Oil leak

The most common oil leaks in that area are the valve cover, turbo oil return hose, the rear cam seal, and the rear main crank seal. The first three are easy,less than an hour jobs. The last is an all day sucker and you might as well put in a complete clutch kit while you are in there.

Try a good hose cleaning first. Get all the oil off the back and bottom of the engine and let it dryor dry it yourself. Start and run the car for about 5-10 minutes but DO NOT drive it. Shut it off, crawl under (with proper support/jacking!) and look for an oil trail.

When you drive it leaking, the wind will blow it back and around making the source much harder to locate.

Thanks for the info, I changed the cam seal (by the belt) and valve cover gasket about a week ago, that is when i started getting this other leak, I noticed the bottom of the turbo inlet hose was very wet when I lokked under the car. and it looks like a oil trail coming down onto the tranny where the axle goes in. That was after driving the car though. Like I said earlier it doesn't do this all the time. A guy at the auto parts store said that it could still have oil pressure built up in the turbo lines if I shut the car off right away, maybe causing it to spit out occasionaly. That the engine needs to idle for a bit before shutting off the car to prevent this. Is that guy right?

Put a line wrench on the turbo oil feed line and make sure it is good and tight!It is a bitch to get to but it may be your prob if not you will know it is good!

turboteddy said:

Thanks for the info, I changed the cam seal (by the belt) and valve cover gasket about a week ago, that is when i started getting this other leak, I noticed the bottom of the turbo inlet hose was very wet when I lokked under the car. and it looks like a oil trail coming down onto the tranny where the axle goes in. That was after driving the car though. Like I said earlier it doesn't do this all the time. A guy at the auto parts store said that it could still have oil pressure built up in the turbo lines if I shut the car off right away, maybe causing it to spit out occasionaly. That the engine needs to idle for a bit before shutting off the car to prevent this. Is that guy right?

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The guy is right in saying that you should let the car idle down so the turbo can cool off, however, even if you shut it off right away, it should not be causing a leak. They wouldn't have made a common man's car that absolutely needs to idle down every time its shut off. Oil pressure shouldn't be whats causing that leak. As others have already mentioned here, make sure oil lines are good and tight.

if the oil line is loose, it would be leaking due to a loose line and oil pressure. its possible that the valve cover is leaking, it happens to all of us at some point or another. get a mirror and a good flashlight and hold the mirror under the edge of the v.c and look for the evidence of oil there or anywhere near there.

onerippinturbo2 said:

if the oil line is loose, it would be leaking due to a loose line and oil pressure. its possible that the valve cover is leaking, it happens to all of us at some point or another. get a mirror and a good flashlight and hold the mirror under the edge of the v.c and look for the evidence of oil there or anywhere near there.

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Also, he said he changed his valve cover gasket last week so perhaps he did not tighten it down properly? Check the bolts!

Did this leak appear after the valve cover gasket change? or was it present before? Sorry I missed that. These engines do leak from the front or rear of the VC if its not well prepped. And even then sometimes. Use fresh RTV, and throw away any cork gasket. I 1/8" to 3/16 bead around the front and back and a blob on each end corner. Drop the VC straight down and be sure it is seated squarely and NOT COCKED because when you bolt it down, if it is cocked, the pressure of the bolt you tighten will BREAK THE EAR of the cover. I think it is the inner baffle of the VC that lodges against the cam tower cap most often on the drivers side. Even a little..'pink'.'crrkkk' sound. is gonna mean just flat-out that its now broke and your cool aluminum VC 'needs fixed'. So watch out for that neighbor. Turbo oil return line is special stuff made of almost-unobtanium, talk to a site turbo dealer of accessories if U need 1 of those. They are of silicone.