2004 TD4 - MAF check - now oil everywhere ? Related?

I have a 2004 TD4

Its got 54k on the clock.

Since we got it a month ago we felt that it felt a little fluffy when pulling away from standstill, and also when you slow for a roundabout and hit the gas again to join the flow of traffic, like it hesitates, fuel economy has been rather crap as well, even driven lightly.

So anyways, last night I removed the injector cover, then the airbox, pulled the MAF plug, took it for a spin.

Throttle response seems 100x better now, before you had to press the throttle what seemed way too much for what you would expect in response.

Today the wife took it to work, after she left I noticed a small pool of oil on the floor, so I called her and told her to lift the bonnet and check for any obviously signs of a leak ( fearing that I had not replaced the oil cap properly !! )

She calls back saying there is oil everywhere ( I start to feel guilty and fearing the oil cap wasn't on ! ), oil is all over the expansion bottle, PS res, and generaly on the oil cap side of the engine, however I told her to check the oil cap and she says it was definately on properly, I also got her to check the dipstick just in case which was also firmly planted.

She is still at work atm ( some 20 miles away ) so I have not been able to take a look and see wtf has gone wrong, oil levels fine, you know how oil spreads like hell, im wondering if I could have disturbed something whilst doing the above jobs, I didnt bother to refit the injector plastic cover only the Airbox etc.............anyone have any bright ideas ?

OT: the car was on diags yesterday before I did this and showed no problems ?? I still wanted to try it for my own peice of mind because AFAIK its still possible to have a dodgy MAF without it showing on Diags ?

is it comming out the dipstick?, have you changed the crankcase breather filter?

aussielander said:

is it comming out the dipstick?, have you changed the crankcase breather filter?

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Nope, got her to check the oil cap and dipstick as the very first port of call, both correctly fitted/in situ........

I never touched the crankcase breather filter ? thats that horrible thing which sits behind the injector rail just in front of the airbox right ?

with the engine running- pull the dipstick, if oil comes out its a sure sign you need to change crankcase breather pronto.

thats the one, needs to be changed every 12,000 miles

Spot on, I will get her to try that at lunch time, or myself when she is back, CCB's can cause untimely Turbo failure as well cant they ?

sure can

TY, will check it out ASAP.

Out of interest would you expect to see oil spewing from the CCB and painting the inside of the engine bay like that ? or is there something else I can put on the list to check as well ?

when was last oil filter change? could the filter cap have been fitted loose or something?

if the CCB filter is blocked it will presurise the crankcase and come out where ever it can, usually dipstick first

Had a full service when we bought it a few weeks ago ( 3 weeks ? ) been dry as a bone since, oil only appeared after I did the above job with the MAF, and oil cap was in place correctly according to the wife. I will ring the dealer and see if they changed the CCB in that service to make sure.

Dipstick was firmly seated tho - hmmmmm, will be best to look for myself tho, you know what "women" are like, bless em

check the cap on the oil filter, they might have forgotton to tighten it properlp and it has now come loose

Will do thanks....

Problem fixed........

Turn out something really bizzare !!!

I never refitted the injector rail plastic cover so I could plug the MAF back in if needed without having to redo work needlessly, as you stand in front of the engine bay the left most bolt turns out to be under oil pressure !!!! Yup the bolt holding a plastic cover in place needs to be replaced else oil comes from its hole, never seen or heard anything more strange in a long time.

So top tip, if you remove the plastic cover be sure to replace it with ALL the bolts ( the middle and right hand side one dont matter but anyways )

strange, never re fitted my cover after taking it off the first time. dont think many peeps who do their own servicing refit theirs either. never heard of any leaks

Thats exactly my take on it as well !

I will take a piccy of the offending bolt when she gets back home.............

I couldnt be arsed to wait for her to get home ( and thought it was risky doing 20miles with oil ****ing everywhere ) so went over with your advice in mind for a looksie myself.

Found this piccy, that will do.........market the bolt in question !

Phantom_Mark said:

Found this piccy, that will do.........market the bolt in question !

Click to expand...

What the foc!!!..

mine does it too, exactly the same. don't know why as the bolt seems to screw into a plastic thread. But, may possibly be due to the screw being done up too tight at some time in the vehicles history so the end of it just punctures the chamber underneath which is under positive pressure.

Put a little silicone washer under the bolt head of mine, just to doubly make sure it don't leak. keep the bolt in and it's fine.