Camshaft Seal Leak 1.4 Tdi.

[Little Dog]

I've just completed a oil pump chain replacement and I'm very pleased with the outcome. The engine is running very well.

As the revs rise though there is a whistle from the timing belt. Despite following the manual to the word the belt is too tight. Drove to the end of the street to turn the car around, got it back in the garage and I have an oil leak. Looks very much like the the cam seal.

Car back on ramps for investigation today. Will post in detail. Please don't be shy if you see any errors I now need this car right and back on the road.

 

[Little Dog]

Belt slightly over tension but I thought within tolerance:

Is there anything that could cause the belt to be tighter than indicated at the tension pulley?

Got the front of the engine stripped.

There is oil at the top all over the cam position sensor and around the sender for the same so assumed the oil leak was at the cam.

There was much more before I got the camera out.

Also got oil down at the crank, could be gravity but also could be the new seal I fitted.

Could oil be carried to the top of the engine on the belt???

 

[Jellybean]

If the belt carried oil from crank to cam then it will be really wet. Can you run with covers off and see the leak?

 

[Little Dog]

If the belt carried oil from crank to cam then it will be really wet. Can you run with covers off and see the leak?

Thanks, that is what I needed somebody to clarify for me. Ran it yesterday with the covers off, couldn't see the leak but oil built up quickly around the cam position sensor and ring behind the cam sprocket.

 

[Little Dog]

Tools arrived this morning.

Lock the cam and remove the pulley bolt:

Pull the pulley hub:

Measure the depth of the seal (the Audi tool has a lip to set the depth) and pull it out:

Not as wet as I expected:

Clean up and pull new seal in:

Job done:

The tool didn't quite pull square so in straightening things up the seal is a fraction (0.5mm) too deep. Fingers crossed.

I'm not sure I've found the leak so I'm going to clean up and run the car without the covers.

 

[Rosstbeef]

Looks good. Fingers crossed this is the cause. My leaky seals didn't look that wet either when I pulled the sprockets off the cam either so I'm sure this will be the same reason on yours. The oil soon runs thin and collects at the bottom of the engine. I ran the engine with the engine mount removed so I could be certain it was leaking from the top of the engine. I supported the engine on a jack while doing this.

I've over tightened a belt before and it's a kind of whine you hear. I can't see how it should be tighter than the tensioner suggests as long as the tensioner is fitted correctly. I know with the 1.4 petrol there is a tech tips bulletin produced by Gates as the tensioner can so easily be fitted incorrectly.
It looks like you replaced all the idler pulleys right?

Did you fit the v-ribbed belt too before on your test drive? Could that have contributed to the noise? if you still get the noise when its back together you could run the engine without it and see if the noise is there.

 

[Little Dog]

Looks good. Fingers crossed this is the cause. My leaky seals didn't look that wet either when I pulled the sprockets off the cam either so I'm sure this will be the same reason on yours. The oil soon runs thin and collects at the bottom of the engine. I ran the engine with the engine mount removed so I could be certain it was leaking from the top of the engine. I supported the engine on a jack while doing this.

I've over tightened a belt before and it's a kind of whine you hear. I can't see how it should be tighter than the tensioner suggests as long as the tensioner is fitted correctly. I know with the 1.4 petrol there is a tech tips bulletin produced by Gates as the tensioner can so easily be fitted incorrectly.
It looks like you replaced all the idler pulleys right?

Did you fit the v-ribbed belt too before on your test drive? Could that have contributed to the noise? if you still get the noise when its back together you could run the engine without it and see if the noise is there.

Thanks for the comments, the tension indicator is spot on now and I've just run it without the auxiliary drive belt while supported by an engine beam. Still getting a slight but whining, much improved. Run dry until I increased the revs oil appeared immediately on the cam position sensor and at the crank. I'm fairly certain the new crank seal I fitted is leaking. The oil is being thrown off the cam pulley at high revs onto the sensor.

Looks like its bearing housing off again and another seal!

 

[Little Dog]

Front crank seal failure confirmed. Half of it turned inside out while being fitted. Never felt anything unusual, slipped on nicely.

Everything on hold again waiting delivery of a new crank seal.

Anyway I think this thread is finished, the seal replacement kit worked well but did nothing to solve the problem.

 

[Rosstbeef]

What a PITA! Good man for keeping at it. Hope it's over for you soon.
So do you think your camshaft seal was never leaking in the first place? How has the oil travelled further up the engine if the belt is oil free? has it just been flung up there by the crankshaft pulley?

 

[Little Dog]

What a PITA! Good man for keeping at it. Hope it's over for you soon.
So do you think your camshaft seal was never leaking in the first place? How has the oil travelled further up the engine if the belt is oil free? has it just been flung up there by the crankshaft pulley?

Thank you.

I’m confident I don’t need to replace the cam seal. There was a slippery feel to the belt and sprockets. Cleaned up twice now. The oil traveled up the engine on the belt then was thrown off the cam sprocket onto the sensor.

Keeping at it was tough yesterday, the seal puller wouldn’t work on the crank (too deeply recessed), lost a screw in the sump (retrieved it), had to get a wood chisel down there to free the casting. I know what went wrong, I don’t have and still didn’t have a seal transition sleeve.