Hiding an oil leak

Hello,

I'm anticipating getting a bit of a bollocking at work for leaving oil all over their car park. Rather than leave one big easily identifiable puddle, I've parked in a different spot every day for the last five years. There are now about 40 medium sized puddles rather than one big one

Fixing the leak is out of the question. It would be like taking a dog to the vet to have his nads removed. I'm not putting the poor landy through it.

That leaves me two options;
1. A highly embarrassing drip tray I stick under it every morning.
2. Some kind of oil catcher plate stuck underneath that would drain as I drove around. A bit like the plastic pan that all these modern hatchbacks have.

#1 is a last resort. Does #2 exist, can you buy them?

Is there an option 3?!

Cheers.

Yes laugh it off, mine regularly leaves dollops of mud as well as oil from various places

1. Would work.
2. Good idea, and a bit like distributing the sand in 'The Great Escape'.
3. Get everyone to work a bit harder so that the company has to relocate. Or less hard, but that might not end well.

You might have to fix the oil leak if it gets bad enough to fail the MOT on it - I'd bite the bullet and get it fixed - where is this leak ???

Or do you have " a few" !!!??!?!??

I've always thought there would be a demand for an aftermarket under body plastic shield type thingy that you could easily attach and would prevent the complaints of landy marking it's territory. Anyone know of any such thing?

There is a product - like thick tissues, but advertised as 'absorbs oil, not water'. It is marked 4-in-1 oil only pigmat, with a US phone number 1-800-HOT-DOGS. I don't know where you would get them from. The ones I have were scattered along the road locally, a couple of years ago. I fasten a new one under the gearbox when I change the oil. Other makes may be available.

Thanks for the replies.

There are a couple of leaks - the crankshaft oil seal, (which was replaced and now leaks more) and some gear oil out of the transfer box.

The matting looks like a good idea. Like cable tieing a couple of tampons under it

Mine came with an under-engine tray. I've still got it, but it's not on the Landy anymore. They tray had absorbent pads on it, shaped to fit the shape of the plastic under tray. Must have been original equipment.

I went into a local fibreglass workshop and the guys said they could easily mould a tray shape that you could then permanently fix in place. Just wondered if there was anywhere already doing it. Could tell these guys weren't interested in the job.

Jesterr6216 said:

I went into a local fibreglass workshop and the guys said they could easily mould a tray shape that you could then permanently fix in place. Just wondered if there was anywhere already doing it. Could tell these guys weren't interested in the job.

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I bet they would at a price..................making the moulds for something like that will add up for a one off.

Cheers

do something similar what is fitted on trains, where they put sand on the tracks for traction

so in this instance set it up so u can drop a pile of sand on the oil leaks , simples, lol

it might be suspicious as the sand piles start adding up

or as said better still fix the leak

gstuart said:

or as said better still fix the leak

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+1 .... TB leaks should be reasonably easy to fix.... where is it ???? I'm sure folk on here will advise you !! ( exception being the TB/main GB joint, which is more awkward, but still doable ) - you've not mentioned which vehicle - but if its a deafener, then at least you can do a lot of it from above....

The crankshaft seal is a ballache - but a catch can from the wading plug hole is a possibiity...

Cheers for all the replies. It's a Defender 90, TD5, 04. The TB leak probably just requires a new set of gaskets, it just looks awkward so I don't want to do it! The whole thing is basically damp with oil, and averaging a few drops a day - not enough to be a problem to the TB level, but just enough to be noticeable on the floor. The crankshaft seal leak is a bigger deal - a few litres a year! It was "fixed" when I had the clutch done. A catch can from the bell housing sounds interesting/cheap though.

Try this. Should disguise it a bit...............

Barney86 said:

Thanks for the replies.

There are a couple of leaks - the crankshaft oil seal, (which was replaced and now leaks more) and some gear oil out of the transfer box.

The matting looks like a good idea. Like cable tieing a couple of tampons under it

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Go to a plant hire shop and buy a spill kit for the matting. Or you could fix the leak.

But if you fix that leak, you'll find the next one. It's a Land Rover!

No reason why a candy can't be leak free in my opinion. Mine is

payydg said:

No reason why a candy can't be leak free in my opinion. Mine is

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Both our D1's are too - the swivels do "sweat" a bit, and are getting ready for some attention.... might get done in the warmer weather