Oil Problem - any ideas?

[Mikeyplum]

The car is a VW Bora 1.9 TDI PD130

It's recently been suffering with an oil leak coming from the rocker cover (top right corner if looking from a birds eye view), so I bought a new Rocker Cover Gakset. Now VW do not sell these individually, only if you purchase the whole Rocker Cover Kit, which is an astranomical £130 + VAT. So I went down to my local parts dealer and bought an aftermarket gasket. Upon fitting the gasket I noticed that it wasn't an exact fit (assuming because it's aftermarket) but seemed to seal up well. Anyway, after a few hundered miles, and a lot of white smoke from the engine bay (where oil was dripping onto the exhaust manifold) the oil light came on, so bought a litre of oil (same brand) and topped it up. So, it still appeared to be leaking... a LOT!! Over the next week or two, I topped it up with about 2.5L of oil in total. So yesterday I took the rocker cover off, cleaned the gasket up with some degreaser, as well as the head, and used some instant gasket to make a better seal. Whilst doing this, I thought I would take a look to check that I hadn't cracked the sump as I was baffled by the amount of oil that was leaking out. The Sump seamed fine, no cracks etc. But the whole of the back of the engine, Driveshaft, gearbox, turbo was covered in a thick layer of oil! I managed to clean some of it off, but unfortunatley my go go gadget fingers are out of order at the moment so could not get in all the nooks and crannies.

Does anyone have any idea what could be causing all of this oil to be here? I'm totally baffled!!

Thanks PH
Mike

P.S Sorry for the long thread!!

[Petrolhead_Rich]

could just be the rocker cover, oil sticks to the engine and runs down, but also gets blown off by the airflow and splatters to the underside of the car!

[Mikeyplum]

doogz said:

When you had the rocker cover off, you never left any sort of breather pipe disconnected by accident, or a vacuum pipe, anything like that?

Not that I recall, and I Put everything back on when I was finished.

I'm wondering if it could be the oil feed to the turbo leaking or something? There's so much oil, i just cant pinpoint where it's coming from...

[ROB 100]

I take it the rocker cover ain't twisted,
are you torquing the rocker bolts in the right order?

[Mikeyplum]

ROB 100 said:

I take it the rocker cover ain't twisted,
are you torquing the rocker bolts in the right order?

This is where I might be going wrong? Would it make a massive difference then? Any idea in which order thet should be torqued?

[Mikeyplum]

doogz said:

ROB 100 said:

I take it the rocker cover ain't twisted,
are you torquing the rocker bolts in the right order?

I severely doubt he's undone the rocker bolts.

No not the rocker Bolts, the rocker cover bolts!

[y2blade]

Mikeyplum said:

ROB 100 said:

I take it the rocker cover ain't twisted,
are you torquing the rocker bolts in the right order?

This is where I might be going wrong? Would it make a massive difference then? Any idea in which order thet should be torqued?

they (and all bolts) should be tightend in a criss-cross pattern

[Mikeyplum]

y2blade said:

Mikeyplum said:

ROB 100 said:

I take it the rocker cover ain't twisted,
are you torquing the rocker bolts in the right order?

This is where I might be going wrong? Would it make a massive difference then? Any idea in which order thet should be torqued?

they (and all bolts) should be tightend in a criss-cross pattern

Thanks for that... though the leak from th rocker cover seems to have stopped for the time being. I will need to have a closer look this evening.

I just cant get over how much oil is actually coating the back of the engine!

[Petrolhead_Rich]

Mikeyplum said:

Thanks for that... though the leak from th rocker cover seems to have stopped for the time being. I will need to have a closer look this evening.

I just cant get over how much oil is actually coating the back of the engine!

You would be surprised at the amount of coverage from a small amount of oil and how much oil can be lost from a rocker cover!

Turbo Oil leak would create ALOT of smoke, like to the point of not being able to see to drive!

Iv'e had tiny oil leaks that have completely covered the underside of the car!

[Mikeyplum]

doogz said:

Petrolhead_Rich said:

Mikeyplum said:

Thanks for that... though the leak from th rocker cover seems to have stopped for the time being. I will need to have a closer look this evening.

I just cant get over how much oil is actually coating the back of the engine!

You would be surprised at the amount of coverage from a small amount of oil and how much oil can be lost from a rocker cover!

Turbo Oil leak would create ALOT of smoke, like to the point of not being able to see to drive!

Iv'e had tiny oil leaks that have completely covered the underside of the car!

He does say it's required around 2.5L of oil to keep it topped up the appropriate level in the last couple of weeks though.

Might be worth a trip to a garage to have a mechanic look at it, in case it's something a bit more serious than a leaky gasket.

My thoughts exactly, I consider myself savvy with a spanner when it comes to the more simpler tasks of car maintenance, but I feel this is a little out of my league... A trip to my Mech is definatley on the cards!

Thanks for the pointers guys!

[Mikeyplum]

doogz said:

The Crack Fox said:

Jetwash the engine whilst the engine is running, get it clean, do a few miles and you'll soon be able to spot where a big oil leak is coming from. Good luck.

Please don't do this.

Soak all your electrics while the engine is running, blast cold water all over your hot turbocharger and exhaust manifold?

No.

On a similar note, I was contemplating getting the engine steam cleaned, and then seeing where the oil was coming from. But thought a mechanic would be much less a waste of money!

[Mikeyplum]

doogz said:

Mikeyplum said:

doogz said:

The Crack Fox said:

Jetwash the engine whilst the engine is running, get it clean, do a few miles and you'll soon be able to spot where a big oil leak is coming from. Good luck.

Please don't do this.

Soak all your electrics while the engine is running, blast cold water all over your hot turbocharger and exhaust manifold?

No.

On a similar note, I was contemplating getting the engine steam cleaned, and then seeing where the oil was coming from. But thought a mechanic would be much less a waste of money!

If you take it to a mechanic, they might want to steam clean it before they do anything else, so they can get a proper look, but i'd not reccommend pressure washing it, while it's running.

Good point... I just got to hope that its nothing serious...

[volvos60s60]

I lost a lot of oil throgh a leaking rocker cover gasket. Just get some Gunk engine degreaser, apply with an old paint brush & hose off in a controlled manner. No excessive splashing & you'll see where it's coming from

[Mardybum]

Blocked breather I'm betting, any oil leaking from the dip stick?

[Mikeyplum]

So... hosed the engine down yesterday with some soapy water and could see the wood from the trees.

It was, infact, the rocker cover gasket that was causing the leak, quite a lot too!

took the rocker cover off, cleaned the gasket and head and applied some instant gasket silicone seal and refitted rocker cover. It seemed to do the trick for a while, but then that dreaded smell of burning oil returned!! Upon inspection I think the instant gasket has failed and slipped out (probably due to not cleaning the gasket properly so the silicone could not find a key to stick to).

Next step is to take it all off again, soak the gasket in some degreaser and allow to dry, as well as the rocker cover its self. Clean the head and degrease, and apply some more instant gasket silicone and refit and hopefully this will solve the problem!

[jatinder]

£130 for a rocker cover gasket????!!! I think they were having you on, i'm sure it would be available seperatly.

[NHK244V]

rocker gasket just over a tenna

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volkswagen_Bora_...

[Mikeyplum]

jatinder said:

£130 for a rocker cover gasket????!!! I think they were having you on, i'm sure it would be available seperatly.

Sorry if I wasn't clear...

VW will not sell the gasket seperatley, only as a kit which includes a new Rocker Cover and I was quoted £130 + VAT for that kit from VW.

I purchased a new aftermarket gasket from a local shop costing me £16