Oil leak part three, revenge of the driveshaft?

CrispyEdd

CrispyEdd

Member
United-Kingdom
Hi, I'm sure the heat is not helping my down beat attitude to the engine on this car. I love the car the seats the dash etc love everything and drive it every day 70 miles.
Sadly I cannot get to bottom of an oil leak down the back.
So far:-
I've had a new cam fitted, and then re fitted, with hymol following audi instructions to the tee.
I've had the inlet pipework off and fitted new seals today.
Turbo outlet pipe leaks softly, doesn't affect performance or anything. Waiting for silicone pipes.
Turbo feed pipe seems solid and turbo dry.
Tandem pump is sound 👌

The oil is down the back of the engine and drips into undertray centrally.

There's a video link which I took after wiping it down. You can see the oil from inlet pipes down. The inlet pipes get oily from the middle down. So maybe it's them hence new seals today. How much oil can come out of these???? Surly not this much.
There's a lot of oil ontop the gearbox at the back behind the tower and under cables.
There was a lot of oil around driveshaft outlet seal?? Not sure what it's called.

If we assume two efforts on a brand new cam cover by garages and new inlet seals are good, then what else can it be?

I saw a electrical switch up the back There somewhere left of turbo...

 
I must add I found some of the coolant pipes' underbellies dripped in oil so I cleaned them off and dried them. The small coolant pipe to the top of header tank is mushy where it meets the engine, looks like I'll need one of those!! Anyone got a part number for it please?
 
Passatmann0 said:
When you say the tandem pump is sound was it removed when the cam was changed?
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Hi, I don't think so no, I don't think it need to be. I've checked underneath all its connections cleaned it and can't see more gunk. I smelt the liquid and it isn't diesel.
 
I changed the cam on my Polo Bluemotion a couple of years ago, I never moved the tandem pump and after that had an oil leak the same as you describe which took an age to find, I tried a new cam cover gasket then thinking the cover was warped I tried another cam cover and tried sealing the cam cover with Hylomar
To cut a very long story short the tandem pump butts up against the cam bearing cap and that was where the leak was coming from, £7.50 for a new metal gasket and that was the end of the leak, if you think about it, you are told to replace the Tandem pump gasket every time the tandem pump is disturbed, as it is compressed between the pump and the bearing cap removing the bearing cap has the same effect as taking off the tandem pump, for all the price of a new gasket you've nothing to loose in fact ater all I went through it was a cheap fix!!
Hope that helps
Sandy
 
The two likely culprits are either the EGR valve is leaking oil out the "breather" or the tandem pump gasket has failed. As you have oil in the air pipes I can not say which it is for sure. Carefully clean down all the back of the engine to remove current oil. Once clean it should make the location more obvious if you apply a small amount of talcum powder to suspect areas this will quickly show a leak. Just clean everything off afterwards.

Certainly change the tandem pump gasket for a good quality OEM one with the 2 blue tracts of silicone - the ones without WILL LEAK.

Have a very good look at the EGR to see if oil is coming out from there or the engine inlet pipe to the EGR. If there is oil coming out the EGR them may be a good idea to see if there is much oil in the ASV before that causes an issue.

That is assuming the cam cover gasket is good, the cam cover itself is not cracked or warped, the oil cap seal is good and the breather pipe has not split.
 
Passatmann0 said:
I changed the cam on my Polo Bluemotion a couple of years ago, I never moved the tandem pump and after that had an oil leak the same as you describe which took an age to find, I tried a new cam cover gasket then thinking the cover was warped I tried another cam cover and tried sealing the cam cover with Hylomar
To cut a very long story short the tandem pump butts up against the cam bearing cap and that was where the leak was coming from, £7.50 for a new metal gasket and that was the end of the leak, if you think about it, you are told to replace the Tandem pump gasket every time the tandem pump is disturbed, as it is compressed between the pump and the bearing cap removing the bearing cap has the same effect as taking off the tandem pump, for all the price of a new gasket you've nothing to loose in fact ater all I went through it was a cheap fix!!
Hope that helps
Sandy
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Sound advice! I'm bit loathe to touch the pump given nightmares with air in system I've read on here. However I may well take a closer look at this. The pump nor cam have been touched but its done 148k so doubt its long before I get issue!
 
audifan said:
The two likely culprits are either the EGR valve is leaking oil out the "breather" or the tandem pump gasket has failed. As you have oil in the air pipes I can not say which it is for sure. Carefully clean down all the back of the engine to remove current oil. Once clean it should make the location more obvious if you apply a small amount of talcum powder to suspect areas this will quickly show a leak. Just clean everything off afterwards.

