roylok

I think I've mentioned my fix before in a couple places, but I thought I'd make it a separate thread, since there is a lot of people with oil leaks, and lets face it, our cars are getting old!

There is nothing worse, than having a nice sedan, clean, easy on the eyes and pleasure to drive that leaks all over. It's like your dog dragging his *** on the carpet after hes taken a ****!

My car , has embarrassed me a lot last year, I had to park on the street and not on the driveway, when I had to visit people.

I thought I could get it under control and I almost gave up when I couldn't, but I thing I have found the silver bullet. For some at least

So I did the Valve covers(1), and the filter housing(2), all leaking, the housing was the worst, it was a trickle, and hard to get to. I did the pan(3) aswell, and it was still leaking.



Oh the joy of having to replace a seal that costs $10 but you have to take hours of labor to get to it


I had no leak at the back so no need to do the chain resealing. the leak was at the front, I could see it dripping down But I could't tell where it was coming from. UV dye didn't help much, or maybe I didn't pay much attention because I had just about enough!

So I thought , duck it! I'm going to get some of that snake oil , the mechanic in a bottle crap.

It stands to reason that if the main seals are dry and oil can get past, then a seal swelling additive should do the trick. Yes I know, it can also do damage, but at his point I didn't care anymore.

I could have gone with a generic off the shelf re-sealer, or the "mystery oil" (which reminds of snake oil, I don't like mysteries in my purchases) , or a Lucas product which my dad has used all the time and they are overpriced useless crap. Logically any product that rejuvenates the seals should work, but I had my reasons to pick what I did.

I went with "Atp At-205"


My local parts store, not one of the chains, but a brick and mortar store, with friendly people that have been doing what they do for 40 years and love cars, had every single additive that you can think of.
As I stood there , looking at all that crap trying to convince myself which one was the better bottle this nice gentleman walked up to me grabbed a bottle of ATP and handed it over to me with a smile. I asked if it's any good, like we all do, as if anyone trying to sell you something, is going to have an epiphany and say "No that's ****, I'm just trying to take your money!"

He didn't reply but asked me what the issue was. So I explained what I had done, and how the only other solution was replace the main seal. He said that if the seal is not cracked this should do it, and asked me to get another bottle(one bottle treats 6 quarts). So I picked the last bottle of at-205 on the shelf, while they had hundreds of the other brands. That alone should have been a sign of a good product.

So I went home, drained some oil and put the bottles in, i'ts more than the directions but I need this to work I justified it. According to the instructions it works fast! about 100 miles, or so I remember.

I drove around, hoping it would stop, but it didn't. Not at 100 miles, not at 200 or 400. The oil drops followed me, and I thought the seals were bad. I didn't think much of it but one day I was parked on a dry spot overnight and there was no oil spots under my car.

Being the dumb *** I am, I thought maybe I've lost all oil and there is nothing left to leak. So I checked the dip stick and oil level was fine. what a relief!
The next day parked in another dry spot and there were no signs of a leak!

I don't know whether it was 500 miles or 600 miles but looking back I don't really care. That stuff saved my car and my sanity. I changed the oil and put another bottle in , just because. One year later no leaks!
I occasionally do the undercarriage check for wet spots but everything under my car is dry! Maybe force of habit, but every single time I check under the car for any wet patches, I get up with a smile on my face.

I am surprised people don't recommend that product enough! It is good ****! Just don't believe the bottle, it takes many more miles to work!

kelisko

Thanks for sharing! Which year is your A6 BTW? Any previous wrecks?

jetsfan101

I have a similar issue. But my issue is back of the engine. 3.0 supercharged.

People say the oil filter housing is a usual culprit. How did you get back there to check for that leak. And you mentioned you replaced something there too, what did you do.

I recently put in the Lucas stop oil leak, but after 200 miles didn't see an improvement so drained it out. If i can diagnose it's leaking at the seal somewhere, i would be willing to put this stuff in.

I appreciate any input from you on this

roylok

@kelisko it's a 2007 , v8 no wrecks.

@jetsfan101 my understanding is that there are two main seals, front and back. If they are just dry and not cracked, rubber can be brought back to life.

The filter housing base has a figure 8 rubber seal. It dries up and leaks. It did in mine and many others that have replaced it in here. It is almost guaranteed that if you have a major leak in front of the car, that is what's leaking. I assumed the majority of the oil was coming from there and I was right, there was a pool of oil on top of the engine under the intake manifold. The picture was taken after I dried up most of the oil.


I was planing a carbon cleaning anyway, so I did two things at the same time. Cleaning was badly needed. Everything was covered in thick gunk.

I'm not a fan of Lucas, but maybe it could work, as I said mine took longer that 200 miles. Maybe Lucas wasn't in there for enough miles, maybe you didn't put enough of it.

I can only tell you that Atp worked. Directions say a bottle per 6 quarts of oil, I put 2 bottles for a total of 9+ quarts of oil in my engine. The leak completely stopped after 500 miles. No noticeable oil breakdown , weird colors, or particles in the oil after the change. I don't think it has caused any damage to the engine.

I forgot to mention, pour it on a cold engine or it will evaporate. It's definitely worth a shot.

roylok

I used the write up on how to do a carbon cleaning, on AW to get to the filter housing base.

jetsfan101

I thought the oil filter for the 4.2L 2007 was on the top in the rear of the engine, just like on my 3.0t....Why would that leak be visible on the front? My leak is in the back. I can't see it from the top, but by looking at it from the bottom it looks to be coming from the vicinity of the passenger side rear cam seals. See picture. The oil filter housing is back there also, but more towards the middle. That's why i figured it may be that, but i can't see it.

How the hell did you take that picture, must've removed half the car ?

AudiVWSkodaOwner

Hello Jetsfan101, have you ever resolved that leak? I have 2014 A6 3.0T supercharged at 110K miles. I suspect it may be the oil filter housing but not sure yet. Thanks.

RAudi Driver

Jets fan, is this a picture of your leak on your car? If so, what's the car and engine? I have a 2015 Q7 3.0T and my leak is identical to yours. I'm ready to attack the fix. I'll post up the picture I took of my leak.

AudiVWSkodaOwner

Update: I have left the ATP AT-205 stop leak for about 500 miles. Then performed oil change. It's been a few months now and there are no leaks/dripping on the ground. I did clean the soaked felt under engine cover (which might be absorbing a slow drip too) but it seems that I have no oil leak now. My leak was coming at the back side of the engine close to the steering rack. I hope that helps and provides some hope for folks. Thanks.

electricguy142

I've seen that part of my car, too. Damned seal.