2013 VW Passat TDI SE Oil Leak...stumped!

[bigj82nd]

My wife and I purchased a 2013 VW TDI about a year and half ago with 108k miles. Not my first choice, but wife is from Europe and needless to say I lost. Nothing negative about VW's or German cars, I am just use to American cars. I changed the oil at about 112k miles and the problems started. Had a massive oil leak and coolant leak. Had it in the shop for over a month. About $2,500.00 later, had the thermostat housing and oil cooler housing replaced. Noticed from checking the oil a month or so later that I still was having oil leaking somewhere. Found another shop and had the valve cover gaskets replaced, forgot how much that outrageous bill was.

Still seeing the oil leak. From what I can tell is it is near the dipstick. The leaked oil is seen on dipstick and upper part of the turbo tubing.

I have even replaced the dipstick thinking maybe it was the o-ring.

I am dead in the water trying to figure this out without racking up another giant bill or having to tear things apart. Right now its about a quart every two weeks or so or couple of hundred miles. My next step is to once again clean it up and try the dye. I have searched the internet tirelessly trying to find anything, but have come up with nothing.

 

[jibbernips]

First off if you're going to be in VW for a while you need to learn how to work on it. Did the shop do a valve cover gasket or valve seals? If they don't do the seals check the seals, also while it's not by the dipstick check your oil return line from the turbo.

 

[oilhammer]

Your wife is from Europe... she should have bought a European car! LOL.... nobody in Germany has even seen an NMS Passat (they were built here, for here).

Common CKRA oil leaks:

oil cooler/filter housing

valve cover (can't just do gasket)

oil pressure sensor in head

camshaft seal


If you spent a bunch of money to get an oil leak fixed, take it back to them and tell them it is still leaking. Stop parading it around from shop to shop.

 

[eugene89us]

Also check crankshaft seal. Despite those not being a common leak, mine was actually leaking from crankshaft seal, while camshaft seal was quite dry. It did not leak enough to hemorrhage oil, but enough for the belt movement to spread it around under the cover. My biggest oil leak was from valve cover, as Oil Hammer suggests. Mine was leaking from injector seals, pooling in the injector well. Some was leaking down onto the exhaust manifold, but not enough to cause smoke.

I cannot believe it cost so much for fix oil cooler. With some basic tools and a lot of patience, it is a relatively simple job. Oil cooler cost me $400 to do. Valve cover around the same price when you factor in valve cover itself and a few bolts and o-rings. Plenty of guides on here, including one of mine for valve cover as well as timing belt and seals.

NMS Passat is purely American/Chinese car, with many parts sourced from Mexico and China. But even with truly German cars, my diesel BWM is about 56% from Germany while 2023 VW Arteon is about 40% to 50% German. Most of Germany-assembled vehicles still source many parts from other parts of EU, such as Hungary and Poland. But not to jinx myself, my German made car has been less issue prone so far than my NMS Passat, and they are a mere 30k miles different on ODO. Good luck. If we can help you DIY something, we would love to. Many places will charge an arm and a leg for work on these cars.

 

[Tom in PT]

OP - you mention that the oil leak started after an oil change. If the large rubber o-ring that fits on the top of the threads on the housing is in the wrong position or missing you WILL have an oil leak. See if oil is coming out around the edges of the cap on the oil filter housing and dripping down to the dipstick other areas. This may be a long shot but I thought I would throw that out in case you have not thought of it.

 

[06bluebeetletdi]

That’s a possibility, but a new oil filter housing comes with a filter (at least the oem one does).

 

[Troubled1]

Have you replaced the oil cooler?? These are known to fail. I had the exact same issue and found it was leaking from behind the plastic housing. Pulled the cooler and sure enough, the flange inside the passage was broken causing the leak from under the housing. Also, simply check to make sure the top of the filter housing is tight.

