2.0 TDI Oil in Coolant. Help?

[Golf]

Hello, I'm new on this forum.

I've just bought a second hand 2005 2.0 TDI golf a week ago. Pretty happy with the car until today...

I was going to change the oil, oil filter, air filter and pollen filter. I went through and cleaned the engine bay a little, then I decided to look in the coolant overflow bottle. I looked inside and big blobs of oil floating in there!

I know I should of had a looked at everything when I was buying the car, but it only has 43000 on the clock and has been serviced by VW!

Anyway, now I'm wondering what I should do. So far my thoughts are either a seal in the turbo is leaking, head gasket or maybe the oil cooler. But I'm pretty shocked, the car is 4 year old, how could the head gasket crack already?!??

Any thoughts, suggestions? Has anything like this happened to anyone else?

[Russ59]

Hi Mate,

Sorry to hear you're having troubles. I don't know exactly what the problem is but according to this old thread I found, it could be a number of things

The only way to know for sure is to have it looked at by a qualified person, perhaps someone on the Forums that lives up your way could recommend a suitable place to go where you won't be ripped off !!

http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=13721&highlight=oil+coolant

Best of luck with it

Russ

[Golf]

Yeah, it might be the oil cooler.

Can anyone tell me if the turbo is watercooled? I had a look at it today, I can see where the oil comes in and out, but I can't see any water lines running to the turbo.

[Greg Roles]

Turbo isn't water cooled, but the oil DOES pass through a water / oil cooler just prior to the turbo. Possible the problem is just at the oil cooler, which is on the lower end of the oil filter assebbly under the engine cover at the front of the motor. Is the oil black or grey ( water added ) at the dip stick??

You could give Jmac on here a call, he's a local, independant VW specialist, or there are a few others highly recommended. Would be a LOT cheaper than VW direct..

[gregozedobe]

Ouch, sorry to hear that.

I got lots of black oil in the coolant from a faulty oil cooler in my T5. It is a common problem on the R5 TDI motor built end 2006 early 2007. I haven't heard of it happening much with the 4 cyl TDIs.

I had mine fixed under warranty, but unless yours had the extended warrenty purchased before you bought it yours might not be covered by warranty by now. Maybe VWA will make a good will offer (depending on what the problem turns out to be).

If it was a dealer sale there should be some kind of statutory warranty, but if it was a private sale all I can suggest is you talk to the seller. If they knew about the problem but sold it anyway that is pretty sleazy. If they had fixed it (eg replaced oil cooler or faulty seal), but the oil keeps reappearing that mightn't be such a big problem (see next para).

In my case there were no signs of the coolant getting into the oil side. The biggest problem was getting ALL the oil out of the coolant. The VWA recommended process of flushing with the VW flushing product and going for a short drive was quite ineffective, and every time I went for a long, fast (hard) drive more oil appeared in the coolant bottle, so I had to keep taking it back. This was very frustrating for both me and the dealer. Mine seems fine now (done a further 18,000Km with no sign of oil in the coolant).

Let us know how you get on.

[h100vw]

If there's just a bit of oil in there, I'd soak it out with some paper towels. Top up the coolant and see if it comes back.

I'd also recommend seeing jmac. He is in Runcorn.

Gavin

[Golf]

Yeah, I think it is the oil cooler. But there was also a tiny bit of oil on the rubber hose that plugs into the intercooler after the compressor. There wasn't much oil there but there was some. Right around the connection between the hose and the intercooler.

The oil is black and the car is not blowing any white smoke.

Strange that the turbo is not water cooled. After I switch off the car I can hear a noise which sounds like an electric water pump running. It runs for about 5 seconds after the engine is switched off. I thought that this was to cool the turbo down after the engine is switched off.

I'm going to get VW to have a look it, see what they think.

[gregozedobe]

Oil in the intake tract is normal (but not necessarily good) for VW TDI engines. I sometimes wonder whether that is why some engines seem to use oil - they are busy linging the various hoses and intercooler with engine oil. Probably nothing to do with the oil in the coolant.

[Greg Roles]

Oil in the intercooler plumbing is normal, it's from the tappet cover breather, and people like me actually run an additional air/oil filter to remove even more than the stock system does. If the turbo had stuffed seals, well, you'd know about it!

[Golf]

I'm going to get VW to have a look at it. But if it is the oil cooler, is it worth while replacing it with an aftermarket oil cooler for slightly better perfomance? Or should I stick with the standart one?

Has anyone fitted aftermarket oil coolers? Any difference/benefits?