[Engine] New Berlingo - major oil leak!

[bobalobmitchell]

Hi all, bit of a story to tell so bear with me

After looking for a van for the past few months i finally settled on a 2005 Berlingo 800 with the 2.0 Hdi engine. Its ex council and has been really well looked after. This was bought from a reputable dealer, went for a test drive last week, all looked ok so decided to buy.

Didn't see any major signs of leaking underneath on the day of test drive and was told they would give a service before I took delivery of the vehicle.

I didn't ask what was going to be carried out in the service but was concerned about whether the timing belt had been done. They said they checked this and it looked like a new belt, although recommended to change this after 25k miles or so.

Picked up van on Saturday and ran well. Parked in carpark and coming back noticed a rainbow effect from oil but presumed this to be a car previous to me. Sunday, parked on a dirt road and again.. noticed rainbows where i had been. Moved a bit and sat for a while, again a rainbow with a small spot of oil.

Opened bonnet to find oil around the bottom of the oil filter and also found this to be rusty and dirty, so they obviously didn't do the oil change in the service. This was hand tight but it did turn with a wrench about another 1/4 - half a turn. Cleaned the bottom but noticed there was still a small drop of oil so took this as just being a perished o ring on the filter.

This morning, drove to work and parked up. Around lunch time my brother spotted oil under the van. At 5pm there was a fairly large pool of oil so we opened the bonnet to find oil sprayed all over the bulk head, alternator. The bottom is absolutely covered in oil. Checked the dipstick and there isn't a drop of oil to be found.

Van is covered with a 30day warranty on engine and gearbox so called dealer who will pickup van tomorrow. Just to get a second opinion from you guys, any idea what the problem could be? It looks to be either a hole in the sump or a burst high pressure line of some sort. As i said.. the oil has seemed to get worse then suddenly dumped the whole lot out!

Van hadn't been started since leaving for work in the morning and seemed ok then. They did say they checked van over a pit as part of service. Van has 127k miles on clock

I'm fairly familiar with engines, currently taking the engine out of my 206 so feel free to go into detail.

Thanks.

[Ol'Jeffers]

Was this a reputable Citroen dealer or a reputable second hand vehicle dealer??
It seems that either can have varying ideas on what exactly is entailed in a 'service'.
If the quality of work was that bad, they may have done you a backhanded favour by
not changing the oil! Who knows what they may have filled it with.
Basically, if push comes to shove, it's not fit for purpose and a refund can be politely insisted upon.

[divingscubaboy]

Perfect opportunity to return the vehicle and find another elsewhere! Maybe not as well looked after as you first thought, try a different dealer too!
They don't sound too clever. I hardly think saying the cam belt looks new but change it in 25k is sound advice. Evidently there is no history or you'd know when it was changed. Reject the vehicle and take your money elsewhere. The big ends may sound ok now but give it a few miles and they probably wont!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

[bobalobmitchell]

Thanks for all suggestions so far. Van was picked up this morning and taken back to dealer. They had called me later on in the day to say that they reckon this is a perished filter o-ring, this was left on voice mail so haven't had a chance to discuss further. A perished o-ring on an oil filter makes me believe that this vehicle has quite a lack of oil changes either that or fault on filters behalf..

This is from a reputable second hand dealer which seem to have good reviews from what i have read. They seemed very professional when making the purchase.

No service history offered with the vehicle although this was an ex council van and have been told that servicing work was carried out via the council garage.

I`ll definitely bring the oil change issue up tomorrow although it is my mistake for not clarifying what was to be carried out in the "service"

If they had gone to the trouble of changing the filter and oil in the first place then perhaps this would not have happened. I had already ordered a new filter + oil on sat but had to wait until yesterday for delivery. If they return the vehicle and its in correct working order then i`ll change the oil and filter again this wkend for my own piece of mind. If its still not right, its going back.

[divingscubaboy]

Hmmm perished o ring. Whenever I fitted a new filter to any of mine they came with a new o ring! Says to me its had limited or no servicing. Not only that its somehow your fault for not specifying what was to be done at the service? I'm sure you shouldn't need to tell them how to service it! I would have thought that with their cambelt x ray vision diagnostic abilities they'd have picked up on the perished o ring or what items needed doing. Must be a 'Reputable' dealer that makes you feel as though you need replace the oil and filter again for peace of mind?? Walk away with your money as fast as you can!

Sent from 2 tins and a piece of string.

[Tomcat3]

If you know the council it came from ring their garage workshop they will have a everything ever done to that van on a print out. A perished o ring says no maintainance to me and how they can say the cam belt looks new but change it anyway in 25 k is a joke.

[Romahomepete]

The garages that I know tend to change cam belts on the vehicles they are selling unless their is a provable record of changes in the service book. They do it for their own piece of mind and the cost to them is negligible compared with the hassle if something goes wrong.

Peter