Help! Weirdest oil leak I have ever seen.

Ordered a engine oil compatible UV dye and a UV lamp.
If nothing else I hope to be able to find the highest point on the engine I have oil.
Another big clean up is required.
 
I think I've got it ;). It's a component that I didn't think had enough oil in it to leak oil, The EGR valve, I guess the turbo must weep oil into the induction, it's not serviceable and I've just looked at the price of a replacement :eek:

Before I push my total repair bill up to £2,500.00 could somebody take a look at this picture please and advise if they have had similar problems? Could I be right?

6NOQCqm.jpg


Thanks
 
Very serviceable! Clean with a largish heated ultrasonic bath. You might have to remove the oily deposits first though.

RAB
 
Hi Phil,
I had a leak from the EGR on my current 1.9tdi A4 PD when I first got it - from memory it was coming form the RHS of the EGR in your pic (on mine there were 3 bolts and possibly an o-ring I think on this side). The leak was mainly coming from this section, although there was also a little coming from actuator spindle). Result was a mist oil patch in the engine bay near the air filter cover in the A4, opposite where the EGR was.

When I was removing it the 2 bolts that were easily accessible were very tight, yet the one that was awkward to reach was fairly easy to remove - so I can only assume that the previous owners must have tried tightening it via 2 bolts to reduce the leak.

Anyway - I removed it and the inlet manifold, cleaned all up (messy job) and put all back together (if there was an O-ring I probably replaced it) This cured the leak on mine, though I still get a little trace from the spindle area.

John
 
Useful to know RAB thank you. If it were not the anti shudder valve spindle that is dripping oil I would have the whole thing clean and back on the car by now.

John I have the same problem with the spindle but my spindle drips oil so I don’t think my valve can go back on. My valve was fitted in the factory and none of the screws were overly tight. Perhaps a previous gorilla had changed your valve?

Good article Spike, moved my Diesel engine knowledge on significantly and set me thinking about changes.

I now have options and some thinking to do. To buy time and get the car back on the road I have a used clean looking valve on its way to me for £18 delivered.
 
I'm loosing the plot with this car :mad:.

I've resealed the engine cover as instructed in the manual including new screws and seals across the back.

I've put a used EGR valve on including new seals.

I've been for a 10mile test drive and I have oil up the back of the engine gain from the cylinder head down. Additionally I now have oil on the turbo.

The EGR is as dry as a bone. There is a very slight dampness on one corner of the seal but nothing that could cause oil to drip from a manifold stud.

YwUeUVR.jpg


I'm beginning to think in terms of retiring the car and getting the engine out when I have nothing to do one summer. It would be better if I could use the car though; any ideas??? Thank you.
 
Yep Phil, I'd say my EGR was either tightened non-evenly (2 out of 3 bolts) or replaced badly as you say -either way it did'nt help my leak.

I'm looking forward to finding out the cause of your leak!!

John
 
I have been chasing oil leaks on this car for several years and about 6 months ago I decided they had to be fixed. The leaked oil was a combination of engine oil and gearbox oil. I have replaced / reset:

The crank seal (leaking following replacement of timing chain)
The cam seal (probably not necessary)
Both gearbox output flange seals (major leak)
Engine cover seal (minor leaks reset twice)
EGR valve (minor leak but very dirty)
Injection harness (minor leak, repaired with engine silicone)
Vac pump hose (appeared very wet but can't think how if it is sucking?)

There is wetness on the output from the turbo but I think that is just an O ring and is something I can live with until the next round of repairs.

After all of that the car was sat there dripping oil on the drive yesterday morning from the front LH side of the engine / cylinder head (that's RH rear to most of us). To say I'd had enough is an understatement......

After reviewing Trump damage to my savings I decided a trip to the local Merc dealer was not in order just yet and got the car up on ramps.

Step 1 clean up:

i6bolxs.jpg


Step 2 splash talc over cylinder head (smells nice)

vGrWxtY.jpg


Step 3 idle for 10 minutes:

XEZ7btx.jpg


There goes that stud again, I'm still suspicious about it but if I now blow the oil off it stays dry.

Step 4 idle for 10 minutes

GaWShAY.jpg


Unfortunately I blew most of the talc off but there is still enough to see that the engine cover is not leaking. Look just to the left of the exhaust manifold stud though.

Step 5 idle for 10 minutes

UemkHSO.jpg


It's up there on the left somewhere.

Step 6 Investigate.

