General Oil leak?

[Didge3]

Noticed a small patch of oil under the car yesterday, checked the oil level and it was about 3/4 on the dipstick. I topped it up to be safe and drove the car around until the engine was warm and checked it again. I thought I'd leave it for the night and see so I left some newspaper under the car and this morning it had small oil patches on it (near the gearbox ish, roughly just in front of where it meets the engine). Anyway, I checked the level and it had gone down but barely so it seem's a very slow leak. I've booked it into a garage tomorrow, is there anything I could mention to the guy that might help, are there any common problems?

 

[Mjet220]

Tell him it has an oil leak! Ha all you can do is tell him what you know and point out where you think it may be coming from, run your fingers round all seals, are the breather pipes prone to splitting

 

[Didge3]

Been in and back out of garage, good news is my the oil leak is fixed! Bad news is, whilst in the process of finding and repairing the leak the mechanic bloke noticed that my flywheel didn't look right, (the garage specializes in Fiat's) and apparently my flywheel is different to any other he's seen on a Punto. He searched the part number on it and its not standard and not as heavy as a standard Punto one.

I'm not sure what to do now, should I get the flywheel replaced with a proper one? Since mine isn't currently standard do I need to declare it to my insurance?

 

[Mjet220]

Is it a lightened flywheel possibly put on by another owner? Or a cheaper oem style part?

 

[matty seasider]

Been in and back out of garage, good news is my the oil leak is fixed! Bad news is, whilst in the process of finding and repairing the leak the mechanic bloke noticed that my flywheel didn't look right, (the garage specializes in Fiat's) and apparently my flywheel is different to any other he's seen on a Punto. He searched the part number on it and its not standard and not as heavy as a standard Punto one.

I'm not sure what to do now, should I get the flywheel replaced with a proper one? Since mine isn't currently standard do I need to declare it to my insurance?

How have they seen your flywheel without removing gearbox?

 

[Didge3]

They did remove the gearbox, I'm not sure where the oil leak was but it was around the bell housing or something.

 

[Didge3]

Is it a lightened flywheel possibly put on by another owner? Or a cheaper oem style part?

I'm not sure, it's only had one previous owner and she was described as a 'careful lady driver' . Why would you fit a lightened flywheel, what would be the advantage?

EDIT: Had a look at the service receipt and the oil leak was from the gearbox itself, one of the seals was worn, this would explain why the engine oil hadn't gone down....

 

[keat63]

I'm not sure that I be worried about informing the insurance.
In the event of an accident, there's no way that they'd take the gearbox off to check the flywheel.
They might look for obvious undeclared items like alloy wheels, incorrectly sized tyres, or wrong speed rating, larger exhaust and induction kits.

 

[Didge3]

Thanks, I'll just leave it then although if I sell the car on I'll look to get it replaced with a proper one.