Oil Leak advice please

M

moondevil

Member
Hi all. I am the proud owner of a not-so-mint 2001 Tdi SE, which I picked up at the weekend. It has driven absolutely fine, and I've fixed a couple of minor problems on it (electric mirror loose connection etc). However, whilst having the wheels balanced yesterday, I noticed a small drip of oil on the floor. I asked the very helpful gent to put it on his ramps so I could take a look underneath.

SHOCK! HORROR! The rear of the engine has quite a bit of oil on it, in addition I appear to have a creamy deposit on one of the hoses coming from the turbo, which the gent said could mean water contamination of the oil. The oil was low when I picked it up (no oil leak evident), so I put in 1/2 litre, which appears to have been enough to start this problem. As far as I can see it is using no coolant (I've done 1000 miles this week), the oil itself does not look contaminated. Anyone have any ideas on how major this could be before I take it to the dealers?

(Luckily although it was a private sale, I took out a warranty-direct policy so if it's turbo failure, engine gone then I'm covered :p )

Any advice greatly appreciated.

:edit: Realised I left off some pertinent info. Car has done 40k, only done 800 miles over the last year.
 
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Someone finally whom has this warranty direct policy. Did you go for the standard or gold policy? I'm thinking of giving it ago later on.
 
I'll let you know how I get on. I took out the Standard Policy, which based on the year of my car and mileage (just under the 40,000) worked out to £17.00 a month. I went with the network garage only option, so I've got to take it into a Nationwide autocentre. I'm *hoping* it's not serious, as I've got a driving holiday down to the South of France booked in just over a week!!!
 
warranty direct policy hummmm like to know how you get on with them I tried to claim from them last year and had no luck basicaly if the items are not mentioned you are not covered if it goes wrong ended up cancelling my policy with them would never go back best of luck
 
...adn the answer was......

After a rather exhausting three trips to the Nationwide (WarrantyDirect recommended) garage, one for diagnosis (rocker cover gasket split, and pi$$ing oil down the back of the engine), followed by the obvious "it's not covered" by the warranty, the second to find the part had not arrived, and the 3rd to actually have the job done.....

I am a happy bunny! They guys at Nationwide Autocentre in Rayleigh did me proud. Not only did they get the job done for less than Audi quoted for diagnosis, but they did an oil and filter change for £20 (I provided the oil).

All in all price of £96, which I didn't think too bad. I did have to wait around, and they did have difficulty getting the parts, but the bill more than wiped the scowl from my face. Now all set for 3,000 miles of holiday driving down to St Tropez!!

P.S In asking about the warranty with the very friendly sales manager, he said that providing an item mentioned in the warranty has gone, and can be shown to be causing other problems, the company generally pay up without a fight. I think that providing you read the small print, and weigh up whether this is worth the money, its fine. I primarily bought the warranty because I didn't wholly trust the guy I bought the car from, and wanted cover against imminent turbo/engine/gearbox/clutch/wheel bearing failure :)
 
Warranty Direct

Beware the small print!

I had a policy with them and an oil leak early on.

Had the leak been on the flywheel side then it would have been covered.

It was in fact on the opposite side and required replacement of the cam belt as well. Not covered by their policy.

Eventually got a refund from Audi Germany via dealer that did the job.
 
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