Oil leak

[José Silva]

I have an oil leak in the upper part of the engine next to the timing belt area, has anyone had the same problem?

 

[RUM4MO]

My advice would be to stop using this car now as it is possible that a variable timing pulley or its fixings has failed, it uses engine oil pressure to move/vary the cam shaft timing, when these pulleys start to come apart, the engine oil leaks out.

If this is the problem, there is a serious danger that big engine destruction could occur, if not then I'm sorry to alarm you, but I'm sure that you will consider that playing safe is the best plan as continuing to drive that car until the pulley etc comes "off" along with the cam belt - and then asking VW Group to repair it free of charge just will not happen, they should repair it free of charge if my assumption is correct as it is a known problem if your car has the 1.0TSI engine.

 

[José Silva]

So I went to the mechanic after removing the top cover that covers the timing belt he found the camshaft variator bolts loose. After tightening the oil loss stopped. I post some photos (not mine) to show what I'm talking about. Attention, one of the mechanics told me that this is not the first VW AE211 engine that this has happened in that workshop, mine is the second.

 

[RUM4MO]

Good news, well at least its good that you took my advice before that engine got wrecked.

VW Group must have a way of officially reworking that area or replacing the variable timing pulley and fitting a new belt, as I think that they know about this.

It is essential that you take this to a VW Group official workshop that has the new correct tooling to correctly retime that engine after replacing that pulley and belt.

Please keep us updated.

Maybe try posting these picture again as they can't be viewed, at least by me.

 

[José Silva]

The first image is taken from a footage on youtube where the same problem is reported and the guy cannot identify the problem notice the top screw which is clearly seen to be loose

 

[RUM4MO]

Loose, almost completely unscrewed, that is not good.

Do you know what the full content of the recovery or repair of this is meant to be, were the screws in your exhaust cam shaft replaced and fitted with a form of screw locking compound, or just screwed back in and torqued up?

Also was the cam belt not wetted by this oil and so needing to be replaced?

 

[José Silva]

Initially they thought it would be necessary to change the timing belt but then they saw that the belt was dry the oil hit the bearings and was projected out of there the oil came out through the b.ase of the cover on the belt, it helped that the oil was detected in the initial phase. If the oil loss was not detected and the problem got worse, it could ultimately damage the engine.
The screws were tightened again and I go back there to remove them again, put glue and tighten again.

 

[José Silva]

Just a up date to see no oil every thing its dry and work fine. My advice is to take a look at yours it's very easy to remove the cover cover it has 1 screw and 2 side clips

 

[RUM4MO]

Yes I include that at every annual service on my wife's 2015 VW Polo 1.2TSI 110PS.