Oil leak

[MonkeyMD]

So drive the car on Sunday for an AutoX. Parked it and finally drive it today, Tuesday.

Found this on the garage floor. Oil level was ok. In the middle of the dipstick.

Looked in the engine bay and couldn't really tell where the leak was. Normally have some from the oil cap, but it looked ok.

Looked under the car and the oil pan is definitely wet.

Thoughts?

 

[scrllock]

Dealing with the same thing atm. Just bought some UV oil dye, throwing that in for a few heat cycles then seeing where it leads.

 

[TSI 1.8 Alpha]

So drive the car on Sunday for an AutoX. Parked it and finally drive it today, Tuesday.

Found this on the garage floor. Oil level was ok. In the middle of the dipstick.

View attachment 292661


Looked in the engine bay and couldn't really tell where the leak was. Normally have some from the oil cap, but it looked ok.

View attachment 292662


Looked under the car and the oil pan is definitely wet.

View attachment 292663

Thoughts?

Looks like your oil pan is leaking would look at that better. What does it look like around your PVC?

 

[MonkeyMD]

You think it'll be ok for a track day tomorrow

 

[MonkeyMD]

Looks like your oil pan is leaking would look at that better. What does it look like around your PVC?

It's fine. That's the first place I looked because I just swapped it out

 

[TSI 1.8 Alpha]

I wouldn't take it onto a track until I figured out where the oil leak is coming from. First of leaking oil onto the track is dangerous for other drivers. Second you will usually blow something up with no oil lol

 

[MonkeyMD]

Canceled the track day.

If it is oil pan, I know I can go with another OEM one. But since paying labor (I know it's easy, but I don't have any ramps or jack stands & I can't work under those anyway), thinking about an aluminum one mainly for cooling purposes.

The 2 that stand out for me are the

Bartek (leaning this way)
2L extra oil capacity
Finned all around instead of most are at the bottom only
But assuming will be shipped from overseas so may take a while

https://www.bar-tek-tuning.com/20-l-tsi-aluminum-oil-pan#fit-tab

Wurtec

1L extra capacity
Finned
Baffling (which is nice bit not a huge concern for me as hasn't been an issue)
But looks like it's painted which may affect cooling properties (maybe?)

https://www.vividracing.com/wortec-...50961664.html?class_8=40&class_9=32980&ymms=1

 

[scrllock]

The oil pan doesn't do much for cooling. Extra capacity will take longer to warm up which is a bit annoying for street usage.

For the price on those pans, you should really consider spending a little bit more for one with actual baffles (iAbed). The ridges on the inside of the cast aluminum pans aren't baffles.

If you just want aluminum alibaba bling, get the JDY cast pan for significantly less than those.

If baffling and OE fit sounds good, you can get the Mk8 pan, which adds more baffling and eliminates the windage tray. Might need an extension to the oil sensor harness though.

 

[MeltedSolid]

Jeebus that Bar-Tek oil pan is billet. Imo I'd prefer a steel oil pan, most common aluminum alloys are pretty brittle, and those pans extend lower than the stock pan, so the chance of breaking them on the road would probably be a lot higher.

 

[1ashchuckton]

The plastic pans scare me. Those aluminum ones scare me more. Hit a curb on the track & it will break. A steel pan will bend.

 

[MonkeyMD]

I'm not worried about damage. My car is not very low.

Just wanted something for cooling.

Don't carry about bling.

I'm in Texas so warm-up is not an issue. By the time I'm at the end of the road from my house, I'm at 140.

I'll have to look at the mk8 one

 

[scrllock]

The plastic composite is pretty strong. FWIW the mk8 baffled pan is steel. I suspect that's more for cost and ease of adding baffles than strength, though.

The iAbed pan is sweet but it's about 2.3L extra. It takes almost 20 minutes of highway driving in Michigan summer to get up to 180F. I don't notice any effect on peak temps personally. And since it's aluminum I have it covered up with a longer belly pan.

If you're set on one of the ridged aluminum ones, find the wortec that uses the OEM gasket. Unless your shop is warrantying the RTV job.

 

[1ashchuckton]

I'm not worried about damage. My car is not very low.

Just wanted something for cooling.

Don't carry about bling.

I'm in Texas so warm-up is not an issue. By the time I'm at the end of the road from my house, I'm at 140.

I'll have to look at the mk8 one

I don't care about bling either. If you had ever seen a broken aluminum oil pan you'd be leery of them too. I don't know where you track, but at Mid-Ohio the curbs are high enough to damage an oil pan on a stock height car.

 

[YamR1rider]

A lot of the time it's hard to say if it's the pan (although hopefully it is!), as leaks higher up tend to flow down and run around the lip making it look like that's it.

The one I traced on our 1.8 I hoped it might have been the pan seal, so I changed that out to be sure....no luck. Turned out it was the oil cooler seals - both the cooler to the auxiliary bracket and the bracket to the block. Other potential culprits could be the upper oil pan seal (hopefully not as that would be very labor intensive...don't think these are common, a seep more than a leak if anything), or the lower or upper timing chain covers(or cam position sensor but you'd most likely see that), or I guess maybe even the rear main seal (unlikely to be running around the pan lip though).

If you have a borescope you could have have a look at the cooler under the manifold and also round the timing chain covers if you can't properly get under your car.

 

[MonkeyMD]

I don't care about bling either. If you had ever seen a broken aluminum oil pan you'd be leery of them too. I don't know where you track, but at Mid-Ohio the curbs are high enough to damage an oil pan on a stock height car.

Yikes. Gotcha. May look like I'm going OEM. Cheaper too

A lot of the time it's hard to say if it's the pan (although hopefully it is!), as leaks higher up tend to flow down and run around the lip making it look like that's it.

The one I traced on our 1.8 I hoped it might have been the pan seal, so I changed that out to be sure....no luck. Turned out it was the oil cooler seals - both the cooler to the auxiliary bracket and the bracket to the block. Other potential culprits could be the upper oil pan seal (hopefully not as that would be very labor intensive...don't think these are common, a seep more than a leak if anything), or the lower or upper timing chain covers(or cam position sensor but you'd most likely see that), or I guess maybe even the rear main seal (unlikely to be running around the pan lip though).

If you have a borescope you could have have a look at the cooler under the manifold and also round the timing chain covers if you can't properly get under your car.

Don't have a boroscope. Good it could be anything.

Also saw oil on most of the spark plugs when I changed then last time. Could it be related