Oil leaking from Turbo..what do I do?

vwsandman

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Location
Racine, WI
TDI
Jetta 01' Blue lagoon
I have an oil leak from my turbo. From what I can tell the oil is coming from betwen the exhaust side and the center of the turbo by the oil return line at the bottom. The turbo is producing boost and does not sound bad. I have a boost gauge installed and the boost spikes are not over 22psi. The ECU is regulating that back to 17psi. Is my turbo shot or soon to be? The original turbo broke the shaft, but was boost spiking past 30psi before it broke. Is there anything I can do now to save it? Is there something as simple as a seal or gasket that can be changed? The dealer replaced the original turbo under warranty, they said this one had a warranty as well...think they will honor that and fix the car even though my extended warranty is expired? (of course, that is why the turbo is leaking oil now) Any ideas would be apreciated. This turbo only has about 45,000 highway miles on it. Almost 89,000 miles on the car. Thanks!
 

btcost

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Location
Boston, MA
TDI
'12 JSW, '00 Jetta (totaled 12/23/10), 1987 M-B 300D
am I correct is saying that the large diameter oil line on the bottom of the turbo is leaking?

If that is where the leak is, there is supposed to be a thin metal gasget between the flange and the turbo itself. getting everything to line up when installing a turgo is a major pain!

maybe the VW tech was running out of time on job. . . . . let slip a gasget. it happens.

take the car back to where you had the turbo put in. see what they say.

your turbo itself sounds to be in good shape!

good luck

Brian
 

vwsandman

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Location
Racine, WI
TDI
Jetta 01' Blue lagoon
I spent some more time under the car this morning, I took off the intake pipe to the turbo and inspected the shaft and turbo vanes. I am 90% the turbo is fine and not leaking oil to my relief! Unfourtuanately, it looks like the oil is coming from somewhere above the turbo. I have recently done the timing belt and I am leaning toward a leaking valve cover. I'll have to get a new valve cover as the gasket is part of the cover. I can think of no other place this oil could be coming from, and the timing belt job was the last work done on the motor. The valve cover is so close to the intake manifold in the back so it is hard to see if theoil is coming from there for 100% sure. Both cars were bought used so no more warranty. Any one have the valve cover leak like this after the timing belt job?
 

vwsandman

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Location
Racine, WI
TDI
Jetta 01' Blue lagoon
That seems pretty dry...leak almost seems to be from the exhaust manifold....drips onto the turbo outlet pipe and the top of the turbo...I will check out the EGR again though....Like I said in the earlier post...just glad it is not the turbo again...that might have pushed me over the edge...
 

vwsandman

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Location
Racine, WI
TDI
Jetta 01' Blue lagoon
I took off the inspection cover and the area around the belt and cam seal seem dry..I would think that if the seal would be bad that it would be all over the belt and cover...I did replace the seal, so not trusting myself, I'll need to look at it again. Has to be something I did/didn't do when I changed the timing belt....No one to blame but myself.....crap
 

Powder Hound

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 25, 1999
Location
Under a Bridge, Crestview, FL, USA
TDI
'00 Golf 4dr White 5sp, '02 Jettachero 5sp, Wife's '03 NB Platinum Gray auto(!)
Sometimes just carefully cleaning up the area around the edges where the cover seals will do the trick. You have to remove the cover to clean it all up, but it might be all you need to do.
 

vwsandman

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 7, 2003
Location
Racine, WI
TDI
Jetta 01' Blue lagoon
Any sealants that came used to "aid" in the cover sealing? The dealer wants $134 for a new cover..ouch...and that is pretty much cost...Crappy thing is the gasket is shown seperately on ETKA, but "not available" how stupid is that? I think this is the weekend project to try and get this leak fixed...fun...fun..
 
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