Being owner of an automobile is important, we most of the time need it to get to our job and for most of our daily trips. This crucial part of our annual budget occasionally triggers us surprises, being conscious of oil leaking on your car is one of them… In truth, an oil leak is hardly ever inoffensive and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t recognize it. If you are conscious of oil leaking on your Opel Astra, you have come to the right place, we will first support you to find the cause of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to fix it, when possible.
Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Opel Astra
If you find fluid leaking from under your Opel Astra, the first thing to do is to check all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to find out if any of them can promptly be recognized as the origin of the leak. To limit the risks, it is absolutely vital to check your levels every 2 weeks to prevent any risk of engine breakage.
In our circumstance we will only be interested in circumstance you notice oil leaking from your Opel Astra, as far as engine oil is concerned, the liquid will be quite viscous and in shades of brown to black and if it is gearbox oil, it will be rather in amber tones and will have a strong unpleasant smell.
It’s not always easy to find the cause of the oil that leaks on a Opel Astra because of the accessibility of the engine block, however here are the simple steps to stick to to find the origin of the oil:
- Find the point where the oil falls, the region from which it spills onto the ground…
- Go back up the path of the dripping oil to its source, if the blot is too large, don’t be reluctant to clean the engine block and drive to be capable of locate it more quickly.
- To help you, here is a list of the auto parts that most often provoke oil to leak from a car: the drain plug and its seal; one of your crankcase gaskets; the oil pressure switch; the oil filter; the transmission drain plug; the transmission sealing rings.
If possible, repair the part that made the oil to leak on your Opel Astra.
Now that you’ve found the cause of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Naturally, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, according to its severity, but remember that this is not a long lasting solution and that the leak could intensify at any time. We are going to present you the repairs that we think you can undertake on your own with some know-how, tools and according to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. No matter the reason, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Opel Astra, you will have to change your engine or gearbox oil.
Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Opel Astra
In this circumstance, the methodology is quite easy, you just have to lift your Opel Astra, if it is possible totally horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, change your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the right torque and check the hot engine to make sure the leak has been repaired.
Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Opel Astra
In the event that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will basically need to change it. To get this done, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, making sure that the gasket does not stick to the engine, place the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same test, hot check if oil is leaking from your Opel Astra.
Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Opel Astra
To finish , if it is your pressure switch that is the reason of your leak on your Opel Astra, you can, based on its ease of access, reach it and change it easily. To make this happen, place a drain tray under the part, disconnect the electrical wire, remove the part, quickly reposition the replacement pressure switch, clean the assembly and do a hot test to make sure that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Opel Astra.
For any other type of leak, we advise you to go to your repair shop because the repair will involve too much knowledge and tools to be conducted serenely alone.
If you have any additional questions about the Opel Astra, do not hesitate to consult our Opel Astra category.
