Oil leak, eek....

[irvind]

Hey all,

Drove from Glasgow to Tewkesbury today, stopped near Brum cos the oil light came on, chucked half a litre in, 30 mins later the oil light came on again.... Got to Tewkesbury ok but there's oil around the front offside bumper. Oil cooler?
If I find a garage nearby and it is the oil coller, can it be bypassed to get me home tomorrow?

[grizz]

I would say not , make sure they are very carful removing the old pipe , if they do it wrong you'll end up paying for a cooler as well ...

[mac911rs4]

had the same problem a month or so ago, went in to audi for checks, it appears the rad had taken a hot, either kerbside to pothole (so they told me), i knew it was impossible as we'd had the car back from them for a day, argued the toss and said they'd caused the damage. thankfully £1800 bill was picked up by them, just check there;'s no damage to the rad, visible fro under the front spoiler.

Hope it's not that !!
cheers
M

[irvind]

Maybe just a pipe Grizz?

[RSKiwi]

Very likely it's just a pipe but where these pipes connect to the oil cooler the two different metals of the cooler and pipes accelerate the natural corrosion process and it means that they are a right pita to remove. In some/many cases removing the pipe damages the oil cooler and its a replacement cooler job.

I know as I had my pipes changed as they were beginning to corrode but it cost me an oil cooler even though they were careful when removing them!

Good luck!

[adsgreen]

As above - you have to cut the pipes off carefully.
If you cut the fixing bolt then you can remove it as two halves and prevent damage to the cooler.

If you just use a spanner then as the nut is seized to the pipe it just trashes the (expensive) oil cooler connections.

[RSKiwi]

As above - you have to cut the pipes off carefully.
If you cut the fixing bolt then you can remove it as two halves and prevent damage to the cooler.

If you just use a spanner then as the nut is seized to the pipe it just trashes the (expensive) oil cooler connections.

+1 MRC cut mine off but the thread of the oil cooler simply peeled away with the pipe fixing!! I have the sneaky suspicion Audi had replaced these pipes on mine in the past and not done the best job

The key thing is that whomever does the work knows they have to be so very very careful.

[irvind]

Thanks all.

Had it checked at Autostation here in Tewkesbury and the pipes have split. Waiting for a tow to MRC. Best course of action as far as I can see. There's oil all over the brakes, might need new pads?

[Teutonic Tuner]

Hope you get this sorted matey, I can't believe such a simple design fault has made it to production. Oil pipes like this should never fail for such a poultry reason!

I would really like to look into getting some aftermarket fittings/pipe put together to fix this issue. Would it be possible for you to salvage the old oil pipes when removed and send them to me so I can use as a template? I'll cover any postage costs etc of course. Would appreciate it, let me know.

[RSKiwi]

Hope you get this sorted matey, I can't believe such a simple design fault has made it to production. Oil pipes like this should never fail for such a poultry reason!

I would really like to look into getting some aftermarket fittings/pipe put together to fix this issue. Would it be possible for you to salvage the old oil pipes when removed and send them to me so I can use as a template? I'll cover any postage costs etc of course. Would appreciate it, let me know.

Thats a great idea! Think it is not as a clear cut solution as this though as I asked Doug about running aftermarket and he said it was probably going to cost more than it was worth to do it.

Good luck though I hope you come up with something!

[Hedgehog Dodger]

Could braided hoses not be used? Is there are threaded lugs on the inlet and outlet of the cooler couldn't you just used them instead?

[irvind]

If you're in touch with Doug feel free to ask him, it's cool with me!

[Teutonic Tuner]

Could braided hoses not be used? Is there are threaded lugs on the inlet and outlet of the cooler couldn't you just used them instead?

Yep, the OEM pipes are made up of a mixture of braided hose and galv pipe from what I can see so replacing it all with hose is a possibility as long as the bend radii of the pipe is suitable, then as long as you can get fittings in the right size/thread to fit the rad you're half way there. The tough bit is the pipe ends that connect into the engine block/sump as it looks like a push-fit held in place with a bolt on a tab and this doesn't look like an off-the-shelf fitting, so an old pipe would need to be used here.

[Teutonic Tuner]

If you're in touch with Doug feel free to ask him, it's cool with me!

I'll get intouch with Doug, cheers.

[MB2]

I did similar on a bike. Retained the fittings on the sump, but had a raised edge braised onto them, then the appropriate braided hose was fitted with a jubilee clip end fitting - worked perfectly longterm.