virtuoso23 10 Posted October 10, 2017 (edited) Hey guy's, so I have had a progressive oil leak on the Rado. Tonight I had it up on a ramp dowsed the whole underside with brake cleaner and managed to trace the source of the leak. What is this hole? Oil is leaking down the side of the block directly from here or possibly from above. I reckon that potentially it's leaking from the crankshaft seal and water pump as well as this core plug or is it an oil galley. Help would be most appreciated. Thanks Edited October 10, 2017 by virtuoso23 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vw rule 19 Posted October 10, 2017 Hello there, it does look like you have water running down your block, but there is a bit of glare from the light or flash of your camera. Yes that is a core plug directly under your water pump pulley, plus that small core plug does look congealed with oil/grease/dirt. Right ok so this is a VR6 thinking about it, I believe on these block's they do have a large oil chamber shaft, that goes from the face of the engine block right down to the sump area, which I believe is on the water pump side at the front side, basically facing the same way as the auxiliary pulleys, so yes that core plug could possibly be a oil one. Plus also it looks like you have slight fluid stains, like water / oil behind your water pump pulley, looking through the hole in pulley. I doubt it's your crank shaft oil seal as that is much lower than your water pump, looks to me as if you might have oil leaking from that core plug, & possibly water leaking from pump ? But I can only judge this from your photo. Could also be cam cover gasket or head gasket leaking ? But like I say and what you've mentioned it does look like that core plug is leaking. Hope this helps Si Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
virtuoso23 10 Posted October 10, 2017 Hello there, it does look like you have water running down your block, but there is a bit of glare from the light or flash of your camera. Yes that is a core plug directly under your water pump pulley, plus that small core plug does look congealed with oil/grease/dirt. Right ok so this is a VR6 thinking about it, I believe on these block's they do have a large oil chamber shaft, that goes from the face of the engine block right down to the sump area, which I believe is on the water pump side at the front side, basically facing the same way as the auxiliary pulleys, so yes that core plug could possibly be a oil one. Plus also it looks like you have slight fluid stains, like water / oil behind your water pump pulley, looking through the hole in pulley. I doubt it's your crank shaft oil seal as that is much lower than your water pump, looks to me as if you might have oil leaking from that core plug, & possibly water leaking from pump ? But I can only judge this from your photo. Could also be cam cover gasket or head gasket leaking ? But like I say and what you've mentioned it does look like that core plug is leaking. Hope this helps Si Hi Si, thank you for your input. Yes thinking about it you are correct in relation to the crankshaft seal being located further down so possibly I can rule that out. The oil galley is certainly leaking which explains the oil loss and I do agree there is also some coolant present which must be coming from the water pump due to the location. Oil cooler and cam cover gasket were done a few weeks ago so this also can be ruled out. After I cleaned everything as best I could with brake cleaner the side of the head looked dry also so I think this too can be ruled out. Going to get stuck in this weekend before I put the VR away for the winter. Looks like new oil galley plug and new water pump I would think. What do you reckon Si and anyone else if reading. Thank you Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vw rule 19 Posted October 10, 2017 Hello mate yeah I would clean out the front face of that small core plug, i.e remove best you can all that congealed muck, and see if the core plug is pitted or cracked, before you fully remove it out of block, just to be sure. But yeah looking at your photo I'd go for possibly core plug and water pump. Si Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites