Unknown Gasket Beneath Valve Cover Gasket??

[akdarsh]

Hey all, my 07 GTI (BPY engine) is leaking a little bit of oil. It seems to be coming from something below the valve cover (see attached pictures)

Red arrow - valve cover gasket
Yellow arrow - unknown
Is there a gasket where the yellow arrow is? Like some type of lower valve cover gasket? I'm pretty sure it isn't the head gasket

 

[ROH ECHT]

There's a seal under the black poly rocker cover(red arrow) and VW sealant-green; ( https://www.shopdap.com/d-154-103-a1.html ) is used between the cam cover and the head(yellow arrow). You can try to re-torque the rocker cover bolts @ 10Nm=7lb*ft. I'll add a pic for the order of tightening for tightening now or when you replace the rocker cover seal. The leaking is likely due to the rocker seal has hardened over time due to heat cycling. Same happens to the oil filter housing assembly seals.



It looks as though the oil comes from higher up. Could be the filler neck or the rocker cover bolts themselves. The rocker cover bolts also have seals on them... https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine...Z_1gLVB0dEBlA3Uq9tYVpB3HPNbRp4fYVwUxZ7s7fJ8sk

 

[akdarsh]

Thanks for the quick reply!
The rocker cover is the same as the valve cover right? Why would torquing the rocker/valve cover bolts tighten the seal too?
These outer bolts with blue arrows seem to be the ones holding the cover to the gasket, not the valve cover bolts. (ignore the red arrow and ratchet I found this pic somewhere online)

Edit: Would I need to remove those bolts and that block and reapply the green sealant? Seems like bad design to use some random sealant instead of a gasket at a location of such high temperature!

 

[ROH ECHT]

Thanks for the quick reply!
The rocker cover is the same as the valve cover right? Sure. they are one in the same and it's the black plastic/poly cover. Why would torquing the rocker/valve cover bolts tighten the seal too? That wouldn't be a long term solution. It may help for a bit and buy you time. Given the seal is hardened and all. May not help at all though.
These outer bolts with blue arrows seem to be the ones holding the cover to the gasket(Holds the cam cover to the head and is where the green sealant is used), not the valve cover bolts. (ignore the red arrow and ratchet I found this pic somewhere online) Right, I call that the cam cover...some call it the cam cradle cover. But the green sealant goes between that and the head.

Edit: Would I need to remove those bolts and that block and reapply the green sealant? Seems like bad design to use some random sealant instead of a gasket at a location of such high temperature!
View attachment 172513

Perhaps you should look at this vid. There's more to remove than the outer bolts to remove the cam cover to reapply the green sealant. You may want to wait until you have another reason to remove that cover and seal it at that time;

Also, if you decide to remove the cam/cradle cover...you'll need to strap both cams to the head with numerous zip ties or be prepared to redo all of the timing. Some use the cam-lock tool, but even with that the cam timing can get out of position.

 

[akdarsh]

Thanks for the help, this has cleared it up a lot.
Maybe the oil is leaking out of the valve cover gasket and falling onto the cam girdle, giving it the viscous feel it has.
Are you naturally supposed to be able to see the green sealant lining the cam girdle? It doesn't seem like it's hardened, its as liquid as any sealant I'd expect.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Thanks for the help, this has cleared it up a lot.
Maybe the oil is leaking out of the valve cover gasket and falling onto the cam girdle, giving it the viscous feel it has.
Are you naturally supposed to be able to see the green sealant lining the cam girdle? It doesn't seem like it's hardened, its as liquid as any sealant I'd expect.

You may or may not see the original green sealant, but in your pics it does seem to be visible. Not much is needed and from the factory it is barely noticeable.

 

[akdarsh]

So I just bought this GTI a couple weeks ago, and I was going through some old service receipts the previous owner gave me.
It turns out in August, he had the camshaft intake, camshaft seal, cam seal, fuel pump, and a bunch of other stuff replaced. To replace the camshaft seal and cam seal, you would need to remove the cam cover, right? I'm thinking that's why the cam cover seal is failing right now.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Yes, it would be removed to replace the intake cam. There is no cam cover seal...only the sealant. In your pictures, the leaking seems to be coming from higher than the cam cover to head joint. Perhaps you can contact the ones that did the service and see if they can do something for you with it even though you bought it recently.

 

[GTI's]

It would help you if you clean up the engine and then take a look at where the oil leak/s may be coming from, some of that may have been there from before they did repair work. Some shops just only clean up what needs to be done to make repair and leave the rest behind.

Looks like this car had a failure of the CF and took out the Hpfp, Icam, follower etc. keep an eye out for oil pressure warning.

 

[akdarsh]

Yes, back in August, the invoice says there were multiple faults stored for the high pressure fuel system, so they replaced CF, HPFP, and all the others you mentioned.
I actually just replaced the valve cover gasket and PCV valve gasket since they were a bit wet, and the oil leak has decreased significantly. However, there is still a very small leak at the cam cover. My only question at this point is: Are you supposed to reapply the sealant every time you remove the cam cover? Or can you just reuse the sealant? I feel like it'll lose its "stickiness" once you remove the cam cover.
If the answer is yes, you do need to reapply the sealant, then I can probably get the shop to reseal it for me since its only been 9 months since they serviced the camshaft/cams.

 

[ROH ECHT]

Yes, when the cam cover is removed...the old sealant must be cleaned off and new should be applied. Wouldn't hurt to ask the shop...I would.

I am also suspicious of the valve cover replacement....if you notice more leaking after the cam cover is addressed at the shop. Actually, might not be a bad idea to have new valve cover bolts put on when they reseal the cam cover. Anyhow, this is not to say you did anything incorrectly but to suggest the possibility the seals on the cover screws/bolts(pic in the link below to view the bolts w/seals) may have been hardened over time and perhaps have cracked when they were tightened again. They have been known to partially pop out when a cover is removed and not return to the optimal position to seal when re-tightened; https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine...Z_1gLVB0dEBlA3Uq9tYVpB3HPNbRp4fYVwUxZ7s7fJ8sk

 

[akdarsh]

Well it was leaking even before I did the valve cover gasket replacement (green-brown leaking in original pics). I even used a torque wrench to torque it to spec. I'm positive that my valve cover replacement had little to no effect on the cam cover sealant.