I just had my 2016 1.8 TSI on service, and they told me there was a small leak from the valve cover gasket. They wanted 15 000NOK to fix it which is like 1160£ or 1330EUR. For reference they charge about 2000NOK per hour for the work on these kinds of places. I havent got any more details, but does this seem legit or is it extremely expensive? I am by no means a mechanic, but this amount for changing a gasket sounds a bit wild.

Woah - even by Norwegian standards, that is too expensive.

I would look for a VAG specialist in your area and get them to change the gasket (which is a liquid gasket). Worth doing the Cylinder Head Gasket whilst you are there too as you have to take the head off and decoke the valves (media blasting) and put in new spark plugs. An oil and filter change would also help.

4 hours ago, jobjor said:

I just had my 2016 1.8 TSI on service, and they told me there was a small leak from the valve cover gasket. They wanted 15 000NOK to fix it which is like 1160£ or 1330EUR. For reference they charge about 2000NOK per hour for the work on these kinds of places. I havent got any more details, but does this seem legit or is it extremely expensive? I am by no means a mechanic, but this amount for changing a gasket sounds a bit wild.

It's a big job. I don't think it would be much cheaper here, even shopping around.

Job could be 5-6 hours booked time. Maybe more.

Because the cam cover is the upper support for the camshafts, camshaft girdle, it is quite a job.

If you are keeping the car and it has done 150k km or more you may want to do the timing chain and tensioner. It will cost more but is cheaper than doing the two jobs separate.

Looping back to the beginning, how bad is the leak (edit. And where is it leaking)? If it is just weeping, they can often go a good while like that. Clean off and monitor for a few weeks.

Edited 24 February24 Feb by TheClient

16 hours ago, varaderoguy said:

Woah - even by Norwegian standards, that is too expensive.

I would look for a VAG specialist in your area and get them to change the gasket (which is a liquid gasket). Worth doing the Cylinder Head Gasket whilst you are there too as you have to take the head off and decoke the valves (media blasting) and put in new spark plugs. An oil and filter change would also help.

They just changed the sparked plugs and oil/filter on the service now. That was when they noticed it they said.

13 hours ago, TheClient said:

It's a big job. I don't think it would be much cheaper here, even shopping around.

Job could be 5-6 hours booked time. Maybe more.

Because the cam cover is the upper support for the camshafts, camshaft girdle, it is quite a job.

If you are keeping the car and it has done 150k km or more you may want to do the timing chain and tensioner. It will cost more but is cheaper than doing the two jobs separate.

Looping back to the beginning, how bad is the leak (edit. And where is it leaking)? If it is just weeping, they can often go a good while like that. Clean off and monitor for a few weeks.

I have asked for more details, but i believe they said on the phone that it was a small leak/sweat, and that it was on the spark plugs in the back? Not sure if they meant it was dripping down on the plugs or what.

11 hours ago, jobjor said:

I have asked for more details, but i believe they said on the phone that it was a small leak/sweat, and that it was on the spark plugs in the back? Not sure if they meant it was dripping down on the plugs or what.

Yes, inside the deep spark plug well, the girdle seals low down. Leaking oil will show on the spark plugs. Not a huge deal unless it fills the well and shorts coil packs.