# Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo?



## maccos (Oct 18, 2009)

So i noticed that oil was dripping out of the joint when the first cold air intake radiater outlet connects to the crossover tube along the very front underside of the car. I removed the rubber hose here and at least a half cup of oil came out. The charge pipe has a bit of oil in it as well. I took off the hose that connects to the throttle body and it is coated in a layer of oil as well. 
I assume a little bit of oil is normal, how much is too much? I would guess this is coming from a leaking seal in the turbo. 
Would this be an easy fix, replacing seals or do I just let it go?
100,000 miles on 2001 225Q


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## fijitt (Mar 1, 2007)

*Re: Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo? (maccos)*

this is a guess but it might be a failed pcv system. good luck


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## maccos (Oct 18, 2009)

*Re: Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo? (fijitt)*

I did some more research on this. 
I'd like to remove the entire PCV mess ontop of the engine and replace it with a catch can. Id like to simplify this system with less hoses. 
Is there a DIY on how to do this for the 225 AMU engine? I can find the PCV delete for other 1.8's but the 225 engine seems different, I wouldnt know what to do with the soleniod valve ontop of the valve cover, and Id like to keep the system emmissions compliant.
Any help??


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## Doooglasss (Aug 28, 2009)

*Re: Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo? (maccos)*

On either variaton (180/225) of the 1.8T motor you cannot remove the PCV system without a CEL UNLESS you have a car that is equiped with a wideband 02 sensor and you're willing to pay $800 or so for Unitronic Stage 2 software with the emissions deletes. Since you have an AMU just like me you don't have a wideband 02 sensor and aren't applicable for that software package. IMO you shouldn't bother removing the emissions stuff because it's more of a headache than anything else for people that aren't applicable for the software patches. I have removed everything but I couldn't pass inspection for two years. I'm big turboing the car and this will go away once that software and wideband are in place but that is a far cry away from today and for now I just don't drive the car.
The PCV system is actually located under the intake manifold. That "Cold air piping" you speak of is called intercooler piping (charge piping) and is part of the intake system, yes.
At 100k a couple of things can be happening. For starters your PCV valve has been clogged or just generally eff'd since 10k so you should replace that first! I actually have one that was on my car for pretty much no time at all, if you want it just PM me I'll ship it to you for like $20. You likely have a bunch of leaks down there so you should go over all that piping and replace what you can.
This isn't as easy as an oil change since it will require disassembly of many parts to get to what you need to work on but it's very easy if you have patience and time. Just pull the intake manifold then you will see the whole crappy PCV system down there. You're going to need a Bentley manual if you don't already have one. I recommend the CD version but go with what you're comfortable with. If you can't get a manual just shoot me a PM and I can try to PDF you the pages of that you need for the PCV system.
Aside from your PCV system leaking you might have a blown turbo seal/bearing. I just did my own rebuild on my K04 and it went pretty smoothly. I bought a little cheap-o ebay kit that did the job for me $50. I only put about 2k on that rebuild and haven't had any issues but I cannot speak for long term reliability of it. It will be much easier for you to just replace your turbo since the amount of work required to pull the turbo and put a new one in is a lot of work.
You're best bet is to take a Saturday and do the PCV valve and check ALL The vacuum lines very cafefully. A lot of times there is a small crack that only opens under pressure and you cannot see it. I've missed leaks MANY times even under pressure tests! The best thing to do is inspect each line SLOWLY in your hands and bend the line as you look to pull the rubber apart and look for stress sections. A lot of times clamps will eventually melt though lines or cause cracking. bends in the lines are prone to some failure as well.
After you do the PCV system then try to clean the throttle body and some of the intercooler piping out between the throttle body and the turbo. Monitor the system weekly after that to see how much oil you accumulate now. If it's little puddles it's normal, but not great. If it's 1 cup again you have a different issue.
There is also a flat combi valve that comes off a strange twisted Y splitter off the right side of the valve cover. This valve controls the breathing of the valve cover and the PCV system and recirculates it back into the intake piping (to the right of the motor/turbo after the air filter). If this valve wasn't working right it could dump a lot of oil into your intake and the turbo would circulate it through the charge piping/engine and you would find it in places. This combi valve should be replaced with the PCV valve in your case. I have an extra but it has 90k on it.. don;t think you want it!
Do you have any smoke? Do you have any mods? Generally how do you drive the car?


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## davidbrown (Dec 9, 2009)

I removed the rubber hose here and at least a half cup of oil came out. The charge pipe has a bit of oil in it as well. I took off the hose that connects to the throttle body and it is coated in a layer of oil as well.
I assume a little bit of oil is normal, how much is too much?


