Help me find this oil leak (with video)

[TazManiac]

Hey guys. Hoping I could get some help to work out where this oil leak is coming from.

I noticed quite a few drops of oil on the driveway over the past week or so. Definitely engine oil. Seems to be dripping onto the diff and then dripping on the driveway overnight.

I've uploaded a video of the best angle I can get from under the car. I sprayed it down with degreaser a few days ago and it seems to only leak when under load so it's hard to get a clear view of it dripping.

Towards the end of the video there are two drops of oil visible and as far as I can tell this is the only drips in sight.

Any idea where to check first given this vision? I don't know the names of many of the parts so it's hard for me to let you know what I can see.

I appreciate any help.

Cheers

Aaron

[Rock Trol]

Hi TazManiac.

I have a similar problem of engine oil dripping from the front diff pumpkin. My mechanic traced it back to the turbo which is leaking a little. Oil seems to travel down the side and around the front, then drips onto the diff. Have a look at your turbo and see if there is oil around the pipes.

Maybe try tightening the hoses to the turbo. Some turbos just leak. If there are no strange noises and the boost is good you don't need to worry.

[4bye4]

As Rock trol says, it's worth checking around the turbo. In my case I was getting oil drips near where you are getting them and it was from the intercooler. The oil was running down the engine and dripping very slowly quite a distance from the I/C itself.

[zoki]

Hi mate. This is very consistent with the oil leak I had on my 3L Di, when the timing cover leaked. It started with an oil of the same type and spot as yours, it congregates on bottom, and eventually it will leak coolant as well. That is my guess, I hope I am wrong for your sake as it is not a cheap fix.

[Krzysiek79krzysiek]

Hi there, few days ago I was eliminating similiar oil leaking from my 3.0TD - the reason of that was "old" oil pressure sensor which is fixed to the side of the engine block: one is just below the turbo charger - so I thought first it was turbo, but when I used mirror and the lighter I could see oil around only the sensor and it was losen and leaking. The cost is just 30$ here in Poland and I eliminated this while changing my engine oil ... It was long year I was seeing drops on the drive-way and such a simple way to eliminate this.

Hope this is nothing serious in your engine as well.
BTW - when oil leaks from inter-cooler this mean that oil ispassing through the turbo charger and this mean that the turbo is "getting oler" - there shall be no oil in IC after turbo. Oil from turbo shall go straight to the engine with the pipe ...

Regards,
Krzysztof