Hello,
this is the first (and possibly the most serious) of my newly purchased second hand Marea woes, i do believe it is the rocker cover gasket which is leaking and that the head gasket would be located further down the engine body, but i can't seen to find a join lower down below the exhaust and injectors so i'm slightly confused. Also the head would not be held down with 6 flimsy hex bolts now would it?
last week i tried cleaning up the old evidence of the leak by the bolts and so most of the oil which is still there, is the old and crusty oil from goodness knows hows long ago which i couldn't easily get off, and the freshly leaked oil, is a little hard to see, but i can confirm it's still leaking from round the bolts the most.
the left hand bolt, i have tightened a quarter turn or so, and the right hand a fair bit less, so i shall see if that stops the leak, but i doubt it.
can any of you good people suggest a course of action here?
is there such a thing as a gasket for the rocker cover? is it an easy job (looks to be easy enough)? anything else i should be aware of?
all suggestions, welcome.
thanks in advance.
allan

Hi Allan,

the general advice is BEWARE of over-tightening the bolts as you could deform the cover and NEVER get a good seal,
presonally- if this week still ends up oily -buy some "instant-gasket" in a tube = Hylomar type stuff..I know you're "en France", undo the M6 bolts carefully prise up the cover,
then slowly peel-off the gasket or rubber sealingstrip,
wash all the faces with petrol - essence,
let air dry = couple of mins,
then apply a light film of the IG - hylomar to all of the mating faces, gaskets and all..!,
allow 10 mins to go "tacky", then basically do M6's up "finger-tight" all round,
then just a little more all around,
that Should do well,

beware if oil has contaminated the coolant hoses , as It's pretty efficient at breaking down the hoses rubber walls ( Blown-hose issues),
have fun,
Charlie

Thanks for the reply Charlie,
i have never heard of IG, silicone sealant for engines! :slayer:
my main concern about such a product would be the risk of using too much, and having the excess, be squeezed into the inside of the rocker cover, and contaminating the cams etc. i shall bear it in mind as a last resort, but after a little research, i think i shall go for one of these http://www.oscaro.com/joint-couvre-culbuteurs-fiat-marea-185-week-end-1-9-td-100cv-321-12456-1037-gt considering the price. EDIT: maybe i'll do both in fact, like you suggested, but with just a very thin film of the I.G.
when i said i had tightened the bolts, not to worry, i only nipped then up, i was using my screwdriver type wrench, not my ratchet set so no fear there.
any suggestions on how to go about cleaning the old oil off the hoses and other parts? a solvent, or just plain old detergent with elbow grease?

Hi Allan,
they look like the proper seal / gaskets,

Scary amount of TAX on them..!!,

as they look like they are similar to "o-ring" cord material,
I suspect you could peel off the current one clean and re-seal,
thats what I've always done on my 8 Valve FIAT FIRE engines,

I've never had the inclination to wait a week for a gasket to turn-up..,


Fairy liquid / hot soapy water should shift the worst of the residue oil, - don't use anything TOO aggressive on the hoses,
AND make sure you don't get water into your electronics..,

Charlie

Thats the TD engine, you dont need keys/electrics to start it (solenoid...bleh).
Those look like ribe bolts, but torx head will do fine.

If the top end sounds really noisy, you could do the valve lash adjustment (or get someone to do it) while the cover is off.

Why not buy an original cover gasket at a dealer or carpartshop...??
It's an easy swap, and it will stop that oil leak ( which in my opinion isn't that bad at all, I wouldn't touch it right now...).
As the leak doesn't seem to be bad, there's no hurry, so ordering a gasket and wait a few days for it to arrive is no problem, on the other hand, any well stocked dealer/carpart shop should have this gasket in store...
And since the European Fiat parts department is located in France, a French dealer can order it overnight....

There seems to seep oil from the oilfiller cap/hole as well, so renew it's rubber gasket too.
For part numbers, look at ePER on top of this page.

charlie, just for info, the price in red is the price you pay, the price in blue "au lieu de", means "in place of" or reading between the lines, the catalogue price. TTC means tout compris, which is "everything included" ie tax.
which leads me on to Peter's comment, I'm in france, the prices are ridiculous, everyone is trying to screw you over, even scrapyards look at the dealers catalogue price and then half it for the parts they sell. purely on principal, there is NO WAY i am paying over the odds at a car parts shop, and even less chance i'm going to a dealer to pay their prices, i'd rather wait 36 hours and have a part delivered for a reasonable price.
saying that reminds me of when my fuel pump went on my 16 year old corsa, i went to the scrappies and asked what they had, he pulled out a dusty old piece of junk, which was at least as old as the one as the one which had just died, and tried to get me to pay 80 euros for it, when i could wait a few days and have a new one delivered for 100 euros. anyhooo
when i bought the car the rubber surround for the filler cap was FULL of oil, it did worry me slightly, but having cleaned it up and run the car for 2 weeks with no further leaks, i now believe what happened was that the car was running with the filler cap off, and the (visible) cams spat out a load of oil, i don't think there is a problem there.
Lash adjustment, now there's a topic to read up on. I rarely push the engine above 3k revs, as she's an old girl, so it's hard to say if the top end is particularly noisy, but reducing the play in the cams could give me some more low end torque (if i've done my reasearch correctly) which interests me more than top end power.
thanks for the replies so far people.

Buy your parts f.i. here:

http://www.mister-auto.com/

i bought a starter motor last year for my wifes car from that website, same idea as oscaro, i dont see any real difference.

just a side thought, would the heavy clattering/knocking noise on cold startup be related to the cams? it only lasts 10 or 20 seconds max, depending on how cold it is, but ive not heard it that badly on any other diesels before, is it worth worrying about?
this engine does heat up very fast, faster than the 1.4 petrol corsa i had before (yes even after the thermostat had been changed), but the needle never seems to go above a 1/4, but anyway, that's an issue for another thread.

Hydraulic tappets..??

Anyway, what viscosity oil do you use..??

www.castrol.fr

i have no idea what oil is in there at the moment, but in general i use 10w40 or if im feeling wealthy, 5w30.

Stick to one brand and one viscosity, don't change from brand to brand and quality....your engine won't like it..
Change it every 7500-10.000 km's with the oilfilter of course.

SecteurCatégorieMarqueModèleVoituresVoituresFIATMarea 1.9 Diesel Turbo (TD) (1996-2003)
Nos recommandations

Castrol Magnatec 5W-40 C3

• Marque
• FIAT

• Modèle
• Marea 1.9 Diesel Turbo

• Moteur
• TD

• Année
• 1996-2003

• Nouvelle recherche
• Imprimer

ApplicationRecommandationCapacité (litres)Moteur (TD)1erCastrol Magnatec 5W-40 C34.52èmeCastrol GTX 10W-40 A3/B43èmeCastrol GTX 15W-40 A3/B3Transmission manuelleCastrol Universal 75W-901.7Transmission automatique DifférentielDe la boîteRéfrigérant (50%)Castrol Radicool NF Premix6.0Liquide de freinCastrol React Performance DOT 4Joints homocinétiquesCastrol MSX GreaseDirection assistéeCastrol Transmax Dex III MultivehicleGraisse de coussinets de roueVoir manuel d'entretien

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• Intervalles de vidangeCacher les intervalles de vidange

Notes Lubrifiant / Capacité

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Notes générales

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Intervalles de vidange

MoteurMois Maxi6Km Maxi7500

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• OATS T's and C's
• TOBPC4441

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My Marea has always looked like that and it never uses a drop of oil. I think its the crud that comes through the radiator and congeals around it.