Advice On What Went Wrong?

[Tangles]

So, last night I get out of the house & out to dinner with some friends (1st time in a year for me!).

Pickup a mate and head to the city, and there is this squeal from the front - I thought it was the RHS front CV boot considering its split and needs grease / new boot.

Touch the brake and the squeal stops, but comes back as soon as brake is lifted.

Park the car telling myself come Monday must get that CV boot dust cover replaced. Have a nice meal out with friends, laughing while they get tipsy, drop one friend off a Thebarton and head home down South Rd towards Flagstaff Hill to drop another friend off.

So, about 300m before South Rd / Daws Rd the revs suddenly flair to 5000rpm (just cruising, as I have been for 300kms since rebuild), boost guage shows there was pressure through the tubo system (albeit negative, but pressure nonetheless), complete lack of power, then it "catches" and drives normally the last 100m or so until the red light at South/Daws Rd. Stop, notice smoke coming out the back from underneath the car (oil on exhaust), green light, the gears flair again to 5000rpm and the car crawls forward.

Pulled over just past the intersection before the Fire Station, cut the engine, and find puddle of oil underneath the front of the engine, with a trail down the road from where I came from. I pop the bonnet and oil is all round the front of the engine, coming out from LHS (turbo side) front of engine. Dipsstick shows that there is bugger all oil left. 2 doors down is the caltex so I buy some overpriced oil, fill it up, start the engine and confirm the leak is front of engine, turbo side. Squeal just happens to be gone. Put it into Gear to park it around the corner and it goes nowhere, refuses to move an inch in 1st, 2nd, Drive or Reverse. Shut down; feel horrible in my guts.

Bus it back to mates place in Flagstaff, come back with ropes in his VR, and tow the stagea at 1am to my place in Morphett Vale.

Im not sure what to be looking for. The 3 belts at the front of the engine are intact and tight. Oil has been flung around the front end and its pretty messy in there.

What would cause oil to leak (bad/quick leak) and cause a loss of all drive to the wheels?

Engine is 300kms old, there was no knock whatsoever, and has been babied since the recent bottom end rebuild.

So whats gone wrong? I can replace brakes, suspension, turbos, radiators, intercoolers, etc, but never done pulleys, pumps, belts etc. Monday am I'll be ringing the workshop to pick the Stagea up for a tow and fix it - but what are your educated thoughts as to whats let go?

Oil leak, no drive.... what causes that?

Thanks in advance; I feel dreadful knowing that Ive just paid good money for a rebuild, engine was running beautifully, its now shit itself & currently I have not a cent to my name, and frankly dont know whats failed.

[Madaz]

will you be taking it back to Shaun i know he is a champ with things that have gone wrong

my first thought was oil drain on the turbo split but i don't see that loosing all your power

man hoping it is something simple and under warranty to fix, sorry to hear Brendan

[Tangles]

Im gutted mate. Absolutely gutted.

Id just like to know what causes zero drive & dumping of oil. I was thinking busted oil pump (had metal on metal squeal sound before it happened), but frankly I have no idea.

Yes it will be going back to Shaun; Ive been a loyal customer for 6yrs now.

[SLED]

so the engine still runs but the tranny doesn't engage?

was is tranny fluid or engine oil.....or both?

[Matty 31]

That half crossed my mind when i read it pete. Thought straight up that the oil all over the engine could be from transmission (i take it that they run a transmission cooler in the radiator or somewhere front-wards), but if the engine oil level is low - zero, it just doesnt make any sense :-/

[SLED]

could be a combination of both.......tranny fluid on the ground...engine oil in the cooling system

[Luciano]

front diff

[Tangles]

I've had a go now at cleaning up the mess in the front of the engine bay, started the engine for 5secs while I sussed the exact spot of the leak - looks like transmission fluid squirted out from a hose. Red colour.

Was so dark last night where I checked the oil level that I 'thought' it was empty - now its WELL above the full mark.

About to jack it up, empty out some oil into a spare container Ive got that I use for lawnmower 25:1 mix, and see what i can do about fixing the leak.

Where does the trans fluid get filled up from, and what type of trans fluid is required for R33-based Nissan autos?

[SLED]

yeah that's what I thought (trans fluid)

Don't start the engine again until you drain the sump......crank counter-weights belting against a sump full of oil is a big no-no

[Tangles]

yep drained the sump so now the oil level is within specifications.

cut the hose that was leaking (right at the nipple), and re-set.

found the Auto Trans dipstick, so just going to add the Dexron III fluid there

will doble check fluid levels then test (need to warm up the trans to get the correct fluid level).

thanks to all for your thoughts and suggestions

[Madaz]

good to hear it might be simple

[SLED]

no probs mate...that's what we're here for

[Tangles]

Thanks - it was a bloody awful feeling when it happened; sinking in the guts type. Didnt sleep over night, juts worrying over it.

At the time I was just explaining to my mate that I cant afford for anything to go wrong, hence advertised for sale, and then that happened (split AT hose); obviously I feared the worst.

Ive put in 3.5L of dextron-III ATF, now to let it sit for a while so I can get an accurate guage on fluid level, as I filled from the dipstick.

Good news is there is now power once again through all the gears; will test drive later on.

[SLED]

keep checking it whilst idling in neutral (hot) in case you lost a bit out of the torque convertor when running it dry

[Matty 31]

Keep tabs on the colour of the fluid on the dipstick too brendan, if it goes from being a red to a darky brown, it'll mean a trans fluid flush (when it goes that browny sort of colour its burnt and useless as tits on a bull). Dexron III is fine for the task