What is this part in an AUA engine? SOLVED - oil separator

M

mtl

A2OC Donor
After inspection I have found that I have an oil seepage from the back of the engine towards ride side just above the oil pan and under intake manifold. Engine 1.4 petrol AUA.
I cannot find this black plastic part on 7zap. What is its name?
Hopefully is only gasket that needs to be replaced.
Here is also a video for better info.
 

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audifan said:
Sorry do not know the AUA engine. Perhaps it is a leak from the EGR system?
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EGR is much more higher and accessible from the top.
The plastic part that is leaking is basically above the oil pan from the back of the engine. As far as I was able to see there is no oil seepage above this part so it looks like the seepage comes from there. Hopefully only bad gasket.
 
What about the breather / vent pipe on the EGR? Oil cap seal?

Best to thoroughly clean the area then watch for fresh oil.
 
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Above this part there is no visible oil seepage. All oil is concentrated from this part down.
I will need to lift the car more and then I will be able to look closer but also on the video it is visible that above this part there is no signs of oil.
 
mtl said:
Perfect, exactly that. Thank you.
Are these known to leak?
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There are rubber seals on the two ports between the plastic box and the engine block which can shrink with age and leak. They are realativly inexpensive from Audi. However, my oil separator cracked (i.e. the plastic) and that caused an oil leak. Twice, when I bought my AUA in 2012, it had a massive oil leak for a crack on the plastic corner seam on the oil separator. The replacement started leaking last year again from a crack. Mine's an early AUA which has a rectangular oil separator, later models have a more rounded design (less corners to crack up?).

New seals will probably fix your problem, but just check the condition of the unit in case of any holes! Be careful not to over tighten the bolts an the torque required is very low (10Nm) and too much can damage the plastic!
 
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I have checked and the seepage is basically visible only on the part where the oil separator is connected to the engine block and no oil on the plastic oil separator part, so I would expect that the rubber seal is the problem. But I will inspect it.
 
Yes that's the oil separator, I'd literally changed that few months ago while fixing the idle-stalling issue. It was full of water and gunks, that unit was 3x heavier than the new part. Turned out the engine stalling issue was caused by faulty TB, at the end I had to get a new one, but I'm glad I'd changed the oil separator too, as the slight smoke during start was fixed with that.
 
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mtl said:
Were you not able just to clean the inside of the oil separator?
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If it hasn't been changed a long time, it's gonna look like its covered in an inch thick butter. Plus lots of tunnels in the oil separator as well, so even if you clean the outside you can't access the inside part.
It cost around £25 so was better to change it.
 

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Thank you for your offer.
Sadly it is not cost effective to send such little things from UK and due to Brexit also customs costs are just crazy :(.
 
I have decided to replace the whole oil separator and I am looking to OEM alternatives to Audi part nr.:
036 103 464 G
But there is no manufacturare that I really know as for example Sachs, Luk, etc.
Oil separator of which manufacturare did you buy? There is Febi, which is familiar and is around 48 EUR, others are around 30 EUR, but I do not know them. Ridex, Metzger Autoteile, Topran, Meat&Doria, etc.
 
TBH all will be suitable, yes there may be slight manufacturing or quality differences between them. General rule of thumb is avoid the cheapest and the dearest. Probably more important now though is which brand you can obtain in your country or will ship to your country for a reasonable price.
P.S. from your list of manufacturers, only 2 I have not used, Autoteile and Meat&Doria. But that is not saying they are bad just no experience of them. The others have been fine.

Febi would be my prime choice.
 
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Yes as above, I'd bought Febi too, outside had a bit of molding imperfections, nothing biggie though, but it'd fit perfect and came with seal as well.
 
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Few days ago I have replaced the oil separator with Stark one (part nr.: 113 637). Since this is not really a vital part of the engine, I have decided to go a non OEM route.
The process of replacement is very straight forward, no problems there. And the Stark oil separator fitted without any problem. I hope that this will cure the oil seepage. I need to run the engine a little and test it. But it could be that I have a new oil seepage where the factory dipstick mounts into the engine. I need to test also this. I hope it is just the oil remaining from the oil filter replacement...
Thank you all for your info. Here is also a video with the whole process:
 
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