Oil leaking around injectors - coolant air lock??

'07 puma 2.4tdci

I've had a good search on here but had no avail - took the plastic cap off the top of the engine and noticed fresh oil around the first two injectors closest to me while at the front of the vehicle.

Can anyone tell me will this be due to failed injector seals and, if they have failed could they be a cause for air entering the coolant system? I get an air lock in the system, expansion tank coolant level drops etc, pipes go hard and when I open the cap the pressure releases and the pipes soften.

Opened the expansion tank while cool earlier on, ran the engine and saw the level drop a little, but noticed there was a return feed pumping fluid back in so the water pump must be ok?

No oil mixing with water, no blue/white smoke, just one stumped landy driver!!

Any advice guys?

coolant level dropping and rock hard pressurized pipes when cold points towards a head gasket at fault,you dont always get the mixing symptoms

Cheers Engineer!

Could this be related to the oil leaking around the injectors on the head?

Thanks

Rob888 said:

Cheers Engineer!

Could this be related to the oil leaking around the injectors on the head?

Thanks

Click to expand...

possibly,get a garage to do a simple compression test to check if the gaskets failed

Had friend who is a mechanic check it over last night, albeit the check didn't go as far as a compression test but all signs pointed towards a fault within the engine itself putting the head gasket in question. He did say the engine wouldn't run as well as it was doing if there was any issue with compression.

I'm happy to strip the head & replace the gasket, question is though if I get the head skimmed do I risk the pistions travelling closer to the top of the head & therefore cause problems with the timing of the engine? I'd like it to be as easy as simply replacing the gasket and putting it back together again.

Are there any signs to look for when the gasket is off to check if it needs skimming or not?

Thanks

Is skimming the head standard practice on these engines?