Oil leak near Turbo - thoughts?

My 2002 Jetta TDI with 129kmi. has leaked some oil for over 20kmi. resulting in thick gunk coating surfaces behind the engine and on the passengers side (drive shaft tube, etc.) and the bottom cover. After wiping all off and operating for ~ 300mi. the drive shaft tube was quite wet, an oil drip was hanging from the turbo casting and the oil level was slightly down on the dipstick - it's hard to locate the source. It had been taking a qt every 3-4kmi but this may be increasing, not sure yet. A mechanic suggested replacing the turbo, I'm hoping it's an oil line at the turbo or something entirely different but it's hard to pin point the source. Can the turbo leak to the outside? What's involved in accessing the lines for inspection? Is there anything that can leak or blow back onto the turbo? Can this suddenly develop into something catastrophic? The car is stock, runs fine, no smoke. Would like to resolve issue before taking a long trip.

It could be a loose or broken oil feed line. The line feeds into the top of the turbo and supply’s oil to the turbo. Has any work ever been done on your turbo? When removing the oil feed line they often get kinked. When a kinked line is reused , over time I can picture a pinhole developing in the kink with a resulting loss of oil.

A strong flashlight and an inspection mirror should tell the story. You may be able to see it from above but you might have to crawl underneath. If it’s the line your best bet is to replace it with a braded steel line. They are much easier to route than the fixed lines.

Or it may be just your valve cover.

The EGR’s also leak from the hole on the sides. Usually the back side is worse.

Thanks

Good thoughts. Will try look for those things. Replaced the EGR a few years ago and it appears dry. Not aware of previous turbo work.

Is there anything on the turbo itself that can result in an external leak - gaskets, seals, etc? Is there a line view diagram available (didn't find one with a search, but they must exist)?

Regards, ks

External leaks on the turbo would usually come from either the oil supply connection on the top, or the oil drain connection on the bottom.

If the seals inside the turbo were leaking, the oil would either go into the intake, or exhaust, so you wouldn't see it.

Another possibility is the valve cover gasket. It could be leaking and allowing oil to drip down the back side of the engine and maybe some could end up on the turbo from air blowing it around while driving. When you stop to look, you see a drop on the turbo, and think that's what's leaking.

I had something similar going on with my Golf.
It wasn't the feed line because it was dry on top.
It ended up being this part, and it was the crimped connection by the flange which was leaking:

Oil leaks are not terminal, unless you let them go.
Hard to locate, yes, clean engine, get it up in the air as high was you can and run it.
First check the easy stuff.

ken2116 said:

........................ A mechanic suggested replacing the turbo, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.

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Wouldn't go back to that person. geeshh

I'd agree on checking the valve cover gasket, too. Common leak source on these engines.

Thanks, will check all of the suggested places.

Regarding internal leakage, there's no smoke out the back, no run on (but the intake shut off works), no unusual noises, engine runs well. When I changed the EGR valve ~ 6000mi ago there was a light coating of "black slime" that I could remove with a finger on the passage toward the engine, under 1mm, but noting that seemed remarkable (unless that's remarkable). Records show the intake was degunked many years ago.

ken2116 said:

Thanks, will check all of the suggested places.

Regarding internal leakage, there's no smoke out the back, no run on (but the intake shut off works), no unusual noises, engine runs well. When I changed the EGR valve ~ 6000mi ago there was a light coating of "black slime" that I could remove with a finger on the passage toward the engine, under 1mm, but noting that seemed remarkable (unless that's remarkable). Records show the intake was degunked many years ago.

Click to expand...

That's not remarkable, that's normal what you have haha.

Some poor fella's car wasn't performing how it should: