Finding a leak with nowhere to park and look
Almost nobody in the terraces around Totterdown Fields and Furzedown has somewhere private to park, and the kerbs near St George's and Blackshaw Road are in demand at every hour of the day and night. You take whatever space there is, which means you never see the same patch of road twice. In practice most Tooting drivers discover a leak the indirect way: a note on a service report, a level that has dropped since the last check, or a smell of hot oil crawling along Mitcham Road past the Granada.
So it helps to measure rather than look. A little consumption is normal on some modern engines, particularly small turbocharged petrols, and the working line we use is simple. Needing to add more than about half a litre between services is a leak or genuine consumption, not topping up. Beyond that, how much you add and how often tells us the rate, and whether the level drops while the car sits or only while it is driven tells us a surprising amount about where to look first.
The workshop then does what a parking space cannot. The engine and underside are steam cleaned so no historic oil is left anywhere, measured ultraviolet dye goes into the sump, and the car goes back to normal use around the commons and the 20mph streets for a few days. Under a UV lamp the dye glows at the escape point, and an inspection camera covers what cannot be seen. We check crankcase pressure before blaming any gasket and quote the source we have proved.
The drive is Mitcham Road east past Tooting station as it becomes London Road, through the Figges Marsh signals and round Mitcham to the Cricket Green, then Cranmer Road and Carshalton Road south past Mitcham Junction. We can keep the car for the investigation if street parking at home is the bigger headache, and collection can be arranged. Repairs come with our 3-month workmanship warranty after a recheck on the ramp.