So, I was aware of a small oil leak around the DV area, and it was raised again on the MOT.  Tonight, my low oil light came on again; first time in months (since getting the pan replaced etc).  I've hunted around in the engine bay with the torch from above and below and the only place I can oil is at the back of the main engine block, where I think the exhaust manifold mounts.  This would explain why I'm seeing oil trickle down to the DV/turbo area.  

 

Here are some photos:

 

https://goo.gl/photos/h5u7rWYzaKcRggERA

https://goo.gl/photos/DAdHEzAomRHY3R177

 

 

Has anyone had this and from initial impressions, am I looking at a head gasket or turbo seal or something?

 

I realise I sound like I'm saying "look at this photo, tell me what's wrong", but I'm hoping someone has had oil in a similar area and can give me an idea of where to start looking.

Although a completely different engine I traced an oil leak on a 1.2tsi to a small pcv valve between the cam cover and connected with a rubber pipe to the air filter. The pcv was broken off where it plugs into the cam cover via a grommet.

Start at the top of the engine with a powerful torch and work your way down.

Edited 26 November, 20169 yr by xman

Although a completely different engine I traced an oil leak on a 1.2tsi to a small pcv valve between the cam cover and connected with a rubber pipe to the air filter. The pcv was broken off where it plugs into the cam cover via a grommet.

Start at the top of the engine with a powerful torch and work your way down.

 

Thanks I'll try tomorrow when there's more light.

Valve cover gasket leaking at back and down onto manifold?

Valve cover gasket leaking at back and down onto manifold?

That's my current thought, as it appears to be coming from a bolt on the left. Expensive job if so?

Edited 26 November, 20169 yr by planehazza

That's my current thought, as it appears to be coming from a bolt on the left. Expensive job if so?

Looking at mk6 GTI forums looks pretty common and not a particularly easy or fast job due to the amount of integration of the valve cover. It said warranty work paid at 4 hours plus parts. Maybe DIY able for an enthusiastic member such as yourself! 

 

Had a look at mine and there is some seepage visible front and back. Not as bad as yours but I did give the engine bay a bath 6 months ago. It would have to be pretty bad to lose a litre of oil. Maybe give it a good clean and monitor for a while.

Edited 27 November, 20169 yr by TheClient

If the rocker cover was removed and then replaced without tightening the bolts correctly then that's probably the source of the leak. My old diesel mkII had this problem and although it looked bad I took the cover off cleaned everything up and did it back up properly and all was good.

Edited 27 November, 20169 yr by trundlenut

From my admittedly fast review of the other forums referred, I got the impression it may be sealant again rather than a gasket!

From my admittedly fast review of the other forums referred, I got the impression it may be sealant again rather than a gasket!

On my car you put four small blobs where the cam shaft meets the gasket at either end. The rest of the seal is down to the rubber gasket.

Thanks all.  I'm not fully clued up on all of the terminology.  My car has the timing chain issue at 48k; it's now at ~75k.  Chances are, as you say, the head has not been perfectly refitted.  It certainly looks like the oil is coming from the bolt in the below picture, but it's hard to tell for sure.  There is certainly fresh oil around the said bolt and the seam tonight after giving it a very quick wipe down yesterday with kitchen roll (all I had time for).  

 

 

 

What is the rocker cover? Is that the proper name for what I consider the head of the engine block; ie above the valves and pistons? Is rocker cover off an IM off jobby?

 

Doing some searching, and the pictures in this VW thread match what I'm seeing in mine:

 

http://www.golfmk6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17898

 

I've got all in all those places, including the coil packs (which have never been changed either).  I hope I'm not starting to see this car's end of life :( I've just spent £1k upgrading the suspension and other bits :(

Edited 27 November, 20169 yr by planehazza

Thanks all. I'm not fully clued up on all of the terminology. My car has the timing chain issue at 48k; it's now at ~75k. Chances are, as you say, the head has not been perfectly refitted. It certainly looks like the oil is coming from the bolt in the below picture, but it's hard to tell for sure. There is certainly fresh oil around the said bolt and the seam tonight after giving it a very quick wipe down yesterday with kitchen roll (all I had time for).

