Oil leak??

[NCCMUR]

So....
I have just returned from a weekend away in swansea and
from my house its a round trip of just over 800 miles
Friday evening, checked oil level,water screenwash etc
Saturday left for swansea, had a good weekend
Monday left for home and just exiting the motorway around a mile from my house, oil warning light started flickering
Tuesday morning checked oil level ....absolutely empty
Had it on ramp today and there is no major leak thats glaringly obvious.(ie not pissing out)
Done the oil cooler o ring about 2 months ago
There was quite a lot of oil around gearbox beside engine, underneath though.But i think this is coming from the square box on the gearbox ( selector box ?) and working its way down
I steam cleaned everything and will keep an eye on it and try to see where this is coming from.
Surely it never burnt all that oil over 800 miles?
There is a slight leak from vtec solenoid or cam stop end but very slight.
Anyone else come across this or have a suggestion
Cheers
Stuart

[vanzep]

maybe check the sump
i recently checked both on my 4th gens and found there were missing bolts and some of the other bolts were loose on both of them - you might need to remove the clutch inspection plate to access/check some of them

just a thought

[NCCMUR]

Is there a seal in behind the inspection plate
This perhaps a culprit?

[vanzep]

no the inspection plate is on the bottom of the gearbox - 3 or 4 small bolts and it should come off - you take this plate off if you want to have a look at the clutch plate - it also hides a couple of the sump pan bolts - these were missing from my sump so it was leaking. There is the main engine seal behind the flywheel - it would be gearbox out to check if that was leaking. so id check the sump is secure and not leaking first

[NCCMUR]

Just cant fathom where 4/5 litres of oil has went

[newkid]

Was it totally empty? If so sounds like crank seal or oil balance seal, the oil balance seal had a retainer kit added to help stop them popping out.

[NCCMUR]

Totally empty
I got all those seals and the retaining bracket replaced when i got my timing belt done a couple of years back at performancetek (assuming gerry actually fitted them)and i have no reason to think other wise.
So pretty confident its not gone out that side of engine
Also asked about any oil on the ground where i was parked in swansea,and all clear
Puzzling
Hopefully get to bottom of it

[DaveyBa8]

it dosent take much oil to go from low to full on the dipstick. So you didn't go through 4/5 litres. Or your engine would be well seized st this stage

[newkid]

How much it take to refill? If gerry did the seals then they definitely will have been done.

[NCCMUR]

Had to put 4ltrs back in to top mark on dipstick