2k6blacka8

I have an oil leak on my 04 4.2L. The oil is leaking on driver side valve cover, it's dripping on the coolant pipe on the firewall side, then it drips on the exhaust manifold and it drips from there to the plastic belly pan. I thought my valve cover gaskets were bad so I spent 8-9 hrs replacing both covers and I did get dealer parts and I took a 815 mile road trip and came home after that trip and its still leaking. I know it's still leaking on the rear of the motor on that side but I can't tell because it is so tight there and I can barely get my mirror back there. Any ideas what it could be?? I also have a small leak on the lower oil pan that I will take care of soon but that one I have described bothers me more. Thanks.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

I sold my 98 A8 because of oil leak, I replaced <a href="http://www.dognmonkey.com/audi/a8-d2-valve-cover-gasket-replacement.html" > gaskets and it still leaked</a>.The guy who bought the car fixed it somehow. I hate oil leak, hope you find where it is, let us know.

Good luck,

Louis

2k6blacka8

Well I can tolerate an oil leak on a regular american/Japanese everyday driven car but not from a car of this caliper. I hope its not the timing chain cover gasket. If so, I rather get rid of the car and probably go for the FSI engine. I might get a drip or 2 a week. When I start it up it burns off.

Brozee

Sure it's not just the valve cover gaskets that need to be replaced?

2k6blacka8

I've already changed them on both bank and i'm still getting the leak. I don't know. Any ideas??

2k6blacka8

I think I found my problem with my oil leak. There's a rubber plug on the rear of the driver side head on the firewall side. Just under the valve cover gasket. It's the cam plug. I took my mini inspection mirror and low and behold there was oil coming out of the bottom of it.

My question is can I take the old plug out with a screwdriver and hammer without taking off the valve covers?? I don't want to go through that again. Or could I clean it well with brake cleaner and goop up some rtv sealant around it?? I figured its not much under pressure. Ok thanks.

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

I was reading about the Synthetic oil with seal swelling additive can cause the seals to leak. Did you fix this problem and how did you fix it. I think I'm going back to Regular oil on my next oil change.

Cheers,

Louis

2k6blacka8

I fixed most of the leak. I changed the driver side cam plug at the time but I'm still have a little leak on the passenger side and most like it the cam chain tensioner gasket but I decided to leave it alone. The car has over 100k so it's not perfect. I'm not going to put any additive in that car unless its a real old domestic vehicle or something. It's not leaking as bad as it did.

I'm surprised you're even thinking of putting regular oil in your car lol. It's spec'd out for synthetic for a reason which is why there are 10K interval in between changes. So if I were you stick with synthetic and be done with it for the better. It's your car and it's up to you on how you want to take care of it .

jandreas

The passenger side camchain tensioner gasket is trivial to change, just make sure you buy the OE seal from Audi. The aftermarket seals do not fit properly! And hopefully its not the o-ring behind the roller rocker lever...

ltooz_a6_a8_q7

The synthetic does have additive which causes the seal to be hardened and leak prematurely. I'm still reading. I rather to change oil more often then replacing seals more often.

Cheers,

Louis