Oil Leak

[GAVO]

I own an '88 Starlet XL. It has an oil leak at the moment and after 2 weeks gets a warning light to be topped up.

How difficult or costly is it to fix an oil leak?

And secondly, if the oil was leaking on to the distributor cap which it is, would this cause the car to jump and lose power?

The car loses power, although not totally, and it takes about 4 or 5 attempts to stay on at startup in the mornings. When it heats up, the power stays, generally, with the odd jump or loss, but only for a second and never completely cutting out.

Any thoughts?

[CozmoNz]

well if its comming from the cap, its comming from your head... and in that case, its a really bad thing.

get it checked asap, A) there shouldnt be any oil up there when you start anyway... or not much anyway. thats where your fuel is pumped ;)

B) your dis shouldnt have to many problems, i thought it was air / water tightISH, but obviously oil can get in there.

i suggest you just get it all cleaned up asap... who knows what damage oil can cause behind plastic brackets ;)

[GAVO]

Thanks for the quick answer!

I have replaced the oil cap. But it does look as though there is a leak from the underneath somewhere as it's getting to my plugs and plug leads. This surely would cause the occasional loss of power, albeit for just a split second. No?

As regards cleaning the thing up. I'm no expert on cars or anything. I can give mine a basic service, ie Plugs,air filter and oil and filter. After that I wouldn't go too far into it. And I don't want to keep spending money fixing little things is this car, or pretty soon it'll be like I could've bought a newer one!I've spent over 300euro in the last week on tyres, break pads, oil cap etc.

How would I clean it all up exactly? I'd like to get it sorted out. There is a redex fluid that claims to clean out the plugs area, and also other treatments for petrol etc. I don't now believe that the oil leak was coming from the cap.

Any more thoughts?