My wife and I purchased a 2013 VW TDI about a year and half ago with 108k miles. Not my first choice, but wife is from Europe and needless to say I lost. Nothing negative about VW's or German cars, I am just use to American cars. I changed the oil at about 112k miles and the problems started. Had a massive oil leak and coolant leak. Had it in the shop for over a month. About $2,500.00 later, had the thermostat housing and oil cooler housing replaced. Noticed from checking the oil a month or so later that I still was having oil leaking somewhere. Found another shop and had the valve cover gaskets replaced, forgot how much that outrageous bill was.































































Still seeing the oil leak. From what I can tell is it is near the dipstick. The leaked oil is seen on dipstick and upper part of the turbo tubing.































































I have even replaced the dipstick thinking maybe it was the o-ring.































































I am dead in the water trying to figure this out without racking up another giant bill part. Right now its about a quart every two weeks or so or couple of hundred miles. My next step is to once again clean it up and try the dye. I have sIt soundsearched the internet tirelessly trying to find anything, b have comit e up with nothIting.

 

[seahawkdodge]

If they had it over a month and still didn't fix it, take it back to them.

Is yours not under the TDI warranty?

 

[22eco]

Your wife is from Europe... she should have bought a European car! LOL.... nobody in Germany has even seen an NMS Passat (they were built here, for here).

Common CKRA oil leaks:

oil cooler/filter housing

valve cover (can't just do gasket)

oil pressure sensor in head

camshaft seal


If you spent a bunch of money to get an oil leak fixed, take it back to them and tell them it is still leaking. Stop parading it around from shop to shop.

Bring the old post back from the dead..
I have this same mystery oil leak. It’s not coming from any of these places. I’m convinced the head gasket is leaking. Coming from somewhere on the back side of the engine, high enough to pool up on the block. What are the thoughts on the likelihood of it oil leak between the head and block??

 

[22eco]

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

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• 22eco
• Jul 31, 2024

Oil leak search

 

[x1800MODMY360x]

--

Buy several cans of brake cleaner and clean any oil contaminated areas and check after a couple drives.

I got 2 oil leaks right now, a crappy oil drain plug washer and my oil cooler on the heat exchanger is leaking (A plastic china one, which I will replace with an aluminum one later).

 

[22eco]

I’ve done 2 oil coolers so far, one leaked out, the other leaked oil into the coolant.. it’s definitely not the drain plug though.. now that it’s leaking more I give that a go again. Curious, if anyone with a cam seal leak, did you have oil in the timing belt area?

 

[oilhammer]

22eco, from your pics, the valve cover is clearly obviously leaking.

When (not if) the cam seal on the CKRA leaks, they'll leak down and towards the rear of the head, they will not leak into the timing belt area, because it goes down behind the inner plastic timing belt cover.

Also, a couple times now I've run into the little oil gallery bore plug leaking in the CKRA cylinder head, which is right in the path of the leaking cam seal. You can clean the area off really good, and carefully peen the plug in tighter to stop that leak.

 

[22eco]

I agree my valve cover is leaking, but it is not leaking enough to pool up two large spots. Our cover has been replaced already, So there should be no reason it would leak that bad. And that’s exactly where it’s leaking right side down the back of the head. The mechanics that changed my timing belt and water pump said it was the valve cover gasket after I replaced that and continued to leak gradually get worse. Since I took the pictures, I’ve cleaned it off and verified. The cover is just ever so slightly leaking, and here is a snap of it after a week of driving after it was cleaned up a bit.

IMG_6402.jpeg

• 22eco
• Aug 6, 2024

Valve cover

IMG_6403.jpeg

• 22eco
• Aug 6, 2024

Leak saga

 

[22eco]

I pulled the timing belt cover and there is not really that bad considering the leak. So it must be the valve cover? I just replaced the dang thing..

