MG ZR using a lot of oil

Jvic28

Hi,

Our MG ZR seems to periodically use a lot of oil It was filled up in July and has done less than 2000 miles since then. We have just dipped it and it looks practically empty. The exhaust also seems to be really oily. It's not noisy now although it has been in the past and there is no oil warning light on. It doesn't seem to be smoking at all either.

Any ideas??

Thanks

anewman

The oil warning light will only come on when there's no oil pressure, which will usually be when the oil is well below the bottom of the dipstick. To check the operation of the light itself, it should come on when starting the car.

Oily exhaust seems to suggest it is leaking somewhere there. It may only leak with the engine running and you may be able to determine the source of the leak by examining where oil is, bearing in mind it will tend to blow back as you drive.

I would top the oil up again making sure the correct viscosity and type oil is used.

May be one of the oil seals has had it. Simplest things to check first though are the oil filter, the sump plug, and sump gasket.

goldspanners

by the exhaust looks oily im guessing you mean the exhaust manifold is oily? if so then you probably have a leak on the rocker cover gasket,this could be where you are loosing your engine oil.
are you filling it with the correct kind of oil?
not sure if the zr has the k series engine but these do have a problem with head gaskets blowing,but this is usually more noticable than loosing a bit of oil,usually the coolant disappears and the engine gets cooked.

steveo3002

not in the coolant tank is it? a friends recent purchase has headgasket failiure and the coolant tank is almost neat oil by the smell/look of things

jeannieblue

MG - prone to headgaskets??

Jvic28

goldspanners wrote: »

by the exhaust looks oily im guessing you mean the exhaust manifold is oily? if so then you probably have a leak on the rocker cover gasket,this could be where you are loosing your engine oil.
are you filling it with the correct kind of oil?
not sure if the zr has the k series engine but these do have a problem with head gaskets blowing,but this is usually more noticable than loosing a bit of oil,usually the coolant disappears and the engine gets cooked.

The inside of the tailpipe is very oily. Lat time we had it checked they said the oil was empty and they filled it p at the garage (mg garage!) so I assume they used the correct oil. There is no loss of coolant or overheating to suggest a headgasket.

goldspanners

Jvic28 wrote: »

The inside of the tailpipe is very oily. Lat time we had it checked they said the oil was empty and they filled it p at the garage (mg garage!) so I assume they used the correct oil. There is no loss of coolant or overheating to suggest a headgasket.

are you sure its oily? or does it just look oily,have you touched this oilyness? usually any internal oil leak would burn the oil off in the engine and you would get blue smoke from the exhaust when the engine is running.

Jvic28

goldspanners wrote: »

are you sure its oily? or does it just look oily,have you touched this oilyness? usually any internal oil leak would burn the oil off in the engine and you would get blue smoke from the exhaust when the engine is running.

I have touched it, very black and wet. No smoking whatsoever. Ther doesn't seem to be any lack of power either. We filled it up with oil yesterday and it seemed to take 2ltrs to fill it which means it's used 2 litres in approx 2000 miles which seems really excessive.

ZellowZed

Hi Jvic,

I have a ZR 160 and I used to have the same problem.
Mine is a 51 reg and had the original gasket design. It used to leak slightly from the head but nothing excessive.

What model ZR do you have?
I found with mine that if I was a bit heavy with the loud pedal that my oil would go down. I used to keep a bottle in the boot to top up now and then.

Earlier this year after putting a deposit down on a new car (keeping my zed as a fun car) the very next day my head gasket went, I did everything I could to prevent it. I had the new Land Rover gasket put on. It no longer leaks from the head and I haven't put any oil in since. Its also driven hard on the track now and then.

Cheers
Andy

steveo3002

the car im talking about used all its oil but the "coolant" mix stayed at the correct level all the time

never overheated or ran funny either

might be worth asking at a garage...they can do a couple of quick checks to confirm it

ZellowZed

From bitter experience I can relay the following:

Check your oil and water.
If the oil looks like mayo or caramel sauce then its HGF (The worst kind)
If the coolant looks oily or unclean (Steve might be able to elaborate) then its also HGF.

Also as a note when my 160 ran low on oil it sounded like a diesel when idling.