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Oil leak help!!!

9K views 27 replies 4 participants last post by  HybridKid 
#1 ·
So I've had this oil leak for a while now. The harder I drive the worse the leak which makes me think it's the turbo. I had the car sit for 2 weeks and no oil leaked but in a few days of driving hard I'll lose a quart. This leak has been like this ever since the pcv valve went bad. I didn't drive it for that long with the pcv valve bad but could that have caused more damage than just the valve? I see some oil around the valve cover but I've wiped around it and no substantial oil spots have formed, although I def need to change it. The biggest oil spots are neat the Bov and on the transmission in that area. Also I see some by the throttle body and there is a bead at the bottom of the tranny. Also the bar between the cont4ol Arms I guess that's the sway bar or something it's like a round metal pole that's covered in oil. I'll get some pics later on or tomorrow but any help will be much appreciated on what I should look for or change. When looking at the turbo from the top I don't see and oil dropping down and I see a little oil spot on the end of one of the line (I'm not sure which line is which a diagram would be helpful if possible)
 
#2 ·
So have you changed the PCV?
Going into boost with a bad valve means you are pressurizing the crank case and pushing oil through the other port on the valve cover. So any crack that is not completely sealed is getting oil pushed out it. There is a potential of not allowing the turbo to drain back into the crankcase properly and oil will get by the seals and also cause burnt and coked the bearings.
You need to fix that (PCV) first then clean up the engine area.
If you still lose oil and don't see any telltale signs on the outside of the engine, it can be; bad valve seals, bad piston rings, bad turbo seals
 
#3 ·
So I replaced the pcv already with an OEM pcv. I also put a catch can and have a check valve to install. This oil leak is post pcv valve change. Will there be visible leaks if the valve seals are bad or the piston rings? Where should I be looking for concentrated oil spots? I guess I should really clean up the engine bay because from the bad pcv valve oil was shooting out the blow off valve like serious amounts of oil. But the oil is definitely coming down to under the transmission like I see little drops forming at the bottom of the transmission. What should be my next steps here?
 
#6 ·
The oil around the valve cover may be due to someone changing the gasket but not Rtving the proper areas. Oil below BOV may be coming from this.

 
#7 ·
So I've had this oil leak for a while now. The harder I drive the worse the leak which makes me think it's the turbo. I had the car sit for 2 weeks and no oil leaked but in a few days of driving hard I'll lose a quart. This leak has been like this ever since the pcv valve went bad. I didn't drive it for that long with the pcv valve bad but could that have caused more damage than just the valve? I see some oil around the valve cover but I've wiped around it and no substantial oil spots have formed, although I def need to change it. The biggest oil spots are neat the Bov and on the transmission in that area. Also I see some by the throttle body and there is a bead at the bottom of the tranny. Also the bar between the cont4ol Arms I guess that's the sway bar or something it's like a round metal pole that's covered in oil. I'll get some pics later on or tomorrow but any help will be much appreciated on what I should look for or change. When looking at the turbo from the top I don't see and oil dropping down and I see a little oil spot on the end of one of the line (I'm not sure which line is which a diagram would be helpful if possible)
The oil around the valve cover may be due to someone changing the gasket but not Rtving the proper areas. Oil below BOV may be coming from this.

That's in the back of the engine right? Like under the turbo opposite side of the front bumper?

That's in the back of the engine opposite side of the front bumper under the turbo area? There's no oil pressure light on or anything though.

Also I've noticed my exhaust sounds more poppy like making more pop sounds and harder pops. What does that mean?
 
#8 ·
That's in the back of the engine opposite side of the front bumper under the turbo area? There's no oil pressure light on or anything though.

Also I've noticed my exhaust sounds more poppy like making more pop sounds and harder pops. What does that mean?
Yes that is the location, they can go bad though and leak.
Stock cars always Pop.
 
#13 · (Edited)
So little update here. I got a change to look under the car today, and it looks like there's oil leaking from here:



https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx09-KyyimFcWi1tdTR3a0ViSFdSRldJLUdxTjNRbnJhS0xj/view?usp=sharing

What is that part that has those two rubber L fittings? Note that this image is under the area around the drivers wheel well. Note that it did rain a lot last night, and it was wet. So some of that is wet and not just oil. This oil leak is really driving me crazy. Can anyone give me a little synopsis of where oil travels that may have leaks? Sorry for the stupid questions here. This is my first car that I've owned that is turbo'd and has performance parts. So I've been doing a lot of research and learning a lot, but I sure as hell don't know everything. Also, in terms of repairs, I can almost do anything with a how-to guide or a youtube video lol
 
