Rear main leak?

[sloopercat]

Did an inspection on my 2 month old GTI 6MT. Took some photos of an oil leak. It looks to me like a rear main seal leak. Oil was a high as the starter, most of the leak was concentrated on the transmission mount arm. I cleaned it up and will see where it goes from here. Feels and smells like engine oil.

What do you guys think?

 

[Escape Hatch]

Recent oil change?

 

[tmw2442]

If the hairless ape that did the last oil change or when they topped it up during PDI if it's new... spilled some oil.... because they didn't use a proper funnel and were to lazy to find one(time is money on flat rate....). Oil would end up there, clean it off drive a couple weeks and recheck. The first clean probably won't get all of the oil pooled in the subframe and might require a second cleaning...I wouldnt be super concerned till after I had cleaned it twice, and oil was still showing up.

 

[sloopercat]

No oil change that I know of, car has less than 4K on it. I cleaned it up to see if it would come back. The oil did seem really clean. Possible the dealer checked the oil and topped it up I suppose.

 

[tmw2442]

If the hairless ape that did the last oil change or when they topped it up during PDI if it's new... spilled some oil.... because they didn't use a proper funnel and were to lazy to find one(time is money on flat rate....). Oil would end up there, clean it off drive a couple weeks and recheck. The first clean probably won't get all of the oil pooled in the subframe and might require a second cleaning...I would be super concerned till after I had cleaned it twice, and oil was still showing up.

 

[rojiee]

Any changes?

 

[sloopercat]

Have not driven it much. I cleaned it up again and it had much less oil. Also did a more thorough job of addressing any oil that may have followed a path to get to where I see the oil. My first oil change at 5K is coming up, so will see what it looks like at that point. If not, will probably run it to 10K as is, while keeping an eye on it, and let the dealer take a look when my prepaid 10K service comes due.

Just a side note, the oil does not look like it has the 508 spec dye in it, it looks clear/golden.

 

[rojiee]

Have you checked the rear main seal or the PVC valve?

I know I have a small coolant leak, just not sure if its a cracked hose or the thermostant again. T-house changed a while back.
Secondly noticed oil on the floor today in the morning have to jack up and see if I can find the leak

 

[sloopercat]

Not sure how deep I am going to dive for now, but my curiosity may get the better of me. It looks to be behind the area where the main seal would drip, everything forward of the trans mount is clean and dry. Just going to monitor it for now. If it keeps dripping or increases I will bring it in prior to the 10K service. From down below, I can’t see an obvious source of the drip, but it’s a pretty obscured area to be able to see anything. I like the leak after topping up theory for now. Valve cover gasket seems the next likely? The volume seems pretty small at this point.

 

[rojiee]

Just beace the gunk by the dogbone mount I would say the differential drank plug sits on top of that.

And the seal leak can run through the cover/ shield by the trans, seen in a diy video on the form somewhere that is a place to check when trouble shooting RMS leaks.

I know I have an extra bottle of dsg oil somewhere, I need to open it and compare the color of the oil that was on the floor. Other threads mention it was a redish color but I'm not to sure it was that color when I did the DSG service.

 

[sloopercat]

I have a manual trans, I feel confident it’s not trans oil, no stink at all.

 

[rojiee]

Ah, DSG over here.
Thats good you feel confident to cross that out.
Turbo?

 

[ik1015]

VAQ differential oil leaking? My 2019 GLI replaced new VAQ with sealing about 2500 miles and last December, but I saw differ oil leaking again. I will take mine to dealer sometime later and good thing 2019 offered 72k mi and 6 year warranty.

 

[Jacobmk7]

Clean it and see if it comes back, you've got plenty of warranty.

 

[sloopercat]

VAQ differential oil leaking? My 2019 GLI replaced new VAQ with sealing about 2500 miles and last December, but I saw differ oil leaking again. I will take mine to dealer sometime later and good thing 2019 offered 72k mi and 6 year warranty.

May be, this stuff is near odorless. Does that diff fluid smell like regular diff/trans fluid? I saw similar accumulated of oil in the same spot when I first looked at where the oil was.