So, I bought a 1985 Jetta 1.6td a few weeks ago. I bought it knowing it had been leaking oil. Just not where.. The car drove fine, started fine, had some transmission issues, still does, but that's not my concern right now since the car is easily drivable with the issues. Anyways. Lets get to the issue.
Where am I leaking Oil from??
Here is what I've been told to check:
- Valve cover gasket.
-Oil Pan gasket
Here's what I know:
-It is NOT the oil pan since their is only running down the block.
-I am NOT burning ANY coolant.
-I daily drove the car for a week or 2, as did the guy before me daily drive it for 2 months (his entire ownership of the car). Never did I get anywhere near over heating. I did about 20 minutes of free way travel with light traffic (maybe 10 minutes worth) with still no sign whatsoever of over heating.
- There was no white smoke as far as I could tell whenever I drove.
-The smoke did seem more blue one morning, but only once when it was a cold start.
- There was NO oil in my coolant. I mean none. I drained all the coolant, and there was quite a bit. With no sign of oil in any of it at all. Just green liquid.
- There was NO coolant in my oil. The oil had been changed about a month previously according to the previous owner. However Whenever I checked the dipstick, no white milky stuff, nothing but good ol' black diesel oil. When I drained the oil in my oil container there was no sign of coolant.
-The back of the engine, right under where the turbo sits, there seems to be much much more oil and liquid and grime. (Keep in mind, I cleaned the engine lightly with a spray on degreaser followed by hosing it off where I did not clean the back of the block, but from my memory it was more grimy then the area that was cleaned)
-Liquids do funny things and travel funny ways. When I was a plumber I would find a leak in one area, and then the water had mysteriously traveled very far from the original leak. I say this since It may be possible that if the oil is leaking from above the headgasket, say a valve cover in the back of it, it could be dripping down the back of the head, and into the slit where the block and head meet together and travelling along that slit where at the corner it decides to drip down. I also think this is more possible since the car is moving, the engine is thus vibrating, and moving giving the oil more forces to move it in other ways rather then just straight down.
Here's what I thought:
-Head gasket is leaking oil.
Why do I think this? Simply because I looked at a corner of the block, right where the head and the block meet, the one most towards the middle of the engine bay, and it had a liquid coming from it. But it had it around most (I thought the entire block, now I am not sure) the block. So In my not mechanically intelligent mind I thought "This is where the block meets the head. There is a gasket there. There is liquid coming from where the block meets the head around what seems to be the entire perimeter of the engine but I am not sure."
Here Was my original plan for fixing the leak: Pull the head, Replace the headgasket, a very terrifying task for someone who underestimates the work it takes to pull the head until they're half way through doing it.
Here was the plan after realizing I did not want to pull the head: Torque head bolts down some more since my mk2 bentley manual states that after 1000 miles with engines that have an engine code of ME or MF the head bolts need to be tightened down another 1/4 turn in proper sequence without loosening at all.
Here is my current plan: Tell you guys all the info I know in hopes of getting more of an idea for the possible cause.
If the previous plan does not work here is the next one: Put the car back together (I barely took it apart, I am a slow, cautious worker) and drive it about 20 minutes away from me to Jerry at Northwest Connecting Rods in Kent, WA and have him diagnose my issue or where my leak is coming from.
Here is what I do not know:
-Where the dumb f**king leak is coming from.
-How to find where a leak like this is coming from
Here are my new and current thoughts:
-Bad valve cover gasket (I have a new one)
-Intake or exhaust manifold gasket is leaking oil (is this possible???)
-Some place along the turbo system is leaking oil.
Here's what I've done so far
-Taken the 4 nuts off of the downpipe that hold the turbo to the downpipe
-Drained all coolant
-Drained all oil
-Pulled the valve cover
-Checked the headbolts were tightened to specs. Grabbed my new handy dandy torque wrench and put it to 30lbs, checked each bolt in sequence, checked out fine. Then did it again at 44lbs in sequence, and once more checked they all checked out fine.
-I pulled the timing belt cover but put it back on since as I was supposed to take the timing belt off, I realized I should do more research first and Now I am here.
-Took air filter and air intake off and all of the hoses leading from the engine and air intake to the turbo.
-Took the oil line that lead from the top of the turbo to the top of the oil cooler/filter off (thought it was oil return line)
-Stressed my self out trying to figure the issue out
-Contemplate selling the damn thing
The odometer reads about 100k miles, can i say this is correct and the odometer has never been rolled back? Nope, I can't say that at all but I like to believe it only has 100k miles. I have a mk2 bentley manual, and a lot of metric tools but no volkswagen specific ones.
Random Questions about this:
Doesn't a bad headgasket cause lower compression and if diesels had lower compression, they'd have a harder time starting which mine never had gotten any worse or better at starting from the day I saw it to the day I took it apart?
What kind of oil should I use? I was told 10w40 fully synthetic, mobil1 or liqui moly, or 15w40 fully synthetic mobil1 or liqui moly. Would 5w40 fully synthetic work, mobil1? Or 10w40 semi synthetic liqui moly?
