Club 80-90 Forums

Looking for some advice.  My 1.9 petrol WBX engine is running great.  But it has a wee oil leak / drip / weep that I can't diagnose.  It 'seems' to be coming from  underneath the general area nearest the back bumper - under the alternator.  I just can't see into that area very well and my vwmechanicdave said it would be a major effort to find it.  
I'm not losing a lot of oil but it seems consistent - I had to top it up this past weekend when we went down to Northumberland - first time since changing the oil last year.
I'm thinking it is likely the oil pump cover gasket or the fan belt flywheel seal? 
I'm not thrilled with the prospect of having to drop the engine as the exhaust system bolts are pretty corroded and I don't want this to grow into an expensive exhaust replacement as well.
Anyone suffer similar oil leaks from this area?

thanks
Andrew

Big fat drips

I had some oil seeping from the base of the breather tower where it meets the engine case. I nipped up the nuts holding it down, cleaned the area and it's been fine since. Any chance it's coming from where the oil filter attaches if you've only noticed it since the last oil change?

It might be worth degreasing the area as much as you can to help you trace where it is coming from.

Give the whole engine a good clean as mentioned by scottie, go for a drive so it warms up, then on return put some cardboard or similar underneath, leave overnight and have a look in the morning, the stains on the cardboard will give you and idea of where to look further up the engine. The drips marks may not be exactly below the leak but you can work up from there.

Thanks Tony and Scottie - I'll have a look at the breather tower and check the bolts.  
Oil filter and sump screw are both dry.
I'll do my best on degreasing and see if this helps to pinpoint it.

Oil filter tight?

yup oil filter tight

Did you rub some oil around the rubber filter seal?

Nope as filter was put in be vwmechanicdave.  

Mine was the gasket on the dip stick pipe (hard to get at)