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Qalandar
16-10-2016, 10:42 PM
Hi, I'm new here and wasn't sure where I should post this. I have learnt a lot from reading some of the posts on this forum so...

I have the above mentioned car, recently I have noticed a small oil stain underneath the car, near the front passenger side wheel. I have monitored it, and oil doesn't leak onto the ground, but the stain is always shiny. The stain doesn't increase in size either.

I showed the car to my local mechanic who said this is "normal", as it's oil from the intercooler? I accepted this and carried on as normal. However in the last 8000 miles I've had to top up the engine oil, approximately 2 litres..

the car smokes for few seconds on start up, white smoke which I believe is condensation. But when the oil level is correct I notice no power loss, car revs up to 4000rpm just fine and once im on the motorway it pulls well.

I have used Redex only once, and I use vpower diesel whenever possible.

Car has done 94,500 miles and has been on a long life service regime from day one. I plan on changing this to fixed service every 10,000 miles, using the correct PD oil.

From reading similar posts, some people say the intercooler oil is normal unless the car uses a lot of oil, then it is the turbo seals...I'm prepared to fork out for a new turbo if needs be but my question here is, can I keep driving the car and top the oil up as it burns or will this cause other damage? I've read about runaway engines and it's made me paranoid.

Thanks in advance

Gazwould
16-10-2016, 11:29 PM
LongLife intervals aren't good .

LongLife oil is so forget the fixed interval 505.01 .

Could be a loose boost hose connection near the intercooler leaking oil vapour .

MiniMental
16-10-2016, 11:31 PM
Iirc, long life service schedule can be incredibly bad for these engines, particularly camshafts, switch to fixed. If the oil leaks on the exhaust side it can ruin the cat.... you will get blue smoke if it's burning oil. My intercooler is very wet and undertray is saturated with oil underneath it, always has been but never had to top engine up with oil because of it 2L is a huge amount... half the capacity of the engine. I had a "bodged" sump plug for a year between services which leaked constantly.. and still only topped up about 500ml over 12 months until I serviced it in August.

Usually these engines are bombproof. Mine is also an AWX btw. On 134.5k miles.

Another place to check for oil leaking is rocker cover gasket above turbo. Mines leaking there, though not enough to make it anything other than wet.

Qalandar
17-10-2016, 12:49 AM
Despite being on longlife service, the car was serviced every year like clockwork by the previous owner. He serviced it every April, using longlife oil, regardless of mileage done. And he never did more than 10,000 miles in one year.

In a separate issue, I have a small exhaust leak on the flex pipe, and the cabin smells strongly of fuel every time I put the AC on.

I have been reading about valve cover gaskets, if they leak oil onto the exhaust the smell will come into the cabin. I'm not sure whether I should try this first.

However I'm not sure this problem would cause 1 litre of oil to be burnt every 4,000 miles.

The owners manual states up to 1 litre per 1,000 miles is "normal", but that is ridiculous in my opinion. I owned a 1.9 tdi PD (tiptronic) previous to this and although I had to top it up a little between services, it didn't use as much as this car.