Oil leak

Are you sure it's coming from the engine joint, near the sump?

My gut reaction is that it's the front/rear main seal, behind the flywheel.

Will Hesch posted:

Are you sure it's coming from the engine joint, near the sump?

My gut reaction is that it's the front/rear main seal, behind the flywheel.

My first thought too. Rear seal that's put on before the fly wheel. How olds the motor? How long has it been leaking? It looks like there is a lot of build-up on the transmission cradle...

You could give the engine a good cleaning and see where the leak comes from afterwards.

first question is if I crank down on those bolts and one breaks how much trouble am I in?   $#!+ loads.  Only torque case nuts and/or studs to the torque specs in a VW service manual, like a Bentleys Manual.  Re-tightening or over-tightening those studs behind the sump plate probably will not fix anything - your problem is farther up on the case - and it might make matters worse.

Second is it a full engine tear down to loosen those bolt clean the area an try to fix the leak.  Not necessarily a full engine tear down. But you haven't actually pinpointed the leak yet.  Loosening those bolts will NOT make the gap wider - the case is designed with too many other bolts holding it together.  The only way to properly cure it is to find what's leaking and THEN decide how to properly seal it.  From the oil pattern under there, I'm not convinced that the case seal is leaking.

Third can i just lather the area with JB Weld or some oil resistant silicone gasket stuff.  That would prove fruitless - nothing is going to stick with all that oil around and all you would be doing is building a sand castle, waiting for the next tide.

Go to the store and get a BIG can of Gunk degreaser (I know you'll be tempted to buy the cheaper degreaser stuff - but don't) and spray the hell out of everything greasy-looking.  Wait 15 minutes and spray it off well with a water hose.  Degrease it again (getting those places you missed the first time), wait another 15 minutes and re-spray with a water hose.  Let it sit over night, although you could take a peek once in a while to see if anything leaks when the engine is not running (important to know).  Go out the next morning and see if the sump or seam is leaking before you start it.  I doubt that it will be, but that knowledge is important.

Then, start it up and let it idle for a while and see if any oil appears and try to pinpoint where it's coming from.  THAT will be your leak, and as Will mentioned up above, it just might be a rear crankshaft seal.  

If THAT is the case, then the mechanic will pull the engine (about an hour), remove the clutch and flywheel (30 mins), Remove the old seal (10 mins) and install a new seal (10 mins).  After that, the flywheel goes back on and you both can decide whether a new clutch disk is needed, then put the engine back.  4 hours labor with breaks, plus $60 in parts.

As an aside, I don't think that the oil cooler is leaking, because the majority of the oil appears to be on the passenger side of the engine.  Usually a leaking oil cooler will leak onto the driver's side of the case (because of where the cooler sits in relation to the center seam of the case).

Good hunting.

Well covered, guys. And Gordon, your point by point analysis of the problem and details of the investigation and fix is spot on!

If you have access to hot water for the spray down, all the better. I ran a hose from my laundry room out to the driveway when I needed to spray off some degreaser softened mess.

Agreed... clean everything and track down the leak. Most likely it's the flywheel seal. If it's the cam plug or the case halves, then you're looking at a much bigger job.

Let us know what you find. Do you have any other areas leaking oil?

its not overfilled with oil is it.

Thanks for all the input. I wasn't thinking the rear seal. 

I didn't think it was going to be a quick easy fix but I figured I would ask before I got back under there with some degreaser and a hose. I'll update more after I know more.

Thanks again everyone!!

This is no help, but I have driven Porsches since 1965 and have had oil leaks in all of them.  When I first asked a Porsche Mechanic how much it would cost to fix the leak ... he said ..." oil is cheap ". 

He also told me that if you own car with a air cooled motor and there is not fresh oil on the garage floor under it....don't start it up....it is out of oil....

I smile about that advice every time I start one up.... and I always look to make sure it is leaking... bart

As Bob pointed out overfilling will cause leaks as will excess internal blow-by pressure if you don't have an oil breather system.

There's some wise words there, Bart...

"This is no help, but I have driven Porsches since 1965 and have had oil leaks in all of them.  When I first asked a Porsche Mechanic how much it would cost to fix the leak ... he said ..." oil is cheap ". "

Good advice.  A little oil leaking is not always a problem.  The more that leaks out, the more you have to put clean oil in, and clean oil is good oil...

I used to appreciate oil leaks in my British sports cars.  At least one part of the car would never rust.

I always thought that oil leaks were part of the factory rust prevention plan.

Yes. German Engineering & all that rot.

They have had their problems lately and VW lying is not prudent....but like a naughty girl, they are just so damn much fun. So they leak a little, so what....

Back in the late 60s it cost about $5,000 to reseal a 911 and when they took it apart, they would find another $5,000 of work they " may as well do now that it is all apart".

In 1968 for $5'000 you could buy two brand new Chevy Camaros with a 327s and  4 speeds..

" Oil is cheap" is right" and you could spend the savings on one of those naughty girls.

...and don't 'crank down' on anything up there around the crank seal.  There's a well-hidden 13 mm nut up there with a paper seal under it (?) that seems to work very well. You might even try taking that nut off, check for the seal, and then retorque it to 14#.