ZD30 Oil Leak on drivers side of the engine???

[fat paddy]

Its not leaking from the power steering somewhere and getting blown onto the side of the block?
Is it diesel? could be coming from the fuel return which comes out of the head on that side up near the front.
Other possibilities; The head itself, head gasket, rocker cover gasket, oil filler cap not sealing, PCV pipe has come loose. The head is slotted up against the housing for the timing chain, vacuum pump and injector pump, then there is a front cover in front of that. It could be leaking from any of those interfaces. The inlet manafold will have to come off minimum, allow about 4 hours for that fun job.
The pipe is the middle of the photo is the oil drain from the back of the head, it comes from the head as a metal pipe then goes to rubber before going into the sump.
The dip-stick tube is inserted in the sump and sealed with a simple o-ring down there.
Cheers,
FP

[BearGUST]

I did some more investigating. I removed the starter so I could actually see some more, then cleaned it all spotless (super cheap $0.99 cans of degreaser was good timing). I roll started it so I could keep the starter off and ran if for a while, I first thought it was coming from the balance shaft welsh plug but once I got the phone up there for photo's I could see that it was definitely coming from higher:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335739233.697388.jpg
So I kept stripping bits off, then I wasn't happy cos it looked to be leaking out the head gasket:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335739320.100828.jpg
I then pulled the intercooler off and happily found the oil was still leaking higher than that. It was pooled on top of the inlet manifold:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335739435.492727.jpg
I cleaned everything up and (after putting the starter back on) I ran the engine. Gotta love diesels being able to run with the intercooler removed
And I found the culprit:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335739570.069403.jpg
Sorry it's not a great pic but it's leaking diesel from the no.2 injector sleeve:
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1335739667.335190.jpg
Now to call Nissan and hope they have them in stock!

[BearGUST]

$18 from Nissan, should get that back in fuel economy pretty quick!

[AB]

Phewww....lol

[BearGUST]

Phewww....lol

Yep! And (fingers crossed) all fixed tonight ready for the high country on Wednesday!

[motomuzz]

glad to hear its all sorted for ya bud, I still have a few sleepless nights to go,before payday.lol

I stripped mine down and its gotta be the head gasket,oh well here comes open heart surgery.Hope the can of worms aint gunna be ugly.

[BearGUST]

I did go away in mine but the leak is still there but I don't think its as bad.
I'm now thinking of replacing the fuel supply pipe, on a Commodore with direct injection they recommend to replace the pipes whenever they are undone.

glad to hear its all sorted for ya bud, I still have a few sleepless nights to go,before payday.lol

I stripped mine down and its gotta be the head gasket,oh well here comes open heart surgery.Hope the can of worms aint gunna be ugly.

I hope the news isn't too bad! Keep us posted so the info is there for future reference.

[motomuzz]

OK, well just got the wagon back from the mechanic. After several inspections and written reports from several mech shops,It all came to the same conclusion.
The list of repairs as follows:
from head upwards:new gaskets and seals.also fuel return pipe was leaking as from what I hear is basically reallity,so that was ,fixed.
mechanic threw a CEL so Nissan sorted that with ecutalk-a sensor was busted.
new boost solenoid
new belts and pulleys\bearing kit
rear main seal replaced

so that was an expensive exercise,but now now leaks..well till she goes bang anyway LOL

[Cowboy]

Got the same issue and have found 2 of the sleeves leaking, So mechanic doing all 4 today.
Make sure you change all 4 sleeves
We have not long replaced the head and thought these sleeves would have been with it amongst all the other seas, but no, they don't come with the new head.

[BearGUST]

I have rechecked mine and found the no.1 sleeve is now leaking. I'd agree with doing all at once. Unfortunately I'll have to pull the manifold off this time.