What is the rocker cover? Is that the proper name for what I consider the head of the engine block; ie above the valves and pistons? Is rocker cover off an IM off jobby?

Yes, the rocker cover is the plastic thing that cover the valves etc. I don't know about the IM tbh. On my old diesel you could just get access to all the bolts without removing anything else.

Yes, the rocker cover is the plastic thing that cover the valves etc. I don't know about the IM tbh. On my old diesel you could just get access to all the bolts without removing anything else.

 

Ah OK. rocker cover is the plastic thing on the side that houses all the chains etc? The valve cover is the top of the block?

Ah OK. rocker cover is the plastic thing on the side that houses all the chains etc? The valve cover is the top of the block?

No the thing on the very top. It's called a rocker cover from old push rod engines with rockers instead of a cam shaft.

No the thing on the very top. It's called a rocker cover from old push rod engines with rockers instead of a cam shaft.

This is assuming you have removed any cover over the engin first.

This is assuming you have removed any cover over the engin first.

 

hehe yup, that's off Thanks for clearing it up.  I have the car booked in on Tuesday with my trusty VAG garage.  I'll have him check over the PCV (it was fine when I looked about a year ago) and see if he can locate the true source(s) of the leak.

hehe yup, that's off Thanks for clearing it up.  I have the car booked in on Tuesday with my trusty VAG garage.  I'll have him check over the PCV (it was fine when I looked about a year ago) and see if he can locate the true source(s) of the leak.

Rocker cover = valve cover = cam cover.  It is the alloy casing that bolts to the top of the head and covers all the cam and follower workings.  I would of thought it would have a gasket, but if you look at the photos on that US forum, they have used VW green sealant all the way around and don't appear to list a part number for it, so perhaps not...

 

If you look closely at the left hand side It (the valve cover)  has a junction with the black upper timing chain cover. The bolt you are saying is the source is very near to that junction. I guess that is why the job report they list on that forum post they replaces upper timing chain cover gasket as well.  Your upper timing cover gasket should of been replaced with the timing chain work. 

 

Back in the day, when I used to do a lot more work on these sorts of things, in the case of the cars I used to work on, the valve cover was literally a cover with a few bolts and a gasket. Unbolt, check tappet clearances etc etc replace gasket and cover job done..   But now there are a lot of extra parts to deal with and the valve cover may even be used structurally for cam chain bearings or other functional support.

If its not dripping down the engine or causing a mess I would leave it alone. It only looks a like a slight weep from the pictures its not worth bothering with. 

If its not dripping down the engine or causing a mess I would leave it alone. It only looks a like a slight weep from the pictures its not worth bothering with.

Unfortunately it is :( Unless the oil is coming from somewhere else, I am leaking oil rather severely. It's dripping down a metal pipe to the DV/turbo area, and at first I thought it was the DV itself. Upon further inspection, it's dripping down from above. I've used around 1 litre (or whatever max to min is) in around 3 months.

Edited 28 November, 20169 yr by planehazza

Unfortunately it is :( Unless the oil is coming from somewhere else, I am leaking oil rather severely. It's dripping down a metal pipe to the DV/turbo area, and at first I thought it was the DV itself. Upon further inspection, it's dripping down from above. I've used around 1 litre (or whatever max to min is) in around 3 months.

 

Does the leak actually correlate to the volume loss from the sump over that time though? Do you think you have a litre of oil sloshing around on the undertray/coating the back of the engine block within 3 months?

 

If not, my suspicion would be that the greatest proportion of your loss is actually internal (mainly oil consumption past the piston rings, plus a bit escaping past PCV into intake etc). It does seems to be generally accepted that the original spec pistons/rings were below par for the earlier EA888 engines 2009-10 (-11?). Many are within 'acceptable' (Skoda say 0.5l/1000Km) limits but some are worse.

