jseklund

Hi guys, I haven't been around in a while, but I know someone here has an idea. I recently did a timing belt job for someone on a 1.8T A4Q. After I did the job, the guy was complaining of oil leaks, I took the cover off and saw oil inside the timing belt cover. Everything looked good, so I assumed the crank seal wasn't in properly, as I know that is common, and I redid it and put in a new crank seal.

Long story short, the oil leaks have continued. I've replaced the crank seal 3 times, and the last time I took it all apart to check, the crank seal was completely dry, so I replaced the cam seals, cam tensioner seals, and valve cover gasket again, just to be sure.

Anyway, I got a call that it was still leaking and I went to look. There is a small amount of oil in the timing belt area when I remove the top cover. The cam seals appear to be totally dry, the valve cover gasket shows no signs of leakage. The owner of the car is telling me he puts in a quart with almost every tank of gas.

Looking at the engine, there seems to be A LOT of oil on the exterior of the turbo, some of the lines in that area, and a ton on the intake hose going into the front of the turbo. I'm wondering if there is an oil line to the turbo that could be leaking? Any other thoughts? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks guys!

Highmile

Yikes, that area gets hot! not a good place to have oil leaking. Sounds like that's the area you want to focus your search. Since you have ruled out the seals, VC gasket, ect.

Clean up the mess really good, then run it and look for leaks? If he's leaking a quart of oil for every tank of gas, that leak should reveal itself.

Kris Hansen

This all happened after a timing belt job? This is why I never replace seals that aren't already leaking..

jseklund

Thanks for the replies guys! Sorry I don't have as much time to be on the forum lately....sorry for the delays!

Anyway, I changed the seals, but I also believed the guy when he told me he had no oil leaks. He probably had one and didn't know. NONE of the seals are leaking. It has to be something else, and I'm guessing the oil line to the turbo is the culprit.

G_claudz

double check that the line to the turbo is tightly on to rule out the possibility of it leaking right by the turbo

Prospeeder

is this an AEB engine code? If so, on the Auxillary shaft did you remove the seal flange and replace the oring behind it? If not thats whats leaking.

jseklund

This is an AWM engine. Not sure what the Auxiliary shaft is? I did the two cam seals in the front, the crank seal in the front (which I thought was leaking originally), the cam tensioner seals, and the valve cover seals. I didn't touch anything else beyond water pump, rollers, thermostat and tensioner.

I've seen there is an o-ring that leaks at the connection to the turbo - if so, this was a problem that I think probably has nothing to do with what I did and is just coincidental....but I'd like to be able to fix it.

jseklund

I am going to do that...I'm thinking that may be the issue - it looks like that can come lose at times?

Prospeeder

Ah sorry AWM doesnt have the Auxiliary shaft. You should check the pcv valve operates correctly, and isnt allowing boost into the crankcase and pushing oil out the seals.