[Mk2] [Turbo] Oil leak advice, please

[Red]

Hi folks,

Hope someone can help.

Car has been dripping oil of late and couldn’t find the leak (the engine block is really messy and a degunking didn’t help.)

Went to my usual garage to get the problem diagnosed and was surprised by the conclusion… head gasket failure! Surprising as there is no oil in the water or visa-versa.

On further questioning the mechanic said that it’s not actual gasket failure but the oil feed into the head that is leaking. Does that sound plausible? I thought the oil went in at the bottom of the block and then flowed up into the head via a little copper pipe? Has anyone heard of this pipe leaking to the outside world?

He is recommending that I get the feed sorted and get the head gasket done at the same time as the two failures as usually related. Cost…. £1200!

I will be taking the car to a specialist garage to get the problem investigated further but any advice would be most welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[jimGTS]

could be a leak from the oil feed to the turbo, could be a leak from the dip stick tube....
leak from the block oil feed pipe...

before even contemplating spending that sort of money, need to REALLY have a good look, clean everything up with brake cleaner, usually rips off that oil, run the car, go for a run, and check where this leak it coming from...
id also suggest getting it to a SPECIALIST!

[conor-mr2]

This is an interesting problem as I have an oil leak similar to what you are describing. Ill try to take some photos of the suspect area later and pos them up.

Funny because your reasoning about oil coming from around there was exactly the same as mine-- there is no oil in water and vice-versa.

[toxo]

You're not a million miles away from either Rogue or Pacific Works - if it were me I would remove the guessing game and take it to one of them!

[Red]

Many thanks for the advice chaps.

Got a quiet weekend ahead so I'll give the block a good clean and see what I can find. Last time I cleaned everything up I wasn’t really sure where the possible leaks points were to be honest.

I’ll post up some pictures if I find anything suspicious. If in doubt I'll be off to Rogue or Pacific for a check-up.

Cheers,

Dave

[conor-mr2]

I posted up a similar thread.
http://www.imoc.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=92954

As promised theres a link there to my photos. Is your oil leak similar to mine?

[Red]

Hello mate,

I'm not sure where the leak is yet but will post up some pics when (if!) I find it.

View from side. The dizzy cap is in the top right corner and I’ve taken the coolant matrix off. But check out the amount of oil. This is where the headgasket is right? So why oil leak at headgasket?

This pic is interesting though. I think you’re right that this is the where the head gasket is. According to the people who looked at my car the leak is to the left of this image (I think is where the feed from the block to the head is.)

Hopefully I'm not misleading you here so I'll try to post up some pics showing where I think mine is leaking from.

Cheers,

Dave