Now what....Phantom Oil leak!

adi #2 · Post by **adi #2** » 26th November 2009 - 9:03pm

I really am not having much luck with this car

.

Now its developed an oil leak, and i cant really figure out where its from. It leaked this much oil in about 16 hours, which is quiet alot. Like...you know...its still drivable and stuff, but its more oil then i would like it to leak.

I tried to figure out where its coming from, but no luck. Oil seems to be making its way to the crossmember thing, and that steel plate in the corner of the sump, but its coming from somewhere further up i think.

Unfortunatly, the car is lowered, and i didnt have a jack, and the ground was wet and cold and miserable, but i did manage to get a couple of photos.

At first, i thought, maybe when the belt jumped off the pully, it damaged either the dipstick tube or the oil filler tube, but they seem fine, i put my hand down there to try and feel oil and/or damage, but nothing.

If it was the crank oil seal, it would be dripping from the middle, right?

Its almost like the leak is coming down the metal pipe thing thats circled with red in this pic. What IS that anyway?

Any idea what could possibly cause something like this?

Post by **Editor** » 26th November 2009 - 9:07pm

Breather OK? I'm not sure what the breather valve does in a Type 4.

adi #2 · Post by **adi #2** » 26th November 2009 - 9:12pm

My one has a PCV system, with fresh air from the air filter admitted to the heads, sucked through the sump and out of the central breather through a special restricting and anti-backfire valve into the inlet manifold.

And that all seems fine, besides, the leak seems to have happened while the engine was not running.

Lahti411 · Post by **Lahti411** » 27th November 2009 - 4:41pm

I believe that pipe is the oil filler neck. It's possible that the problem in your case is something as simple as split rubber gaiter between two oil filler pipes (the one you see on the pic and the other you see in the tailgate opening).

411ron · Post by **411ron** » 27th November 2009 - 5:41pm

Looks like the oil filler pipe gasket is gone where it connects to the crankcase its above the rear stabaliser crossbar.
Look for an oval flange where it connects to the crankcase it has 2 x 8mm studs, a simple repair but also check the pipe is not rusted thro,
take out the top end in tailgate first 2 screws after draining oil from engine.
Ron

TYPE IV estate · Post by **TYPE IV estate** » 8th December 2009 - 4:21pm

It looks to me like it *could* be the pushrod tubes, and the oil has just spread around covering everything else.

adi #2 · Post by **adi #2** » 8th December 2009 - 5:08pm

Well, the phantom oil leak seems to have gone away. I dont know what happened, but it aint losing any oil, and the oil is near max, so i kind of stopped caring.

Maybe its just when i took the air filter off and half of it spilled onto the engine block, and slowly trickled its way down. Although, thats black oil, and smells like its definitely used crank case oil. I dunno.

Im going to rip the remains of the old exhaust off (going to make a twin system for it), so once its got no exhaust and is jacked up, i might investigate further just to see if it is the filler pipe or gasket.