That Doesn't Look Good.

And I'm not talking about dirt and paw prints.

This would be an indicator of a mechanical malady. An oil leak. So I arrived home last week and noticed, as I pulled up, what looked like fresh oil on the drive. At this point I'm worried because I know that I had had an oil leak once before. I believe oil was leaking from the bottom of the block and escaping through the sump but that's mostly irrelevent for this story.

I examined the new oil and noticed two things about it. The first is that it wasn't the right colour because it was too light, and secondly, it wasn't the right viscosity. It was far too runny. I was aware of another two things after I found this out. The sump still had old oil on it and that there had been heavy rain for pretty much two days solid.

What I think happened was, the rain had gotten in the panel gaps and run down the outside of the engine block and mixed in with some oil. This theory is backed up by the fact, that, my oil levels are still fine, and, that it doesn't seem to leak during spells of, what scientists call, dry weather.

Need I worry? Difficult to say at this point. It is, after all, an old car my Fiesta and I do thrash it more than I ought to. Then again it hasn't suffered from any mechanical problems other than that one oil leak. Either way, I'll be keeping a bloody close eye on the dipstick.