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Hi All

after some advice

I just got a defect for having an oil leak at the back of the tappet cover on the right hand side of the engine (looking from the front)

Know this is a common skyline thing but i dont believe it to be classed as a leak

i want to contest it as i only have one point left and this defect will lose me that one point

Someone told me if i take it to a mechanic and get them to OK it that its not leaking then i can take it to qld transport and probably get out of it

What is peoples advice, i really cant lose my license right now

Cheers

Callan

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is it dripping on the ground? techically an oil leak is a roadworthy item. depending on the severity a car can be defected for this. it is up to the person writing the rwc or in your case, the officer, as to whether it passes or not. what do u have to do to clear the defect? get a roadworthy? present it for inspection to the officer? or is it self-clearing where u have to fill in a declaration stating that the item has been fixed? i don't think u can actually get out of it u just have to get it cleared and wear the loss of points and fine.. sorry

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is it dripping on the ground? techically an oil leak is a roadworthy item. depending on the severity a car can be defected for this. it is up to the person writing the rwc or in your case, the officer, as to whether it passes or not. what do u have to do to clear the defect? get a roadworthy? present it for inspection to the officer? or is it self-clearing where u have to fill in a declaration stating that the item has been fixed? i don't think u can actually get out of it u just have to get it cleared and wear the loss of points and fine.. sorry

its not dripping out, im not sure its even a leak. Its been there since i bought the car off a dealer. The oil is old and dirty.

Hopefully i can get someone to see that and have the charge dismissed. Ill see what happens anyway.

Anyone else had something simliar?

still open to advice/similar cases

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i challenge anyone to find a car more than 5 or so years old that doesn't have a little oil weeping past the seals on the tappet covers. ridiculous. it's not like you'd be leaving a massive oil-slick everywhere you went :)

just get the engine bay steam cleaned, take it to the inspection site, and tell 'em to shove it

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i challenge anyone to find a car more than 5 or so years old that doesn't have a little oil weeping past the seals on the tappet covers. ridiculous. it's not like you'd be leaving a massive oil-slick everywhere you went :)

just get the engine bay steam cleaned, take it to the inspection site, and tell 'em to shove it

what i want to do is go to qld transport say 'ill clean it then u can come outside and watch me rev the car and see if any oil comes out' i think if oil is not leaking under normal operating conditions then it shouldnt matter. Its not really a leak, i think it may even be just spilt oil from a serice, will get a photo up for better judgement

but yeah rather petty really

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instead of just cleaning it down and whinging tighten the phillips head bolts too and u won't have that problem for a while. also its not spilt oil from the service its your rocker cover gaskets leaking because the screws are loose...

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took it to someone who does roadworthies today. He said he wouldnt fail it, and that the law surrounding it is open to discussion really. So I'll see how I go

if anyone has successfully contested this i wouldnt mind hearing from you.

Ill leave it how it is for now anyway, take it to another roadworthy guy monday and see what they say. After everything is cleared or not then ill probably replace the seal

Cheers

Callan

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Ok i went to DOT on monday morning and spoke to one of the people at compliance and she went and got some info for me. She told me to get together some evidence and send it away to Queensland transports office in Brisbane and the guy there has the power to overturn it without having to take everything through court

so I've just written a letter up, have 2 statements from roadworthy approved examiners and will get some hi res photos to send along as well. At the end of the day thats all i can do and if thats not enough then at least i tried.

One thing i had someone say could be bad another say could be good is that the officer only wrote 'oil leaks' on the notice and didnt specify where. One of the people I saw said that could be used against me as I could just state a completly diferent place to what was shown and say theres no oil at all there

The other said that the officer failed to be specific and this could be argued against him

anyways

I will let you know what happens

Cheers for all the help guys

Callan

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  • 5 months later...

Ahh digging this up, it was ages ago.

What ended up happening. I got 2 letters from roadworthy inspectors, wrote a 2 page letter and printed out some photos and sent it to qld transport brisbane. Waited a month or so and then got word i should hae sent it into Mackay Traffic Dept (or whatever they are)

anyways they forwarded it to them, get an email sayng they have recieved it etc.... at this point im thinking no way am i getting let off for this...

about a week or so after that get an email with a letter attatched to it saying they have reviewed the details and taken into consideration the comments from the roadworthy inspectors and decided to withdraw the fine

Happy as

So bottom line is.... you can win lol

Thanks for everyones advice and comments. Ive cleaned the oil up afte i took photos (back in january) and its still clean today. But ive got polished rocker covers in the works so will replace the gaskets and screws when im finished with them

Thats my story anyway. Sorry it took so long to finish it off :(

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