Certainly change the tandem pump gasket for a good quality OEM one with the 2 blue tracts of silicone - the ones without WILL LEAK.

Have a very good look at the EGR to see if oil is coming out from there or the engine inlet pipe to the EGR. If there is oil coming out the EGR them may be a good idea to see if there is much oil in the ASV before that causes an issue.

That is assuming the cam cover gasket is good, the cam cover itself is not cracked or warped, the oil cap seal is good and the breather pipe has not split.
Click to expand...
Hi, great options there thank you. The cover was brand new from crewe audi so should be flat and well.sealed now. Should!...

Hmm I did change the egr out for a naughty one (via audi specialist) so it could be the seal between the egr and inlet manifold, maybe gone flat. I have new ones but as always, I couldn't get to that as after 30 minutes undoing the egr pipe bolts I couldn't separate it from the egr. (Second time I've failed at this).
The asv was almost dry as was the spacer pipe so that bodes well.

What's the oil cap seal and breater pipe? Is that the useless oil filler cap under the scuttle and the pipe off that? I'll check but seemed okay when I looked.

This has been useful thanks. Think it's narrowed down to tandem pump gasket and or egr to inlet manifold. Can't understand how the oil gets everywhere!
Need miniature HD camera whilst driving to see what's going on, so tight down the back with pipes and wires everywhere it's like a Bangkok side street.
 
Fortunately changing the tandem pump gasket is straight forward. You do not need to disconnect any fuel line to just change the gasket. Only 4 bolts secure it to the side of the engine. Make sure both the pump and engine are spotlessly clean and fit the new gasket between. I always JUST run down the bolts until they touch then torque to spec in a diagonal pattern.

By the way I would say with your mileage the tandem is very much in that window for replacement.
 
I spent years chasing oil leaks up the back of an AMF. The culprits were:
Equal first tandem pump gasket and cam cover gasket.
Distant third EGR valve.
As audifan says the tandem pump gasket is quick and easy so I would start there, but after that don't be surprised if it is the cam cover. The EGR is easily checked and discounted or included. I had all three leaks.
Edit, just a thought, did your garage replace the cam cover gasket?
 
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philward said:
I spent years chasing oil leaks up the back of an AMF. The culprits were:
Equal first tandem pump gasket and cam cover gasket.
Distant third EGR valve.
As audifan says the tandem pump gasket is quick and easy so I would start there, but after that don't be surprised if it is the cam cover. The EGR is easily checked and discounted or included. I had all three leaks.
Edit, just a thought, did your garage replace the cam cover gasket?
Click to expand...
Hi, sounds like tandem pump then. Yes cam cover was changed for new one then refitted with sealant and correct torque pattern and left 18 hours before driving so I hope we’re good with that.
 
CrispyEdd said:
Hi, sounds like tandem pump then. Yes cam cover was changed for new one then refitted with sealant and correct torque pattern and left 18 hours before driving so I hope we’re good with that.
Click to expand...
I depends if the new gasket is compatible with the cover. The covers and gaskets were upgraded and the original gaskets became NLA. To fit a new gasket you also had to buy a new cover. The revised cover now is NLA I believe. So if you have a new gasket with a factory cover it will leak no matter how much sealant is applied.
 
philward said:
I depends if the new gasket is compatible with the cover. The covers and gaskets were upgraded and the original gaskets became NLA. To fit a new gasket you also had to buy a new cover. The revised cover now is NLA I believe. So if you have a new gasket with a factory cover it will leak no matter how much sealant is applied.
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Morning, I had a full new cover with gasket in it from Audi so fingers crossed!
 
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