Hi again everyone, i have noticed a worrying amount of oil leaking from the oil filter on my marea 1.9td, each time i park the car there is a spot about 3" in diameter, however when i check the dipstick the oil is about 3" above maximum fill level, why might this be? Could it be that just a simple overfill of oil would cause the leak or is there something more serious going on???

Hi,
If your oil is 3" above max on the dipstick then you need to drain some out as quickly as possible. The pressure caused by that much oil can split your sump and oil seals. It is likely that you are just losing oil due to overpressure, check it again once it has been drained.