IMG_6411.jpeg

• 22eco
• Aug 6, 2024

What’s this? Inside cam gear

IMG_6410.jpeg

• 22eco
• Aug 6, 2024

More plastic? Inside cam gear

IMG_6409.jpeg

• 22eco
• Aug 6, 2024

Nothing crazy under the cam gear

 

[oilhammer]

You cannot see the cam seal leak until the cam sprocket is removed. And your cam sprocket has the inner shield broken, so you need to do that right now anyway, or risk blowing the engine up. You can throw that broken plastic portion away, it won't hurt anything to run without it. But if you continue to drive it, eventually the broken pieces will find their way out and get caught in the timing belt, derailing it and causing it to jump time and smash valves into pistons. I would not even START that engine based on those photos (although I did LOL with your caption "nothing crazy under the cam gear"... except for engine-destroying plastic shards flying off!!! ).

 

[Dalon]

My CKRA has a very nice oil leak that started yesterday. Same area, passenger side back corner of engine. Removed upper timing belt cover and it’s pretty wet all around there, looking to be valve cover or cam seal - although at 32k, I figured that would be rare but I guess it’s more age affecting the seals rather than mileage

 

[oilhammer]

The CKRA has a dumb cam seal design that is prone to leaking, that's why there's a TSB about it. I never put the OEM seal back in, I just use one of the older tried-and-true type seals. It's a little bit tricky to install, but it won't leak.

 

[Dalon]

The CKRA has a dumb cam seal design that is prone to leaking, that's why there's a TSB about it. I never put the OEM seal back in, I just use one of the older tried-and-true type seals. It's a little bit tricky to install, but it won't leak.

Got a link to the seal you’re referring to?

 

[oilhammer]

Pick one of these engines:

ALH

BEW

BHW

...or any of the many SOHC gassers...

....one of those cam seals. I prefer the Elring brand. Same 32x47x10 seal used for decades in a whole bunch of VAG engines. Why they decided to try and reinvent the wheel regarding something so simple I have no idea. But that guy needs a slap to the face. The guy that reinvented the rear main seal on the EA888 engines needs a mule kick to his scrote, along with that same slap.

 

[Dalon]

Pick one of these engines:

ALH

BEW

BHW

...or any of the many SOHC gassers...

....one of those cam seals. I prefer the Elring brand. Same 32x47x10 seal used for decades in a whole bunch of VAG engines. Why they decided to try and reinvent the wheel regarding something so simple I have no idea. But that guy needs a slap to the face. The guy that reinvented the rear main seal on the EA888 engines needs a mule kick to his scrote, along with that same slap.

Sounds good. I do think it is my cam seal, that or the valve cover on that side but the valve cover has 0 oil anywhere else besides the timing belt side (not sure if the oil on the timing belt side of valve cover could be getting flung up from the bearings and such)

 

[Dalon]

IMG_6948.jpeg

• Dalon
• Sep 4, 2024

Found this right below the crank sprocket…looks to be seal material and one piece of metal? @oilhammer

 

[freewayross]

The CKRA has a dumb cam seal design that is prone to leaking, that's why there's a TSB about it. I never put the OEM seal back in, I just use one of the older tried-and-true type seals. It's a little bit tricky to install, but it won't leak.

Hi Oilhammer, I'll be doing my camshaft seal soon, can you tell a little bit about the trick to get the Older style seal in there? Also is there a chance the cam may turn accidentally with the cam sprocket off?

I was watching this guy do it(video below), he uses the old seal to hammer the new one in. I don't have the old style seal yet not sure what the difference is between the older type and CKRA seal, can the older type seals be gently tapped in using the seal that came out?

Thanks

 

[oilhammer]

The cam won't move.

I use a small pick, it's actually a Mac brand cotter pin removal tool (use it for all sorts of things, rarely ever for cotter pins). I carefully walk the inner lip of the seal around the camshaft as I push it in. Then once that lip is started over it, I use the same driver for the cam/crank seals on all the older engines to drive it home and seated squarely.