oil leak please help

[joker1981]

Hi, Hoping someone can help me identify the part where my oil is leaking from, what sort of job it is to fix and whether a drip every 15 minutes when engine is cold constitutes a problem as i am hoping to go on holiday tomorrow.

the oil is dripping from underneath the engine from a round circular plate. The plate is not the sump/oil strainer but is further towards the rear of the engine. It is on the crankcase like the sump and I think the haynes manual calls it a side cover or a side plate?.

This only seems to have started in the last month since i have had an oil change - i dont know much about engines and used the reccomended Morris oil SAE 30. Could this not be suitable if the engine is getting a little worn? Should i try a thicker oil?

I have also noticed that when idling the oil pressure gauge is a around 3.5 and rises to 4+ when revving. However i have noticed that this drops down to 1 when driving on motorway - could this be related


thanks

Allison

ps trying to include a pic but not sure how to upload heres a link to photo bucket though where you can see the offending plate

http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss33 ... G_0897.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[joker1981]

Oh sorry meant to say that the one that is leaking is the one closest to the camera with 2 bolts in it

thanks

allison

[kevtherev]

did you mean to say what engine?

[joker1981]

Sorry not very good at engine stuff. Its a 2lt Aircooled CU engine in a 1981 T25 Westfalia Joker.

thanks

Allison

[kevtherev]

does your engine have a spin on oil filter? (like a canister)

[joker1981]

yes it does have a spin on oil filter like a canister which was replaced about a month ago with a new one from just Kampers. This leak does seem to have started since i had the oil change but cant see any leaks around sump or filter.

[kevtherev]

The plate at the back is the oil strainer cover.
that other one is a mystery to me as it's not listed in vag cat.

the oil you're using is rather old fashioned now, I would suggest a multigrade mineral ..

oil pressure should be 2 bar at 2000 rpm

Have you tried tightening the bolts?

[joker1981]

Yes i rang just kampers yesterday to see if i could buy a gasket for it but they had no idea what i was either. I dont have a rev counter so i am not sure how i can compare the oil pressure with the revs when driving. Would you think that 1 drip of oil every 15mins is a problem if i was wanting to travel 150miles? as i suppose it will drip more when the engine gets hot?

[kevtherev]

no it's not a bother.. I would keep an eye on the level though.

give the bolts a nip up the garage may have undone the wrong plate!

get some 20/50 in it... nice mineral multigrade

[Grumpy Midget]

The plate at the back is the oil strainer cover.
that other one is a mystery to me as it's not listed in vag cat.

The plate (Cover with 2 bolts) is the Oil Pressure relief valve, there should not be any oil leakage from here, as said before garage, or who ever has mistakenly undone or removed by mistake, if it has been removed the preasure relief valve and contents will just drop out like a can of worms, I have used Morris 30 grade, but I then changed to Quantum 20 -50 (Blue container) when my van had an Air-Cold CU in I always dropped the oil from the strainer,never the sump plug

[joker1981]

The plate at the back is the oil strainer cover.
that other one is a mystery to me as it's not listed in vag cat.

The plate (Cover with 2 bolts) is the Oil Pressure relief valve, there should not be any oil leakage from here, as said before garage, or who ever has mistakenly undone or removed by mistake, if it has been removed the preasure relief valve and contents will just drop out like a can of worms, I have used Morris 30 grade, but I then changed to Quantum 20 -50 (Blue container) when my van had an Air-Cold CU in I always dropped the oil from the strainer,never the sump plug

Hi, i am a little confused as to what the plate is actually for? you said that the back is the oil strainer cover ( one with one bolt in middle ) and that the other one is a mystery?

The leak is coming from the one on the picture that has 2 bolts in it and is on the top right of the picture. Is this the oil pressure relief vavle cover or the one that is not listed in the vag cat?

I watched the mechanic change the oil as i thought i may have a go next time meyself and i can confirm that the only bolt that he undid was the single bolt in the sump plate.

The bolts on the mysterious plate (one on top right of picture with 2 bolts) were nipped up but were found to be tight!

If anyone has a Haynes manual on page 52 (i think) there is a picture of it and it is described as a side plate (sorry dont have manual to hand at moment to check page no and exact description)

thanks

[kevtherev]

T

The plate (Cover with 2 bolts) is the Oil Pressure relief valve, there should not be any oil leakage from here

so when you dump that old oil might as well see if you can replace the gasket by removing the plate

[Aidan]

ok I'm not familiar with the Aircooled engines but looking at the parts catalogue the plate you are experiencing a leak from is just the case drain, 2 m6 bolts hold the plate in place and there's a 77x4 seal above it, these are nla from VW but should be available from any decent seal or bearing supplier eg Brammer, you may have to buy 5 or 10 of them minimum order £10, but you can then sell the spares to other CU users.
The oil pressure relieve valve is not above this plate it is in the front right of the engine near the fuel pump from what I can see in the pics, it's a slotted bolt head about the size of a 10p piece, but that doesn't matter.
What oil filter was fitted ?
If it's not the correct one you may have one with an additional valve in it which can cause a problem, a golf one is similar to a wbx one and has the extra valve in it and has been known to be fitted by mistake causing oil pressure issues.
genuine vw filter is 021 115 351 A about a tenner, but there will be a MAN equivilent (they make them for VW) probably from GSF. Personally I wouldn't use a filter that wasn't a man or a vw, unless I had very good evidence that the alternative was totally compatabile.
Your Morris oil is recommended but yes at high mileage a good multigrade may be preferred, 15W/40 seems to be right, but again some CU users/service guys may be along later to correct me.
Online is as good as it gets on a sunday

[joker1981]

Thanks for the reply. What i am thinking of doing is delaying my holiday until i can get hold of a new seal and repalacing it. So is it an o-ring that i need with the size being 77x4 ?

I was thinking of taking the old seal to GSF tomorrow and seeing if they had one.

Other than that what is your opinion on leaving the oil leak whilst i go on holiday for a week. I would be driving approx 150 miles there, general to and froing throu the week and 150 miles back. Like i said earlier the drip is only once every 15minutes but i am worried that when driving that it could get significantly worse and allthe oil would come out and bust my engine - maybe i am being a little paranoid with that though!!

thanks

Allison

[joker1981]

oh the oil filter btw was the one from JK for a 2lt Aircooled CU engine