Slow oil leak around front of wheel arch

[PH68]

Octavia L&K 1.9 diesel engine, 53 plate.

I appear to have a small / slow oil leak. There is oil on the bottom inch or so inside the front of the driver's side wheel arch, and a small amount on the underside of the front bumper area. I found a patch of oil on the ground under this area yesterday which alerted me to the problem - but being in a public area, I cannot guarantee it is from my vehicle(!), so the extent may be minor at the moment. Dried the area last night, had small amount of fresh wet oil in the same area today, although no patch on the ground.

Oil light has not come on, and there is plenty oil still in the tank.

Any (sensible) suggestions welcomed.

Thanks.

Edited 11 March, 2010 by PH68

[mbames]

could be oil dripping from the bottom of the intercooler.... caused by the crankcase breather venting warm oily gasses into the EGR and then on into the intercooler before reaching the turbo....

[berre]

had something similar, the oilcooler was damaged because the plastic "air conductor" was pressed against it... In my opinion a construction fault but skoda didn't see it that way

they said I've hit something with my bumper but I'm 100% sure I didn't

here are some pics, sorry for the text in dutch, I've translated it

"damage to the oilcooler, obviously a straight line"

"standard installation of oilcooler, the plastic "air conductor" is pressed against it"

"I trimmed about 1cm off the plastic "air conductor" to prevent this from happening again"

cheers

B

[devonutopia]

I am nominating the most likely candidate as weeping boost pipework which has filled with crankcase oil / gunk at it's lowest point. It's one reason I now vent my crankcase to atmos along with my EGR. No oily gunk at all.

[KenONeill]

Another vote for a leak from the intercooler or the lower pipe joint connecting to it.

[Shadow.1]

Octavia L&K 1.9 diesel engine, 53 plate.

I appear to have a small / slow oil leak. There is oil on the bottom inch or so inside the front of the driver's side wheel arch, and a small amount on the underside of the front bumper area. I found a patch of oil on the ground under this area yesterday which alerted me to the problem - but being in a public area, I cannot guarantee it is from my vehicle(!), so the extent may be minor at the moment. Dried the area last night, had small amount of fresh wet oil in the same area today, although no patch on the ground.

Oil light has not come on, and there is plenty oil still in the tank.

Any (sensible) suggestions welcomed.

Thanks.

Hi: I've an 05 Octavia 1.9TDI 99,000 miles and it was leaking oil from underneath the turbo pipe. It can happen if you're not driving the car hard enough, not sure the correct way of it but it's oil that builds up because the turbo's not being used. I drive like a granny so can't argue. Apparently turbo diesels need to be flogged now and again to keep them breathing right. You can buy stuff to pour into the tank called Cataclean, a mechanic sold it to me but most motor factors have it. It cleans the cat,turbo,valves etc and other parts that need it. It's about £16 I used it on mine and it's fine now.

Most likely this is what's causing it.

[karlbar2k]

If it goes in the tank then it is not going to get to the turbo as the turbo is taking in air. the fuel gets added at the injectors (it may get a small amount due to the EGR but not enough to "clean the turbo") but the flog it now and again is true for the vag tdi's as if the vanes never operate they will get clogged, then its a case of stripping off pipework and cleaning with a spray to free them up again.

Best thing is to fit a catch can, vent to atmos (but should involve a change to the mapping) or clean out the IC once in a while. I cleaned SWMBO's passat IC out and got a mug full out of it

[mbames]

Sounds like that mechanic needs avoiding