DEALER SUGGESTS ENGINE REPLACEMENT 2014 Passat valve cover gasket//blowby

[DrewW]

Firstly, I want to apologize for the potential length of this post. I'm at wits end and in a back and forth with the dealer.

details: 2014 passat TDI with ~160k

My car went to MAG in Columbus OH on 16 JAN to replace an in tank fuel pump. i was adding oil fairly regularly so I wasn't surprised when they recommended a replacement of the valve cover gasket during their comp. inspection. i rolled off the lot after the weekend with a $2500 bill but also confidence in the repair decisions I had made.

Not 20 days and 1500 miles later i brought the car back because i was leaving oil deposits from a leak in the same vicinity. The dealer said the valve cover gasket was blown again and told me that i require a new engine due to excessive blowby caused by piston rings that require replacement. They are also not going to honor the warranty on the valve cover gasket because of the blowby.

they did not come to this conclusion by conducting a leak down check or checking compression. The service rep and technician told me that when they found it blown they contacted their engineers in Michigan and they told them to troubleshoot by leaving the oil cap on the fill port and essentially determine if there was or was not any blowby.

I came in to talk with the tech and rep and they told me that i need a new engine for sure. The tech said that the PCV/CCV is definitely not the culprit because if it were to fail the crankcase would instead vacuum. we talked about all of the possible diagnosis options and they wouldn't settle on anything but engine replacement.

No sooner than i return to work (an hour or so) i have an update to my service recommendation and it is for the replacement of the valve cover with the PCV which they apparently only replace as an assembly. their valve covers are $500 a piece but i would only be paying for parts as they would cover maintenance under the warranty.

i was very intrigued to find that on my service recommendations as they just told me that PCV is definitely not the problem. i called and was pretty much told they need their loaner back tomorrow (today) and that they would replace the valve cover/pcv but it would only be a 6-8 month fix, replace the engine, or just come get it and give them their loaner back.

i called today to have them honor the warranty and replace the valve cover gasket for the time (my intent being to replace the cover on my own dime for half the cost or less with certified vw parts). they said they will not honor the warranty because that will not fix the problem, but they will replace it under warranty if i purchase the valve cover through them and have them install it EVEN THOUGH they are saying that will not fix the problem either.

All in all i cannot say that my crank case pressure is causing that gasket to blow due to a huge lack in diag, but what i will say is that my dipstick remains sealed, there is no sut or smoke in my exhaust, and the car drives and idles just fine although i have to add oil regularly.

Any feedback is appreciated, I've been looking around for answers all over the forums but things are moving pretty fast and I'm awful at navigating through here haha. if you find this post and think it would better suit a different forum/thread please let me know!

thanks!

* update* brought it home and it looks like its pooling around cylinder 1. initial thoughts are that the valve cover is leaking at the rubber grommets around that injector, as those dont get replaced when you replace the VC gasket. i bought a certified vw VC from ECS tuning (great service had it next day) started tearing into it last night and identified that the #1 cyl fuel injector only had the copper gasket/washer on the end and not the oring. could that oring being missed cause that leak, the blowby, or my check engine light for cyl 1 tq differential (p1004) or a combination of them all?

 

[AaronB]

Need to make sure the cam cradle isn't leaking. Mine leaked on the back side and the dealer said it was a valve cover as well. I had to remove mine and re RTV it. So the valve cover doesn't sit directly on the head it seals to the cam cradle then the cradle is sealed withrtv and bolted to the head

 

[Tom in PT]

What happens when you idle engine with the oil fill cap just sitting on top of the hole - does it bounce around? Can you feel air being pushed past it? Normally (at least with old MB diesels) the oil cap "dance" test was a simple way to see if your engine has a lot of blowby. If you are not seeing or feeling anything its hard to believe blowby is blowing your VC gasket. Do you know how often (miles/time) the oil was changed over the life of the car? Piston ring damage in one of these cars is quite rare for a car with good maintenance history.

 

[DrewW]

What happens when you idle engine with the oil fill cap just sitting on top of the hole - does it bounce around? Can you feel air being pushed past it? Normally (at least with old MB diesels) the oil cap "dance" test was a simple way to see if your engine has a lot of blowby. If you are not seeing or feeling anything its hard to believe blowby is blowing your VC gasket. Do you know how often (miles/time) the oil was changed over the life of the car? Piston ring damage in one of these cars is quite rare for a car with good maintenance history.

it bounces around, yes. i have had the car of only 25 k of its 160k lifetime so i cannot say.. but my other two tdi buddies have that same issue minus the oil leak/valve cover gasket issue.