#14 ·
Looks like the front EVAP valve, nothing to do with oil. Gasoline vapor is the only thing that goes through there, unless one of the one way valves is bad and then gasoline can make it into the canister.
On a turbo, the only difference as far as oil is concerned are the supply to lubricate and cool the turbo and the drain back into the crankcase after passing by the bearings. There is No pressure on the drain side.
Other than that, oil flow is the same as any other wet sump engine.
Oil Pan->Oil Pickup->Oil Pump->Oil Filter->Pressure Sensor/Crank/Piston/Bearings/Cams/Turbo/etc->Oil Pan
 
#15 ·
Okay cool. Yeah sorry for the dumb questions this is just driving me crazy. So just another fact to add, my brother and I were driving around the parkway yesterday and he said when I'd floor it, there would be a noticable amount of black smoke coming from my tail pipe, only when I floor it. I do have a catch can, but it wasn't hooked up at that time (one of the lines popped off when I was driving a little earlier, so I just re-attached the line straight from the pcv valve to the throttle body). He said he's never noticed it before, and he drives a jetta so you know he knows what the back of my car looks like
 
#17 · (Edited)
What does your car spike when you boost and what's the background of this car?

Oil leaks is one of the few things that I think is easy to track down on this car. With the exception of the rear main seal, all of these can be checked in less than an hour. Clean all oily surfaces with a a little dish liquid and a paper towel, go out for an Italian tune up, then recheck those areas.

oil feed on top of the turbo
oil cooler
Valve cover (curved edges)
oil feed from block to turbo (should be wrapped in foil like cloth)
Oil return from bottom of turbo (Paper gasket, No gasket, or worse depending on PO)
Oil pressure sensor
Camshaft seals
Crankshaft seal (Rare)
Rear main seal (Rare)
 
#19 ·
I would take Slowryd's list and troubleshoot the ones that the gasket or seal wasn't replaced. The cynic in me though would recommend you check everything again even iff it says it was replaced. You have to start by cleaning the engine bay of ALL oil residue to see where oil is leaking externally. If nothing, then it is internal and going out the tailpipe or getting sucked into the engine and burnt before going out the exhaust.
Check your PCV valve and routing.
As far as the noise you heard, that is going to be hard for us to identify right now since it does it when turning or sitting idle, which means it could be 2 different things or the same.
Since you are losing so much oil that is the biggest issue right now unless the noise gets louder or something breaks.
Have you done a compression check or leak down on the cylinders?
Recently another member was burning oil and couldn't accept that it was his rings, until after months of back and forth and frustrations he pulled the engine apart to find out his rings and pistons were bad.
 
#20 ·
So i spent a little time today on this. I ser oil in my intake tube and on that end of the turbo like inside where the intake tube meets the turbo and i see oil around my valve covet and a little bead under whatever sensor that is right by the right side corner closest to the front of the car. No oil on plugs or in tubes.
 
#21 ·
The intake tube, cold and hot sides (before and after intercooler) usually has oil in a stock PCV and valve cover setup. The nipple on the valve cover, driver's side, is attached to the intake after the filter, and before the turbo, so oil, over time in that air gets sucked in by the turbo and blown through the intercooler and into the engine. You can probably bet if you take a look in the cold side of the intercooler, there will be a pool of oil there. This is why most people run a catch can but everyone does it different.
Do you have a catch can?
Compression test?
 
#24 · (Edited)
An improperly functioning PCV system will cause smoking under boost. As far as the cam seals go if it is leaking you will find oil close to the crankshaft pulley directly behind the passenger wheel. Get up to to temp and do a pull then report back. You can also pull the top timing cover and take a look as well, I believe its about 3 bolts. If you are still smoking perform a leakdown test and post the results.
 
#26 ·
Okay I will check out behind the passenger wheel well and check that out. Also not sure if I mentioned before, but I did see a little droplet of oil under the cam sensor.

But another thing I just found this under my cap for my oil catch can. Also, I did an oil change and it looks like there is a bit of coolant in my oil (I saw a little bit more of this stuff). Could a bad head gasket make oil burn this fast? I mean note that this literally just happened and I emptied my catch can about a week ago so within the last week this stuff has formed:

 
#25 ·
I had a similar issue, oil everywhere under the car and it was hard to pinpoint. I followed the oil to highest point and it went up by the valve cover. I cleaned off the valve cover and re-did the seal. Let the car idle for a bit and oil came back by the valve cover, which meant that my cam seal was bad. Keep in mind that the car only leaked when it was running. I tried to think of the best move but there was no way around taking the timing belt completely off to get to the cam seal. Once I got the exhaust cam seal out I could see it was damaged.
 
#28 ·
I assume this a daily driver, so the oil should not appear like this as the oil should be hot enough to evaporate any condensation which occurs normally.
Did the oil look the same when you drained it into the pan? How does the coolant look?
A blown head gasket is the most common cause.
 
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