Thank you guys a ton for this.
Where am I leaking Oil from??
Here is what I've been told to check:
- Valve cover gasket.
-Oil Pan gasket
Here's what I know:
-It is NOT the oil pan since their is only running down the block.
-I am NOT burning ANY coolant.
-I daily drove the car for a week or 2, as did the guy before me daily drive it for 2 months (his entire ownership of the car). Never did I get anywhere near over heating. I did about 20 minutes of free way travel with light traffic (maybe 10 minutes worth) with still no sign whatsoever of over heating.
- There was no white smoke as far as I could tell whenever I drove.
-The smoke did seem more blue one morning, but only once when it was a cold start.
- There was NO oil in my coolant. I mean none. I drained all the coolant, and there was quite a bit. With no sign of oil in any of it at all. Just green liquid.
- There was NO coolant in my oil. The oil had been changed about a month previously according to the previous owner. However Whenever I checked the dipstick, no white milky stuff, nothing but good ol' black diesel oil. When I drained the oil in my oil container there was no sign of coolant.
-The back of the engine, right under where the turbo sits, there seems to be much much more oil and liquid and grime. (Keep in mind, I cleaned the engine lightly with a spray on degreaser followed by hosing it off where I did not clean the back of the block, but from my memory it was more grimy then the area that was cleaned)
-Liquids do funny things and travel funny ways. When I was a plumber I would find a leak in one area, and then the water had mysteriously traveled very far from the original leak. I say this since It may be possible that if the oil is leaking from above the headgasket, say a valve cover in the back of it, it could be dripping down the back of the head, and into the slit where the block and head meet together and travelling along that slit where at the corner it decides to drip down. I also think this is more possible since the car is moving, the engine is thus vibrating, and moving giving the oil more forces to move it in other ways rather then just straight down.
Here's what I thought:
-Head gasket is leaking oil.
Why do I think this? Simply because I looked at a corner of the block, right where the head and the block meet, the one most towards the middle of the engine bay, and it had a liquid coming from it. But it had it around most (I thought the entire block, now I am not sure) the block. So In my not mechanically intelligent mind I thought "This is where the block meets the head. There is a gasket there. There is liquid coming from where the block meets the head around what seems to be the entire perimeter of the engine but I am not sure."
Here Was my original plan for fixing the leak: Pull the head, Replace the headgasket, a very terrifying task for someone who underestimates the work it takes to pull the head until they're half way through doing it.
Here was the plan after realizing I did not want to pull the head: Torque head bolts down some more since my mk2 bentley manual states that after 1000 miles with engines that have an engine code of ME or MF the head bolts need to be tightened down another 1/4 turn in proper sequence without loosening at all.
Here is my current plan: Tell you guys all the info I know in hopes of getting more of an idea for the possible cause.
If the previous plan does not work here is the next one: Put the car back together (I barely took it apart, I am a slow, cautious worker) and drive it about 20 minutes away from me to Jerry at Northwest Connecting Rods in Kent, WA and have him diagnose my issue or where my leak is coming from.
Here is what I do not know:
-Where the dumb f**king leak is coming from.
-How to find where a leak like this is coming from
Here are my new and current thoughts:
-Bad valve cover gasket (I have a new one)
-Intake or exhaust manifold gasket is leaking oil (is this possible???)
-Some place along the turbo system is leaking oil.
Here's what I've done so far
-Taken the 4 nuts off of the downpipe that hold the turbo to the downpipe
-Drained all coolant
-Drained all oil
-Pulled the valve cover
-Checked the headbolts were tightened to specs. Grabbed my new handy dandy torque wrench and put it to 30lbs, checked each bolt in sequence, checked out fine. Then did it again at 44lbs in sequence, and once more checked they all checked out fine.
-I pulled the timing belt cover but put it back on since as I was supposed to take the timing belt off, I realized I should do more research first and Now I am here.
-Took air filter and air intake off and all of the hoses leading from the engine and air intake to the turbo.
-Took the oil line that lead from the top of the turbo to the top of the oil cooler/filter off (thought it was oil return line)
-Stressed my self out trying to figure the issue out
-Contemplate selling the damn thing
The odometer reads about 100k miles, can i say this is correct and the odometer has never been rolled back? Nope, I can't say that at all but I like to believe it only has 100k miles. I have a mk2 bentley manual, and a lot of metric tools but no volkswagen specific ones.
Random Questions about this:
Doesn't a bad headgasket cause lower compression and if diesels had lower compression, they'd have a harder time starting which mine never had gotten any worse or better at starting from the day I saw it to the day I took it apart?
What kind of oil should I use? I was told 10w40 fully synthetic, mobil1 or liqui moly, or 15w40 fully synthetic mobil1 or liqui moly. Would 5w40 fully synthetic work, mobil1? Or 10w40 semi synthetic liqui moly?
Thank you guys a ton for this.