 

[DrewW]

Need to make sure the cam cradle isn't leaking. Mine leaked on the back side and the dealer said it was a valve cover as well. I had to remove mine and re RTV it. So the valve cover doesn't sit directly on the head it seals to the cam cradle then the cradle is sealed withrtv and bolted to the head

The little caveties for the valve cover attach hrdw pool with oil so i assume it is vc

thanks for the reply

 

[Zambee500]

I'd take a vacation day from work and trailer the car 6 hours west/southwest to someone who knows what they're doing before I'd pay a dealership to R&R the engine because they can't figure out what the problem is. Talk about throwing parts at a problem.

Praytell.... What is the dealership quoting price wise for engine replacement?

 

[DrewW]

They quoted 7k lol.
I’m driving it now, going to replace valve cover w PCV for around $300, see how that goes for it. It definitely has blow by but it’s not super excessive. I presume the engineers took that as a way out of the warranty on the VC gasket.
It’s a lesson learned the hard way, I’ll be cleaning up financially for a bit after this mess. I owe just under 12k on the car, I’ve had it long enough to pay only 1.5k principal on the loan. Been taking it to a shop because it’s my only vehicle. The 6+k I’ve spent at the dealer in the last 6 months could’ve bought a hell of a beater and allowed me to do the work myself anyways haha

 

[oilhammer]

First, you cannot replace the gasket.... you need to replace the cover. They should know this. The plastic warps. All you'll do by putting a new gasket on an old warped plastic valve cover is make it leak worse.

Second, the breather system cannot be evaluated worth a crap at idle. That's a completely worthless way to check the system. Cylinder pressures, thus blowby past the rings, is at its lowest at idle on a turbo diesel. If it had excessive pressure, it would pop the dipstick out driving down the road. Not at idle, and not revving the engine at a stand still with no load.

Third, the CAMSHAFT SEAL, is a VERY common oil leak on the CKRA. There's even a tech tip about it:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10174054-0001.pdf

I never put the OEM type backwards goofball leak prone seal back in. I always just carefully install the normal, conventional type seal (it is tricky as there is no install sleeve to do this, I manually walk the inner lip around with a small pick, then push the seal in with the crank seal install tool).

FOURTH, sometimes on the CKRA, there is a small oil feed galley plug in the head that can leak oil. It lives right below and towards the firewall from the cam seal. You have to remove the inner timing belt cover to get at it. I've been able to successfully peen the aluminum around it a bit better after tapping the steel ball plug into the head a bit tighter.

While the plastic valve cover warping and leaking isn't CKRA specific, the CBEA/CJAAs do this too, the CKRAs are worse. And the cam seal and leaking galley plug are CKRA specific. There's also an oil pressure switch on the CKRA's head, on the back side towards the flywheel end of the head. These can also leak.

Man.... stupid dealers....

 

[Shoveltrev]

i never replace the gasket without installing a new valve cover . they warp and geet all deformed and a new gasket wontmake them seal. the dealer should have done that in the first place .

 

[Shoveltrev]

oilhammer beat me to it lol,

 

[Zambee500]

Man.... stupid dealers....

How far away are you from Columbus OH? Lol.

 

[oilhammer]

About 450 miles.

 

[DrewW]

First, you cannot replace the gasket.... you need to replace the cover. They should know this. The plastic warps. All you'll do by putting a new gasket on an old warped plastic valve cover is make it leak worse.

Second, the breather system cannot be evaluated worth a crap at idle. That's a completely worthless way to check the system. Cylinder pressures, thus blowby past the rings, is at its lowest at idle on a turbo diesel. If it had excessive pressure, it would pop the dipstick out driving down the road. Not at idle, and not revving the engine at a stand still with no load.

Third, the CAMSHAFT SEAL, is a VERY common oil leak on the CKRA. There's even a tech tip about it:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10174054-0001.pdf

I never put the OEM type backwards goofball leak prone seal back in. I always just carefully install the normal, conventional type seal (it is tricky as there is no install sleeve to do this, I manually walk the inner lip around with a small pick, then push the seal in with the crank seal install tool).

FOURTH, sometimes on the CKRA, there is a small oil feed galley plug in the head that can leak oil. It lives right below and towards the firewall from the cam seal. You have to remove the inner timing belt cover to get at it. I've been able to successfully peen the aluminum around it a bit better after tapping the steel ball plug into the head a bit tighter.

While the plastic valve cover warping and leaking isn't CKRA specific, the CBEA/CJAAs do this too, the CKRAs are worse. And the cam seal and leaking galley plug are CKRA specific. There's also an oil pressure switch on the CKRA's head, on the back side towards the flywheel end of the head. These can also leak.

Man.... stupid dealers....

its pooling around the injectors but its also found all over the pcv so i think ill benefit entirely by replacing the vc whether thats the main problem or not. thanks for the tips ill use them to continue my troubleshooting if req.

in the meantime, i definitely have some blowby, but according to a mechanic friend of mine its by no means "excessive". would i benefit to delete that pcv breather that returns to the turbo so im not spitting oil back into the intake? and if so have you seen that done or have an idea of what that may look like?