Is this a leaking injection pump?

[Nuje]

Cleaned everything with brake cleaner...

... and after a 10-minute drive, saw a little dampness here.

Time to change the seals?

 

[P2B]

Looks like the beginnings of a head o-ring leak. Paper towel under the head and another 10-minute drive should indicate if it's actively dripping or just weeping.

 

[GlowBugTDI]

You can try swelling the seals if you want to put it off for a bit longer.

 

[wonneber]

You can try swelling the seals if you want to put it off for a bit longer.

How do you swell a seal?
This sounds like a very temporary fix to me.
I like to do a job once.
No sense in getting dirty twice.

 

[Nuje]

How do you swell a seal?
This sounds like a very temporary fix to me.
I like to do a job once.
No sense in getting dirty twice.

From what I've read is either (a) dumping some ATF into the fuel tank; or (b) switching to biodiesel.

Looks like the beginnings of a head o-ring leak. Paper towel under the head and another 10-minute drive should indicate if it's actively dripping or just weeping.

Friend's car.
When he brought it to me, it was quite damp/dirty beneath that, so I think I'm gonna be replacing at least that seal.

To those of you who've done the seal replacement....easy enough to do in the car? Or best for a first-timer to take it out and do it on the bench?

 

[P2B]

Doing it in place is not without risk, can be difficult to get the surfaces clean and the new seal needs to be stretched over the head without damaging it.

Watch @runonbeer 's video and decide for yourself.

How to video: On car VE injection pump seal replacement video

This is the one that we have been waiting for. It shows, in detail, how to replace the three most-likely-to-be-leaking seals on an ALH injection pump: the top cover, quantity adjuster & head seal. It is also applicable to the pumps on the A3/B4 cars. It is long, but some will appreciate this...

forums.tdiclub.com

 

[STDOUBT]

Don't forget to decontaminate this little wire jacket really well once you've solved the leak:

 

[jmodge]

I've done 3 of them using that tutorial, goes pretty well. get a mirror and make sure you clean the underside well.

 

[Mountain TDI]

From what I've read is either (a) dumping some ATF into the fuel tank; or (b) switching to biodiesel.

Friend's car.
When he brought it to me, it was quite damp/dirty beneath that, so I think I'm gonna be replacing at least that seal.

To those of you who've done the seal replacement....easy enough to do in the car? Or best for a first-timer to take it out and do it on the bench?

I just did my head seal on car for the first time following the dieselgeek video that comes with their seal kit very carefully. I read some of the warnings about doing on car, but didn't want to go to trouble to take pump off car. Not difficult, just pay attention to details in video and get the seal fully into the groove.