Blubaru703 Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Just for those who don’t know I drive a 1982 GLF and when I left work today and noticed a big oil spot on the ground of the spot where I was parked. I thought to myself that it was probably just some other guy’s oil and drove home. Once at home I checked and apparently I am leaking oil. I had this problem once before but it seemed to have corrected itself and stopped leaking. If you were looking at the car from the front side the leak would be coming from the right-front side of the engine. The dripping slowed down somewhat from when I first checked. I will check the about of oil lost tomorrow morning to see if I should drive it. My first question is what do you all think would make my car leak oil like this? My second is how would you all go about fixing it? Once again thanks everyone for your input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 If it's coming from the side, I would suspect the valve cover. They have a bad tendency to leak. Fixing it isn't difficult, but it's in kind of a tight spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blubaru703 Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 How would I go about fixing this cover? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 The first thing to do, if you can, is to get it as clean as possible. Take it to a car wash and get it clean so you can really get a good look at where the oil is coming from. There are two likely candidates on that side. The first, as I said earlier, is the valve cover gasket. The second would be the camshaft seal. Depending on where the oil is coming from, you'll need to perform the appropriate repair. The valve cover is on the very end of the engine, and it's held on by 4 or 5 10mm bolts. The gasket itself is a rubber gasket that fits in a groove on the valve cover. There are also rubber grommets that go under the bolts. It's a pretty easy repair, except for the fact that the space is kind of tight. If it's the camshaft seal, the oil will be coming from right behind the plastic timing belt cover. If that's the case, you'll have to remove the plastic covers, the timing belts, and the cam sprocket. Replace the belts with new belts, which is something you should do about every 60,000 miles anyway. I hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hatchsub Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Actually the valve cover is held on by two 10mm bolts since this is an EA81 and not an EA82 That being said the cam seal is nowhere near where this leak sounds like (again for the same reason). Get under the car and look up. It should be very clear where the leak is coming from unless your car engine is just really grimy. The valve cover is a likely culprit but your oil pump is could be another cause. Its on the front of the engine sorta towards the drivers side (so right side when looking from the front like you said). Just for my own experience my car was leaking oil everywhere it could leak it from. Both Valve covers, oil pan, oil pump, and rear main seal. Replaced all those gaskets and now no more leaks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarian Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Sorry, good catch. But if it WERE an EA82.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blubaru703 Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 Thanks. I'll check it out and let you all know how it goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cowboystrait Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 oil pan seal or valve cover seal not fun but easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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