4Driver4

Who are you seconding? Your response is to the root.

muzzy996

Sorry, still trying to get used to this new "hybrid" of vb.

MrMcKulit

Do you have to redo the valve cover to get to the cam plug?

I'm just curious if I can do this myself.

RPortela

you've gotten good feedback on the smoke issue, but not for the 2nd pic.

I had a same leak in that coolant 3way. Then was looking at it one day, and the second i put my hand on it it exploded.. the plastic three-way gave out and threw the hot coolant everywhere and dumped it all in the middle of the street. If it's doing that, replace it asap, it could blow anytime and leave you with your car overheating, smoking like crazy, and dumping all the coolant on the highway. from what I see in the pic it's right on the edge of breaking.

4Driver4

No. You can pop the plug out and pop the new one in. Although the easiest way is to do it at the same time as the cam adjuster seal so that you can loosen the cam cap and pop it in and out more easily.

People tend to attack oil leaks in piecemeal fashion, which is poor stategy. The best bet is prevention; do all the seals with the timing belt service. The second best bet is to do as much as possible at once. I have seen lots of people replace the valve cover gaskets before discovering that the cam adjuster seal is the real problem. To replace the cam adjuster seal, not only must the valve cover be removed, but the gasket is not re-usable.

MrMcKulit

Thanks for the quick response. I understand that it should be taken cared of all at once. Believe me that's what I would have done. I just bought this A6 last month and according to the previous owner (backed with an invoice) he just did the timing belt. As far as I can see from the invoice not everything was done which is silly because they already took the car apart for the TB. I guess I don't have a choice at this point but to redo everything which will cost me close to 2 grand.

On my head I'm trying to justify if I really need to do it. Is it just merely an annoyance? Hypothetically if I buy a quart of oil every week (due to the leak) at $6 that would be around $300/yr. I was thinking of waiting to put at least 30K on the car before doing the TB again - and do it right this time.

4Driver4

You can do a lot without messing too much with the belt. Next dead batteries, oil leaks are my biggest pet peeve.

mpw

Second on RPortela's statement regarding the second picture. The replacement part is now metal and cost me $16.