[s-cars] Help with problem oil leak - long

[Fred Munro]

Hi Dave;

Before you go hog-wild and tear the engine apart, I'd suggest you check the
front right corner of the valve cover gasket and the cam seal for a leak . A
leaking valve cover gasket will dribble oil down that side of the engine.
Oil from a leaking cam seal will run down behind the cam belt backing plate
and come out on that side of the engine. You might also want to check your
oil pressure switch - it should be ready to start leaking any time now and
it can put out a lot of oil (on the other side of the engine though).

I've had all three leaks on my engine.

Good luck!

Fred Munro
'94 S4


-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-bounces+munrof=sympatico.ca at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-bounces+munrof=sympatico.ca at audifans.com]On Behalf Of
Dave Ellis
Sent: April 15, 2005 3:06 PM
To: s-car-list at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] Help with problem oil leak - long



Hey fellow S-listers,

I had my '93 S4 in the shop last week for a slew of work (timing belt
change with all the works, new suspension - Eiback Pro with Boge
TurboGas, etc.).   One item of particular interest was to have a
persistant and fairly large oil leak (a 250ml per day Mobil1 habit)
corrected by replacing the crank seal which was deemed by everyone
involved to be the culprit.

Anyways, after picking up the car it seemed the oil was leaking just as
much (although the car handled *much* better, but that's another post)
and that the culrpit had not been the crank seal after all.  Oil is
still dripping off the oil pump housing and blowing back onto the
downpipe and other hot bits, and I still can't see exactly where the
oil is leaking from.

The oil only leaks with the car running, slowly at 2 bar and somewhat
more at 5 bar, and for a short while after the engine has shut down.
Oil pressure continues to be good however, 5 bar when driving and 2 bar
at idle.  It is not leaking from the bolts holding the timing belt
idler/tensioner pulley onto the block, and though the leak is getting
the crank seal and crank bolt very oily, it is apparently not the crank
seal.

I have not been driving the car much for the past six months because of
the leak, but now that I'm selling my A4 and moving to one car I need
to get this resolved.

Some photos I took of the leak last fall are linked below.  The photos
take place over the period of about one minute and show the oil leaking
over the freshly cleaned front bottom of the engine (actually the oil
pump):

  http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54496/oilleak-img_1869.jpg
  http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54496/oilleak-img_1870.jpg
  http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54496/oilleak-img_1871.jpg
  http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54496/oilleak-img_1872.jpg
  http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/54496/oilleak-img_1874.jpg

My mechanic beleives that it could possibly be the oil pump gasket, or a
cracked oil pump.  I concur, but It's also occured to me that it could
be a leak in the oil pan gasket or a had gasket leak.  The difficulty
is that the source of the leak is hidden.

What does the collective wisdom of the list have to say?

Thanks!
-Dave

'93 S4
'99.5 A4 1.8t (soon to be sold)


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