TD5 oil and water leak advice before a garage visit.

Hi all, Before I had this TD5 ES (108,000miles). I had a 300tdi, which I maintained myself, sometimes with a little help from you guys here. I have had my TD5 for about five weeks and really enjoy it so far so good, It has some luxury and compared to the 300tdi rides like a roller..lol. It drives superbly and pulls like a train. It has been serviced and maintained religiously by it's previous 2 owners the last full service around 2000 miles ago.... Now to the advice I need...

If you look at the engine on the turbo side, I can see a large oil deposit which has run down the side of the block, most of the view is obscured but I can see it had covered most of the area behind the oil filter, turbo and manifold all the way back to the bell housing, at the little flat shelf area on the block down by the bell housing down towards the sump there was also some rusty water deposits mixed in........... I have de-greased and cleaned the whole area and kept a close eye on the oil and water problem.... The water is coming from up behind the heat shield and manifold towards the rear of the block, can't quite see how far up because of the restricted view.. The oil only seams to be coming from the center section of the block more or less behind the oil filter and turbo...
I know these subjects have been covered, but I can't really see what may be causing what.. Since owning the car I have done around 600miles, I have had to top up the water once with about a half litre. The oil has not moved at all and is still very clean, there is no water deposits on the dipstick, nor any creaming of the filler cap and the expansion tank is oil deposit free. It does not smoke at all and does not miss a beat however I drive it. I am not affraid to have a go, although i do realise that the TD5 is more complex than my 300tdi. You more experienced chaps have always been a lot of help to me before. sry for the essay but I wanted to give you all the right info.. any help would be appreciated, Many thx.

there's not much on that side that'll leak. the main oil filter is replaced every 36,000 miles (rotor oil filter every 12,000) and because of this, the seal can go hard and start to leak, so I'd change the main oil filter and keep an eye on it. The other place that a leak could occur but less common is the oil cooler which is an aluminium housing on the block behind the main oil filter, the cooler carries both oil and coolant. More common for oil leaks is the rocker cover gasket but this usually leaks down the back of the engine onto the gearbox bell housing.

I agree with ^^^^^^ try checking the main oil filter is tight . Mine came lose once . Plus I would also check the front camshaft seal cover these are very cheap and very easy to change they are a round black disc that are just a push fit on the front of the engine l. I find it best to round the car without all it's engine covers for a few days when hunting down leaks

Oil change every 36000?That must be a typo...
I will be changing my D2 oil every 5k-6k,but I am running on bio

Another common cause of oil appearing in that location is the turbo oil drain, the gasket at the top of it can fail letting oil run down the pipe onto the block.

Also the bolts that secure the lid of the rotary oil filter housing often get overtightened and strip out the threads from the housing - you can run bolts clean through and nylock from below to nip the lid back up nice and tight.

Water leak in that area is usually the drain plug on the head that's hidden by the exhaust manifold which needs removing to reseal it.

Good points for the oil leaks, the other place the oil leak can come from is the spin on oil filter housing done a few in my time, what model year is this TD5. There was some that had a rubber blank off behind the exhaust and with the extreme heat start to perrish.

Thx for all your replies. It is 2002 td5 es, it is fully loaded and thankfully everything works perfectly..I only had it a few weeks and knew about the leaks and managed to knock £500 off the asking price thinking it could be head gasket, but now you have thrown in some ideas, I am going to be optimistic.. I did think the rotary filter, because the oil is directly behind it, but it's not that easy to get a grip on. Is there any techniques or special tool for nipping it up? what about just changing it with a new seal? I like the sound of the turbo oil drain being the cause not sure where to find it but I will look .I've read about the oil cooler causing problems and that does sound a little out of my technical league.. however the drain plug seeping does sound a possible for the water leak. But again have read on here that the thread sometimes strip when messed with and again that would be beyond my abilities..lol. The water does look to be coming from behind the heatshield/manifold at the top right as you are looking at the turbo side. The rusty water stain seems to be coming straight down from that area as opposed to being blown to the back of the block by the fan. When the weather dries out I will be trying out your suggestions, many thx all.

biolandy said:

Oil change every 36000?That must be a typo...
I will be changing my D2 oil every 5k-6k,but I am running on bio

Click to expand...

its not a typo, you just can't read. i said, main oil filter every 36k, rotor filter every 12k

Update, Thanks to a good mechanic friend, a mirror on an aerial thingy (very useful), a torch and the use of a pit, here is what we found. The oil that is down the center of the block behind the turbo/manifold, is leaking from the oil filter housing gasket. The camshaft oil seal is also leaking thus throwing oil around the block both sides, thanks to the viscous fan. The top hose aluminium elbow that fits to the block has either gone porous (quite common, apparently) or a leaky gasket. and finally the rocker cover gasket has not been fitted properly. I have now got all the gaskets, seals and a new top hose elbow. I just steamed all the engine off ready for tomorrow's good weather. My friend who has his own garage said he would quote 4 hours, but I think he is forgetting I am an amateur. I am sure his phone will be switched off for the next day or two. thx for your advise.

A fine day for some leak fixing, I have stripped down the turbo side of the engine today spent all day taking bits off here and there. turbo off, manifold off, A/C compressor loosened, egr cooler off etc.. etc....so far I have replaced the camshaft seal and cleaned up all around, replaced the leaky rocker gasket and cleaned again.. The main oil leak down the block was the oil filter housing gasket, replaced and cleaned up. Now for the water....... The top hose/thermostat housing elbow gasket was leaking but the cast Ali elbow was in a bad way so I have replaced that as well. But the Drain plug that sits behind the manifold is a bit crusty, I think it is seeping as well but how do I deal with this...Firstly i haven't got an allen key that big and secondly I have seen on here that messing with the drain plug can cause more damage than good. any advise please.. Many thx.

You should be able to get a plumbers wrench that will fit the drain plug.... You'll also need some high temperature sealant to apply to both threads before refitting. Unfortunately it's a manifold off job to sort it - and if you are unlucky you could end up with some snapped studs that will need drilling out and replacing...

It's a 12mm key that you need btw - might find you can get one in a sump plug set.

See Steve'O's thread here -> http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/2539164-post136.html

Thx chaps, Luckily I managed to borrow an Allen key from a local garage who just happens to be a mate. Drain plug now resealed manifold and turbo all pipes now back on. Do you need to replace the two copper O rings to the turbo oil feed pipe? and also while doing the camshaft seal on the front of the head I removed the EGR thingy that sits in front of the cam seal..Mainly to clear some of the gunk n crap from the front of the engine. While doing this i snapped the very brittle expansion tank to EGR plastic pipe. Was thinking of just replacing it with rubber hose, Any thoughts.. thx again all

Many others have replaced it with rubber hose.

I replaced the oil banjo crush washers when I had my turbo off last, but you can probably get away with a re-use, just keep an eye out for leakage.

Thx for ur reply, bits ordered, should be all back on the road later today weather permitting, hopefully now with little or no oily mess on the drive. I knew it was very leaky when I brought it, told the garage it looked like the head gasket blown, I managed to knock him down by £500. Tuns out I'll have spent around£45-£55. although been off the road for nearly a week cus I have to dodge the rain, I am still happy landy owner. cheers

Don't know if it has any revelance to your water leak problem but, there is a short (2") reducer HOSE tucked up behind the turbo against the block (difficult to see) which leaked on mine. Replaced it but, still get slight leak cause the housing it fits on to has corroded?