when I first got my car from the auto box. Never worked on auto boxes before, but found it easy to fix by taking time to clean and replace the seals. Mine had a seal missing from the speedo pinion drive and the sump gasket was weeping. Used the opportunity to also replace the filter. Other easy fix seals are for the inhibitor switch and the gear selector seals. Could also be pipes to oil cooler or from the dip stick. They are not overly expensive you just need to spend sometime on your back under the car. More difficult to replace seals are the main front and rear shaft seals, the front will need the box to come out.
The most difficult part for me was getting down on the floor and getting back up again. Take your tools with you.

Also usual for bw boxes to leak a little, and especially so when standing for a while as the torque converter tends to drain down and overfill the box.

[jbuckl]

It’s possible to get a BW 35 to not leak.

it takes a bit of effort.

rear oil seal , front oil seal, selector oil seal, oil sump gasket, banjo bolt copper seals & finally breather pipe…. Oh and oil cooler pipe joints.

it’s possible…. But then I swapped it all for a zf…. They can also leak too.