Unfortunately it is :( Unless the oil is coming from somewhere else, I am leaking oil rather severely. It's dripping down a metal pipe to the DV/turbo area, and at first I thought it was the DV itself. Upon further inspection, it's dripping down from above. I've used around 1 litre (or whatever max to min is) in around 3 months.

 

That's quite a lot of oil to use up, for the type of leak you are describing, a litre in 3 months oil would have to be all over your driveway and the undertray.

Does the leak actually correlate to the volume loss from the sump over that time though? Do you think you have a litre of oil sloshing around on the undertray/coating the back of the engine block within 3 months?

 

If not, my suspicion would be that the greatest proportion of your loss is actually internal (mainly oil consumption past the piston rings, plus a bit escaping past PCV into intake etc). It does seems to be generally accepted that the original spec pistons/rings were below par for the earlier EA888 engines 2009-10 (-11?). Many are within 'acceptable' (Skoda say 0.5l/1000Km) limits but some are worse.

It's possible. I did a compression test a couple of months ago and they were all acceptable values. I'll see if I can find them for this thread.

Here are the results I got http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/399659-compression-results/#entry4620358

 

That's quite a lot of oil to use up, for the type of leak you are describing, a litre in 3 months oil would have to be all over your driveway and the undertray.

I thought that too. I haven't had the undertray fitted for a while, but there aren't any obvious drip marks on the ground. Also, I don't think I'm burning oil, as I've never once seen blue smoke. Lots of water vapour, but never any smoke.

My track of time is awful. So I said 3 months, it's probably more like 6 or more come to think of it. I'm pretty sure I had the sump etc replaced before I did the compression test, and that was in May according to the dates of thread, linked above.

Edited 28 November, 20169 yr by planehazza

Depending on your mileage, 1 litre within 3 months could well be within Skoda's tolerance for oil consumption (0.5l/1000km = 1l/1242miles). I was using just over that before I had the pistons/rings/conrods replaced under warranty - about a litre for less than 1000miles. I had no noticable blue smoke, no performance loss and I doubt a compression reading would have been particularly different from one just within the tolerance either.

Depending on your mileage, 1 litre within 3 months could well be within Skoda's tolerance for oil consumption (0.5l/1000km = 1l/1242miles). I was using just over that before I had the pistons/rings/conrods replaced under warranty - about a litre for less than 1000miles. I had no noticable blue smoke, no performance loss and I doubt a compression reading would have been particularly different from one just within the tolerance either.

My oil consumption does appear higher than I'd like but I'm pretty sure I'm not at 1 litre per thousand. I really need to kick myself into properly documenting it. I'll check my mileage and level tomorrow once it's back from the garage. I'm getting them to lift it up and try and professionally identify the source. There's very little I can do lifting it 30cm off the ground and using my phone's LED as a torch ha.

Just for the sake of clarifying an earlier post in which I said I was unsure. Now, having reviewed  a couple of videos assembling 2.0TSI head and valve covers, I'm going to put it out there that there is no gasket at all between head and valve cover, it is all sealant, the surface of the valve cover has a channelled groove cut the entire way round the perimeter.  The head mating surface is flat.  And it does look like a significant job as the post in the mk6 gti forum alludes to.

 

Edit: there would be gasket / o ring present for the CPS, the vacuum pump and other ancillaries and the upper timing cover has one though for sake of even further clarity!

Edited 28 November, 20169 yr by TheClient

I had a slight oil weep from the cam position sensor - as you say it has an o-ring, but oil seems to pass in time. I cured it with a little liquid gasket where the rocker cover and cam sensor meet. This one is quite common and worth fixing, because it is thought that any oil left dripping down the front of the block may eventually reach the water pump and degrade the seal (it's just one large rubber o ring) leading to coolant leaks. Having replaced my pump once, I do not particularly want to do it again!

 

I do also have a bit of oily muck in the rear left corner, in the same area as the pictures above, though it is fairly dry.

Edited 28 November, 20169 yr by simion_levi