Having a car is beneficial, we often need it to get to our job and for a majority of our daily trips. This important part of our annual budget recurrently causes us complications, being aware of oil leaking on your car is one of them… Indeed, an oil leak is rarely inoffensive and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t discern it. If you are aware of oil leaking on your Vauxkhall Astra, you have come to the right place, we will first assist you to locate the cause of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to remedy it, when possible.
Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Vauxkhall Astra
If you see fluid leaking from under your Vauxkhall Astra, the first action to take is to check all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to find out if any of them can quickly be identified as the source of the leak. To limit the risks, it is certainly necessary to check your levels every 2 weeks to avoid any risk of engine breakage.
In our case we will only be focused on case you detect oil leaking from your Vauxkhall 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 annoying smell.
It’s not always easy to locate the cause of the oil that leaks on a Vauxkhall Astra because of the space in the engine block, nevertheless here are the guidelines to stick to to locate the source of the oil:
- Locate the point where the oil falls, the place from which it spills onto the floor…
- Go back up the route of the dripping oil to its source, if the blot is too large, don’t hesitate to clean the engine block and drive to have the ability to discover it with less effort.
- That can assist you, here is a list of the parts that in most cases induce 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.
When possible, fix the part that created the oil to leak on your Vauxkhall Astra.
Now that you’ve found the cause of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Of course, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, based on its degree, but be aware that this is not a durable remedy and that the leak could become worse at any time. We are likely to show you the repairs that we think you can attempt on your own with some know-how, tools and according to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. In any case, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Vauxkhall Astra, you will have to swap your engine or gearbox oil.
Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Vauxkhall Astra
In this situation, the technique is quite easy, you just have to lift your Vauxkhall Astra, when possible perfectly horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, swap your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the appropriate torque and check the hot engine to make sure the leak has been fixed.
Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Vauxkhall Astra
In case that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will only need to replace it. To get this done, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, being sure that the gasket does not stick to the engine, place the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same check, hot check if oil is leaking from your Vauxkhall Astra.
Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Vauxkhall Astra
To conclude, if it is your pressure switch that is the cause of your leak on your Vauxkhall Astra, you can, based on its ease of access, reach it and swap it very easily. To achieve this, 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 check to validate that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Vauxkhall Astra.
For any other type of leak, we suggest you to go to your auto mechanic because the repair needs too much knowledge and tools to be done serenely alone.
If you have any further questions about the Vauxkhall Astra, do not hesitate to consult our Vauxkhall Astra category.
