Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 12:51:51

Title: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 12:51:51
1999 2.5L V6 Auto (Pre Facelift)

there is  pipe on top of the engine which is leaking a very small amount of oil, mainly when drive over 30mph. I believe its the Autobox oil breather. is this normal? its annoying as it smokes whilst burning the oil. I want to do a gearbox oil change when I service the car. but it seems that its never wanted for anything.

a brief history of the car.

its been a funeral directors limo for the last 17 year. and has probably not been driven faster than 40mph. its done a genuine 46000 miles. 

thanks for any help.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: frostbite on 25 April 2016, 13:54:44
Oil shouldn't be coming out of it I could be possible that the wrong pipe was connected

What colour is the oil?
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 14:05:05
it look clean ish, not quite fully clean but a little bit dirty.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 14:06:21
Gearbox oil should be red, or maybe reddy brown. vs engine oil which is, well, the colour of engine oil.

My guess as above, wrong pipe connected.

The four pipes that go into the back of the 'breather bridge' are of similar diameter, and it's possible one has been connected incorrectly.  :-\
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 14:13:25
i'll have another look tonight. is there a diagram somewhere?

thinking about it, it could have a slight red hue.....

why would they need to be disconnected?
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 14:20:24
Not sure about any diagram I've seen, but if you can follow this...


Mentally number the inlets at the back of the breather bridge (long black rectangle that has a griffin and ECOTEC on it) 1, 2, 3 & 4.

-Now go pipe hunting. There is a forked tube. This is one fat one, which branches into two. These two sit at 1 and 4

-Now ruin your back leaning down the offside back of the engine. There's a barely visible box, the 'breather box' which is alloy, and has two pipes coming off the top of it. About level with the exhaust manifold. The left one goes to number 2, the right one goes to number 3  :y
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Andy H on 25 April 2016, 14:22:09
1999 2.5L V6 Auto (Pre Facelift)

there is  pipe on top of the engine which is leaking a very small amount of oil, mainly when drive over 30mph. I believe its the Autobox oil breather. is this normal? its annoying as it smokes whilst burning the oil. I want to do a gearbox oil change when I service the car. but it seems that its never wanted for anything.

a brief history of the car.

its been a funeral directors limo for the last 17 year. and has probably not been driven faster than 40mph. its done a genuine 46000 miles. 

thanks for any help.
So - my reading of this tale is - 17 years of main dealer servicing. (eg oil change every 20,000 miles, first cam-belt at 80,000  ::)). I don't imagine the engine breathers have ever been cleaned.

First thing I would check is that cam-belt has been changed in the last 4 years, then I would clean the breathers and check the cam cover gaskets for leaks.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 14:26:38
Cambelt and water pump was done at 38000 in 2008.

it was serviced every year from what I understand, regardless of mileage.....not got all the receipts, the rest are being posted to me.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 14:31:49
40k or 4 years, whichever is soonest on the V6s, regardless.... otherwise death shall ensue. Apt for an ex funeral director's car.  :)
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: steve6367 on 25 April 2016, 14:34:29
Cambelt and water pump was done at 38000 in 2008.

it was serviced every year from what I understand, regardless of mileage.....not got all the receipts, the rest are being posted to me.

Time to get that changed before you have a much bigger issue!
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 14:38:42
ok, that's fine....

what one do I need?

Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Andy H on 25 April 2016, 14:47:49
You need to change the cambelt and tensioners.

Your engine breathers need to be cleaned. Blocked breathers cause the cam covers gaskets to leak and drip oil on the exhaust manifolds which then smoke.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 14:51:31
that's fine,

do you know what belt kit I need?

and is there a procedure for cleaning the breathers
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 15:18:12
Get searching the site for both, there's plenty of info to be had, Search function at the top right  :)
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 15:43:10
Get searching the site for both, there's plenty of info to be had, Search function at the top right  :)

I had thank you.

all the posts I could find about cleaning the breathers refer to this post

http://oldsite.omegaowners.com//forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152598350

which doesn't work for me.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 15:48:40
and here...  ;)

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90653.0

maintenance guide section is your friend

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=90633.msg1155563#msg1155563
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: MonkeyTurnip on 25 April 2016, 16:05:50
didn't see that, thank you
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 25 April 2016, 16:26:52
Not a problem, that's what we're here for :-)

any other questions, feel free  :)
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: BazaJT on 25 April 2016, 18:26:10
As far as belt kits are concerned Contitech or Gates are well liked on here,but basically any V6 belt kit will fit any V6,it's the backing plate that differs but the one already fitted to your car can be re-used.
Title: Re: 2.5L V6 Petrol Auto - Gearbox breather
Post by: Diamond Black Geezer on 26 April 2016, 09:40:29
As Baza says  :y I'll add, although not exactly the price of a pint, a timing kit isnt the real expense on this job (<£100), its the labour. You can spend literally an hour removing the gear before even getting to the timing of the engine, before you start the job, proper.

Of course a good mechanic, and a good Omega-knowledgeable mechanic on here can do it in the blink of an eye. The only element of issue is getting your timing done properly. And there's none finer than the experts/expertise on here. Incorrectly done timing on these V6s can cause poor(er) mpg, or a knackered engine if done really badly.   :)