How serious is this oil leak? [Picture]

gmarsh500

New Member
Hi all

I have an 2004 TDI 90 with 185k miles. The members of this forum helped me out a lot with some fault codes I had recently, so I thought I'd come back with the latest problem.

I have a small oil leak in the location shown in the picture. It is not visibly leaking when the engine is running, but the oil shown in the picture was new after a short journey and 24hrs resting.

image0.jpeg


I only bought the car a few months ago, so I am not sure how long this leak has been there. There are signs of dry oil in the engine bay underneath that area, so it might have been going for a while.

I'm also not very familiar with A2s, so some advice evaluating this one would be very much appreciated!

Thanks a lot in advance.
 
Thanks.

I will get it done soon.

I've not had a car with an EGR before. Is it a "don't drive another mile until it's fixed" sort of job?

Would it be worth taking it off and cleaning it before going for a full replacement?
Mine has been like that since I had the car - 5 years so no its not urgent :p
 
From my experience weeping EGR or weeping anti shudder valve means turbo crying oil into intake... Had same on my ATL and A4 BPW, on A4 somehow anti shudder valve's electronics box was full of used engine oil, really unsure how... swapped it out and it is fine, along with turbo.
 
This may just be exhaust condensate, Exhaust Gas Recirculation is after all the name. If nothing else is going wrong, I would just leave it. A turbo problem that only showed up here and not in the exhaust would be unusual.
With regard to the EGR I took the advice of blocking the vacuum line with a 3 amp fuse although I understand that this may not work on newer models.
 
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Oil leaking from EGR is not problem of EGR but something in the system. And as the only things in the system with oil is turbo and valve stem seals, there is 99% proximity that turbo is leaking the oil. Oil will be seeping from both sides of turbo but it won't create „white smoke of dead turbo“ until it's really dead. It will be slowly clogging the catalytic converter and partly get through the EGR to intake. My suggestion is to leave you current EGR in place and regularly check oil level. I would also suggest to check pipes to and from intercooler - disconnect them and see if there is lot of oil collected. Especially in the hose which goes to the intercooler from the bottom. Oil level sensor is not trustworthy, until you are 100% sure it lights warning sign when oil level is at minimum - I had 3 cars with sensor and only one was giving the signal on time (Sharan), other two (A2 and T5) signaling too late.
 
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