Ok,
So today I opened my hood because I have been smelling oil if I run the car hard. Sort of what Johnny B. was running into so i decided to look around a bit more and found 2 things that I am wondering about.

1. I see oil all around my head gasket area. There is a little bit of fresh oil in some spots but the rest looks like it has been there for a while. I also found oil in the spark plug area last time I changed my plugs. Some of them where pretty bad but some weren't. I am assuming this is the valve cover gasket going out. Just wanted to conferm with you guys and see if you agree. Here are the pics of that:



2. This is a little bit of a bigger problem and i am a little confused about. Ok so I was really low on coolent a few weeks ago so i bought the G12 stuff at the audi dealership and filled it up. I put it right at the max line. Then last weekend i was at a VW/Audi GTG and someone pointed out that I was leaking something from the bottom of my car. I turned out to be coolent. I let it sit there and it was a very slow leak. I have not noticed anything in my garage floor since then so I figured it wasn't anything... WELL today when i opened my hood my coolent is now below the min line and it has only been about two weeks. So i started looking around some more and saw that it is leaking right around the water pump area. Now my question is if the water pump is leaking does that mean my timing belt probably hasn't been changed? (I bought the car used and the dealer said that he was pretty sure it had been done so I didn't worry about it.) Here are some pictures of the coolent leak area. What do you guys think?







Thanks for your help guys!!!

Josh

 

that is a weeping water pump, change it. time for a t-belt job for you my friend.

 

I was afraid you were going to say that... Crap[:@][:'(]

Josh

 

You're not alone. @ my 60k service, the dealership said they found a leak near the water pump and they think I should do a coolant flush. I'm holding out for 70k so I can do the timing belt, too.

 

by the way, I wouldn't worry too much about the oil you see on your head in the first pic. that's most likely just residue from leaky cam seals, it's a common issue on 1.8T's. it is not a sign your head gasket is about to go. you'll have zero warning if and when that happens, because it doesn't leak externally (very often anyway), it leaks into the combustion chamber. it's also almost always a coolant leak, not an oil leak. the only thing you'll notice is the car running rough, and the smell of burnt coolant in the exhaust.

 

Well what about the oil that I found up there and the oil smell? Oh and I also found oil in th spark plug area last time I changed my plugs.

Josh

 

have a look around and see if you can find the source. the first place I would look is the camshafts seals, front and rear. how's your oil level?

 

didn't someone have a thread not too long ago about an oil smell when they drove the car hard? I think it was johnnybravo, and he found that he had a vacuum leak in his PCV system. I'd check that out and see if you have a leak.

 

I looked but I can't find that piece. I will look again but yeah. Oh and where are the cam shaft seals? I have no idea where those are.

Josh

 

yeah I just looked at the thread from johnnyB and that piece is not on my car. If it is I don't know what it looks like. I think the picture on that thread was from an AWM engine. I have the AEB engine. Any help would be great on finding out which piece that really is.

Josh