Re: 5000CSTQ Front Seal Leak

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

    If the oil is running out of the engine while it is sitting, the seal is
not likely at fault unless it was not installed when the T-belt was done or
is incredibly badly damaged. The leak could be coming from the gasket at the
front of the oil pan if the gasket is damaged or the pan bolts are loose or
missing. Clean up the area and try to pinpoint the source of the leak before
you dive into a seal replacement. Also check the oil pump gasket for leaks
and make sure all the oil pump bolts were replaced by whoever did the
T-belt.
    The oil seal can be a PITA to remove if you don't have the proper tool,
or it can come out easily. The one I just did was a PITA. I had to partially
cut through the steel outer rim and bend it inwards to release the seal from
the oil pump case. The trick here is not to score the crankshaft surface or
the seal housing.

HTH

Fred Munro
'91 200q  257k km ( slowly coming together!)

-----Original Message-----
From: spsherm@ibm.net <spsherm@ibm.net>
Newsgroups: alt.autos.audi
To: munrof <munrof>
Cc: quattro <quattro@coimbra.ans.net>
Date: Wednesday, September 09, 1998 12:49 AM
Subject: 5000CSTQ Front Seal Leak


>OK I guess I missed this one...  The 87 5000CSTQ I just bought has an
>oil leak at the front of the engine.  It seems t be coming from behind
>the crank pulley, so I am assuming that it is a front crank seal.
>
>It's to the point where if I overfill the oil (which I tend to do
>slightly, 1/16" to 1/8" over the full line) the excess will leak out
>with the car sitting still over a few days, (I suppose a good way to
>keep from overfilling things ;-)
>
>Beside feeling dumb for missing this before I bought the car, I have a
>few questions:
>
>1.  How much danger am I putting the engine in by running it in this
>condition?  Is it likely that oil will be lost over short or medium
>length trips putting the engine in danger?  (I'd check it of course
>every day)
>
>2.  Is seeing oil run out when not under pressure/engine running a sign
>of a really "bad" seal on these engines or is it normal?  I've never
>seen oil come out of a stationary engine thru a seal before.
>
>3.  How much of a hassle is it to change this seal oneself?  (One nice
>thing about the car WAS it had the tbelt and water pump recently
>changed, so I was not planning on going into the front of the engine
>just yet...)
>
>Thanks