[Crankcase] Oil Leak

[hirsty]

My van was sat from Sunday to Wednesday & decided to drop what looks like a pint of oil on the road at random during a two-hour slot on Wednesday night, all captured on my Nest CCTV camera.

Whilst it was nice & warm all-day and then got a bit cooler in the evening when the sun went down I've got no idea why it would do this suddenly & then stop - both engine & gearbox look to be dry, but the black plastic undertray has drips coming out of each of the holes in the underside.

Not a drip has come out since whilst I've parked it in three different places. Now dropped it off at my Dealer for a look on their ramps Monday morning as I was driving past anyway ...

 

[Spaghetti]

That seems quite far back...? Have you checked all oil/fluid levels?

 

[hirsty]

Having had it up on home ramps briefly I think it's dripped into the plastic undertray, and then found it's way backwards to the lowest point / exit holes. On the video (which I can't upload) you can see the puddle developing and running downhill over a two hour period and then stopping.

Engine oil dipstick on exact half-way point, but I don't have a point-of-reference since it was last serviced - that's my assumption that it's "half a dipsticks worth" (up to a litre?) all in one go.

DSG gearbox doesn't have a dipstick, I understand it's a sealed unit and is drained / refilled in one go every 40K.

 

[Spaghetti]

Very strange. Please keep us posted as to what VW say. Good luck.

 

[Tourershine]

Engine oil dipstick on exact half-way point, but I don't have a point-of-reference since it was last serviced - that's my assumption that it's "half a dipsticks worth" (up to a litre?) all in one go.

Every service I've had by VW only seems to fill it up to the half way point, and mine uses around 1lt of oil per 10k miles.

 

[Pauly]

I’m sure @Loz said in the past that bottom mark to top mark on dipstick on all vehicle is one litre ??

 

[Tourershine]

I’m sure @Loz said in the past that bottom mark to top mark on dipstick on all vehicle is one litre ??

Sounds spot on. I topped mine up from half way point to max, and it took half a litre.

 

[hirsty]

Thanks for the replies - so (as I'd not checked since Service) I must have either;

- half a litre of engine oil on the road outside if it was full, or, if it was only halfway up dipstick;

- an unknown quantity of DSG gearbox oil

Sod's Law dictates that van is 8-weeks past it's 3-years registration, though still inside 3-years since I actually collected it. Either way it'll be multiple phone calls & agg in the near future I'm sure ...

 

[hirsty]

Left van at the Dealer on Sunday, they looked at it Monday & called me late in the day. Failed crankshaft oil seal, a cheap part but a reasonable amount of engine top-end disassembly to get to it, timing belt removal etc etc ...

As van was (pre)registered on 01/01/2016 and 8/9 weeks out of Warranty the Dealer said they'd be speaking to VW HQ to ask for a goodwill contribution, but either way parts were ordered & it'd be ready later in the week.

Voicemail on Thursday that it was ready, and when I called to check he said that VW 'Factory' goodwill program had rejected the claim, but that VW Customer Services had offered to put up 50%. I got the impression we could've haggled backwards & forwards a bit more - full total was £470 all-in, including c. £140 of parts and an (unscheduled!) oil & filter change.

 

[Spaghetti]

Not good at all, but at least you caught it before it dumped all the oil, and your engine seized or it caused an accident or something.