oil loss

[scoobyhilldo]

Hi people

I am new to this forum. I have a Rover 25 Gli 1400cc 5 door hatchback petrol version 1/9/2005. It has done roughly 60 000 miles so low mileage. I have noticed over the last few weeks that it has been losing oil. I looked at exhaust fumes and they seem to be whitish, can't see any blue although my eyesight not great. Since I can see no blue I am assuming it is not burning too much oil although maybe that is not a valid assumption to make?? I have looked underneath the car and have not noticed oil on the road. I have inspected the cylinder head and when I run my finger along the side of what might be head gasket, what might be seal, I don't know, but around where the top of the cylinder head seals onto the next bit down (sorry don't know what to call each part), I find there is oil around the sides. It seems to be seeping. Can anyone give me an idea as to what this is likely to be? i.e head gasket going/gone? Some seals gone? Another gasket gone? I am not losing coolant/water and the car is running fine but I have noticed sometimes a kind of squeeling noise on start up and when I listen to the engine if I get out of the car it sounds a bit tinny, I don't know how else to describe this noise and I am not sure if it is normal. Apologies for my inability to name parts properly but I don't know much about engines apart from the basics, like crankshaft transferring one sort of motion into another.

[COLVERT]

When you say---Losing oil----can you see the level on the dipstick moving very much ??

This will give us an idea of what sort of loss is happening. Gaskets can weep small quantities of oil for a long time without harming the engine. How quickly though is important.

The squeal you get on start up is possible to a loose or worn drive belt to the alternator which puts out quite a high voltage output for a shot while. This high resistance to turning can make the drive belt slip and squeal.