Volvo 2001BT Oil loss

[Artimes]

Looking onto the pulley end and the left side (with no direct view from side) oil leaking from where? It seems to come from behind the alternator flowing down aft of the mounting block. Any ideas please!

 

[DaveS]

Looking onto the pulley end and the left side (with no direct view from side) oil leaking from where? It seems to come from behind the alternator flowing down aft of the mounting block. Any ideas please!

Apologies for the late reply. I presume the leak only happens with the engine running? (The alternator is quite a bit higher than both the sump gasket and sump oil level.) Possibilities are the head gasket (unlikely - there would be other symptoms), the rocker cover gasket, or the crankcase breather, which I think is fairly near the alternator. Worth a look at the latter two - in that order?

The bad news is that if oil is coming out the breather that could imply a pressurised crankcase and piston rings not sealing properly...