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## maccos (Oct 18, 2009)

*Re: Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo? (DougLoBue)*

I agree with you Doug...I'll keep the PCV system where it is, Ive read about the problems related to removing it, I dont want to go down that road...
The oil in the charge piping, looks just like motor oil, not discolored. Reason I am thinking about this, if the oil were coming from the PCV system, would it not have been mixed with air/fuel kinda and look a little different, like what you'd see caught in a catch can?
The fact that it is not contaminated made me think that it is coming straight from the turbo, leaking past the seals...is this logical?
I do want to check the vacuum lines, where exactly is the PCV valve located, under the manifold? I assume it would be best to replace the gasket if I take off the intake mani?
Funny that you ask if it is smoking, well its cold out lately (0-30 deg) so I thought smoking was normal, but today I noticed on the hwy I can easily see the exhaust, really thick when I accelerate, but Im thinking this isnt an issue, I checked compression 2 months ago, 150 psi in each cylinder. Old plugs looked great. I just replaced the front 02 sensor, and its was powdery white, so I dont think there is much of any oil in the combustion chamber, but I think Ill clean all the sensors on the intake tract. 
I do have a Bently manual, thank god. I drive somewhat hard, not all the time, usually dont rev much past 5grand, not much boost past that. Only mod I have is APR 93 Octane flash, thanks for ur thoughts!


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## Doooglasss (Aug 28, 2009)

*Re: Oil in Cold Air Intake, leaking turbo? (maccos)*

Check out the bentley for the specific location of the valve. They have a great chart in there IIRC. To describe a little it's under the intake manifold and there will be a 90' bend coming off the top of the oil filter housing, you follow the rubber tubing attached to that and you will find this Y shapped valve not so far down the line. That's the PCV valve. That PCV system leaks pressure from the block/head and it's supposed to put the oil back in there I believe as well, but it gets clogged and just lets the air fly by oil and all after awhile. 
I've never replaced the intake manifold gasket on my car and I've had it off a bunch of times. It's metal IIRC and has never seemed damaged so there didn't seem to be a need for it to be replaced. It's up to you and how cheap/quick you can find the part! What I definetly would be replcaing are the flat pancake valve and the PCV valve. I'm going to post a VAGCAT chart below... just register a name and it's all free. Click catalog once you're in there and all diagrams/P/N's are very helpful there.
Well this car's PCV system dumps the "clean" air pressure from the block/head back into the intake pipe before the turbo. By doing this the turbo pushes it through all of those intercooler pipes, all the way to the throttle body and back through the combustion chamber and turbo then all over again since air is recirculated on a turbo system. it's normal to have small puddles in the flat parts of the IC piping, but a cup is a question of wow how did your car even run!?!?
The concern about the turbo being blown due to the thick smoke & oil buildup is a possibility. I know that smoke can be a sign of a blown headgasket on any car, but on a turbo car it can also be signs of a blown turbo since the turbo is the last piece of hardware to feed into the exhaust and it has both coolant and oil running through it. 
This is the being hopeful it's not a blown turbo route: 
I'd go with the PCV inspection, full cleaning up of all the oil and run some seafoam through the intake just to clean up the mess inside the turbo/motor. If you still have oil in the piping then you're going to have to buy a new turbo most likely... You have choices now I guess between an aftermarket kit and a stock turbo. http://www.ctsturbo.com will stock both of them... or you can do an eliminator from http://www.vwturbo.com 
vagcat http://www.vagcat.com/epc/
Sorry the diagram they have concerning the PCV system is only for a 180 which is completely different. If you search my old name village_idiot you might come up with a helpful thread. It's going to be an archived thread called engine bay cleanup or something like that.
I remember this guy JohnLZ7W did a writeup on audiworld when it was still around years ago and also had A LOT of photos in his Fotki account. I cannot load those pages from work but I found the audiworld post:
http://forums.audiworld.com/sh...88495
We all used to be HUGE into Audiworld back when it was a different format. Since then a lot of people have split up. Some here some Quattroworld.
I'd really like to add all of these Links I have to the FAQ one day because these "old timers' Have covered A LOT of information and taken a lot of photos and this is where I learned most of the stuff I know about this car. I'm sure these resources would be useful to everybody. The main issue with the vortex is there are a lot of people asking questions and not a lot of good answers. The people who know what they are doing are usually pretty busy and not on the forum and most the the time you just have kids guessing and criticizing your thread. 
If you need anything else man just shoot me a PM. Best of luck this weekend!


_Modified by DougLoBue at 8:19 AM 12-11-2009_


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## jakub12986 (Feb 19, 2010)

i brought a brand new turbo for like 400$, brand spanking new, and im still having spots of oil in my intake hoses, and my stock intercooler.... any one? whats going on?


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## 20v master (May 7, 2009)

jakub12986 said:


> i brought a brand new turbo for like 400$, brand spanking new, and im still having spots of oil in my intake hoses, and my stock intercooler.... any one? whats going on?


Air travels from the intake/filter, to the MAF, to the TIP, to the compressor. There is no way oil is moving from your turbo to the TIP to the MAF to the intake. Oil in that section of the piping is from your PCV system. It then gets blown by the turbo to the intercooler. Use a catch can to catch this gunk before it enters the intake.


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## RabbitGTDguy (Jul 9, 2002)

my 225QR has just crossed the 90k mark this summer and I dug into the PCV system here this winter when installing a EVOShield and wanting to check the general health of the PCV system itself...

The good news...well, since I was in there, and since the PCV valve itself is less than 20 bucks...might as well replace it. I was happy to find that the system itself (all the rubber, besides all the lines that I have replaced with silicone lines (lines from N249 for relocation, to DV, N112, etc) were all in great shape. No cracks, issues, etc. Just replaced the PCV, checked everything else from there and had no issues with the Y pipe either. More preventative probably than anything...but since I was in there...I did it. 

Def. worth checking the health of and doing if your in that area. 

Joe


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