It could be the engine cover seal again but it appears dry and I couldn't see any oil between the cover and tandem pump. Not dismissed but unlikely, get the mirror and inspection lamp out:

O7I2lfy.jpg


Look at the joint between the tandem pump and cylinder head; I suspect that is most likely it with the engine cover seal to be investigated with the pump off.

Just noticed this:

9wBjesQ.jpg


The replacement EGR valve, if that is oil from the diaphragm vent then the valve seal is shot.

It least I'm now smiling about it.
 
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I received a full refund for the used EGR valve and ordered a cheep dubious brand EGR valve from AutoDoc. I received a genuine Audi EGR with some branding ground off. Result and EGR valve oil leaks gone.

However the car was only driven 40 miles to and from Elvington at the weekend and it is dripping oil again:

EvQh1HH.jpg


Removed the tandem pump and the engine cover is sealed and not leaking oil. Got my fingers crossed though for finally having diagnosed and fixed the leak:

XNOlfFC.jpg


The tandem pump gasket that was on the car had two patches of soft gasket missing the can be seen on the replacement. I suspect when I fit that gasket there should have been two blobs of liquid gasket applied. The OEM quality gasket has the soft gasket material already applied.
 
My tandem pump has a slight leak as the bottom of it, thinking something here may be the cause of my long starts. Don't know what make the pump is though as like yours the makers mark has been ground off.. mines an '03 car. I've heard there are different gaskets for these pumps?
Anyways.. its going back to the garage soon to re-fix the aircon, and have another look at the starting issue. They possibly over tightened the mounting bolts leading to gasket damage IMHO
 

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allypug said:
My tandem pump has a slight leak as the bottom of it, thinking something here may be the cause of my long starts. Don't know what make the pump is though as like yours the makers mark has been ground off.. mines an '03 car. I've heard there are different gaskets for these pumps?
Anyways.. its going back to the garage soon to re-fix the aircon, and have another look at the starting issue. They possibly over tightened the mounting bolts leading to gasket damage IMHO
Click to expand...

My car is 03 and the pump is a Luk. I think two brands were fitted Bosch and Luk. Luk pumps had an issue with the screws securing the cover plate being too long and they eventually leak diesel. I had to rebuild my pump and that was when I fitted that suspect gasket. This time I bought a OEM quality gasket for the year of car. I didn't have to specify a Luk gasket so I have been lucky or they are all the same.

I can confirm even a slight diesel leak will cause poor starting. I had to crank the engine for a surprising amount of time to get it started after refitting the pump.

Edit compared my pump to your pump. Looks like you have a Luk.
 
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Thanks for the info Phil, I think my problem is a leak on the engine side of the pump, or within the pump as the engine oil does smell a bit dieselly, had a piece of clear fuel hose on the inlet side of the pump, left overnight it still had fuel in.
Although the starter has always been a bit slow, it would start fine when I first got the car, now it always 'almost' starts. My work around is to either park with the rear of the car raised a bit, OR start the car with the accelerator depressed and that little bit of initial engine speed carries it over the 'dead zone' where it would normally die.
 
When I removed my tandem pump, I only changed the two rubber seals (the small bottom one and the bigger top one). Though a black one , just like yours, was included in the kit. But there was none when I took it of. Is there something different between the 1.2TDI (mine) and the 1.4TDI?

philward said:
I received a full refund for the used EGR valve and ordered a cheep dubious brand EGR valve from AutoDoc. I received a genuine Audi EGR with some branding ground off. Result and EGR valve oil leaks gone.

However the car was only driven 40 miles to and from Elvington at the weekend and it is dripping oil again:

EvQh1HH.jpg


Removed the tandem pump and the engine cover is sealed and not leaking oil. Got my fingers crossed though for finally having diagnosed and fixed the leak:

XNOlfFC.jpg


The tandem pump gasket that was on the car had two patches of soft gasket missing the can be seen on the replacement. I suspect when I fit that gasket there should have been two blobs of liquid gasket applied. The OEM quality gasket has the soft gasket material already applied.
Click to expand...
 
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luzt said:
When I removed my tandem pump, I only changed the two rubber seals (the small bottom one and the bigger top one). Though a black one , just like yours, was included in the kit. But there was none when I took it of. Is there something different between the 1.2TDI (mine) and the 1.4TDI?
Click to expand...

The ANY, AMF, ATL and BNC all share the same basic cylinder head (045103351A/B), although the parts fitted to each may differ. So the fitting of the tandem pump is almost certainly the same.

RAB
 
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