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Oil in the intercooler?


Geeto67

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Doing a radiator on the A3 this weekend. Let me just say the next time someone quotes me a thousand dollars to replace a $200 part on a German car I should just pay them.

 

Anyway, when I disconnected the intercooler about a table spoon of oil dripped out. Should I be concerned? The car has 93k on it and the intercooler has never been disconnected before. Should I be worried Or is this just 100k collection of cold weep. For what it is worth the car doesn't burn any oil and is actually under normal Audi oil consumption (1/4 qt between oil changes). Makes boost just fine and no oil fouled plugs.

 

Where would the oil be coming from other than a turbo seal?

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Falls under the should it be there? No, do they do it: yes. I have seen many and would only be concerned if it is a large amount or if it is making its way up to the tb, I'm guessing this was also the lowest part of the cooler setup where you took the pipe off as well correct ?
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Falls under the should it be there? No, do they do it: yes. I have seen many and would only be concerned if it is a large amount or if it is making its way up to the tb, I'm guessing this was also the lowest part of the cooler setup where you took the pipe off as well correct ?

 

Yeah, it was the lowest part of the intercooler, it's actually lower than the lowest radiator hose.

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Yeah, it was the lowest part of the intercooler, it's actually lower than the lowest radiator hose.

 

Drill a hole in the intercooler. Friend with an ecoboost had oil in the intercooler issues, drilled a small hole in the lowest point, fixed his condensation issue and kept the oil out of the combustion chamber, or at least more-so than before.

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Drill a hole in the intercooler. Friend with an ecoboost had oil in the intercooler issues, drilled a small hole in the lowest point, fixed his condensation issue and kept the oil out of the combustion chamber, or at least more-so than before.

 

I hope your not serious.

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I hope your not serious.

 

Half-ish. Mainly serious about the condensation part, he said he still gets oil out of the hole as well so I suppose that's an added benefit even though it isn't the right way of doing things.

 

It's Geeto so if something bad happens to his shit so be it :dumb:

 

Plenty of info out there on the ecoboost issue.

https://lmgtfy.com/?q=ecoboost+intercooler+drain

 

Being slightly more serious, I'd check your drain hose first and make sure you don't have any restrictions in there (sludge) causing oil to push through the seals and ensure your PCV system is functioning properly and not pressurizing the crankcase pushing oil through the turbo seals that way.

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Drill a hole in the intercooler. Friend with an ecoboost had oil in the intercooler issues, drilled a small hole in the lowest point, fixed his condensation issue and kept the oil out of the combustion chamber, or at least more-so than before.

 

Yeah I know how pressurization works so not gonna do that.

 

The air/oil separators for the 2.0t VAG engines are a fortune. If the worst I see is a tablespoon of oil in 100k of driving I'm gonna take a chance. Besides might sell car next year and buy a focus ST instead. Winters are just killing this car and wife has lost her taste for auto-x so no real reason to drive a super low Audi anymore.

 

Pcv works, tested it about a month ago.

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I'm ready to say to hell with it for the whole damn car. 20 minutes after putting it back together the damn lower radiator hose coupling starts leaking. Yeah I know I should have done the rad hoses and couplings when I was doing everything else so it's my own stupid fault but still.

 

When I had the intercooler out of the car I drained everything out. Total oil amount from the pipes and intercooler was about 2oz. I don't want to do a catch can setup because that requires more maintenance and the oil-air separators are $400. If I was going to try and put more hp in the car maybe I would do it but $400 to keep 2oz of oil out? Imma say fuckit.

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I'm ready to say to hell with it for the whole damn car. 20 minutes after putting it back together the damn lower radiator hose coupling starts leaking. Yeah I know I should have done the rad hoses and couplings when I was doing everything else so it's my own stupid fault but still.

 

When I had the intercooler out of the car I drained everything out. Total oil amount from the pipes and intercooler was about 2oz. I don't want to do a catch can setup because that requires more maintenance and the oil-air separators are $400. If I was going to try and put more hp in the car maybe I would do it but $400 to keep 2oz of oil out? Imma say fuckit.

 

I did mine on the Supra for about $40. Nice, clean install, as well.

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Poor, Poor Kerry.

 

We get the coupling installed, everything connected, take it for a spin.

 

Get back and it's pissing coolant. Everywhere.

 

One of the Endtanks on the new Radiator is leaking.

 

Kerry, we fix the fucking Radiator and you sell the fucking thing, deal?

 

AUDI LOL.

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That shit sucks.

 

So I banged out the second Rad swap this weekend and it went a lot smoother than before. Was actually able to get it done in a day start to finish. I did break a small plastic nipple off one of the many (and I mean many - I think there are 5 of them) plastic couplings in the cooling system, but got lucky and was able to find a NAPA that had one in stock (Audi quoted me 2 days for the part).

 

Special thanks to AJ for lending me his garage space and getting roped into driving all over Cbus looking for a coupling.

 

In case you are wondering how far apart a MK V vw chassis has to come to replace a radiator and thermostat...this is how far:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f102/Geeto67/A6E681EF-C8BF-4547-A489-19CB20782160_zpseprzbwwa.jpg

 

Anyway. so I get it buttoned up and spend all Sunday driving around testing it, and other than the charge pipe popping of the intercooler because I didn't have it properly seated All looked well. Until I got to this morning when the car threw codes P0036 and P0456. 0036 is an O2 sensor heating element and 0456 is Evap slow leak. I think the 0456 is related to the gas cap since I also got a gas cap warning light over the weekend at one point as well and just took it off and re-tightened it and it went away.

 

The P0036 code is a little more concerning given the number of sensors this thing has. So far the car has exhibited no running issues - should I just clear the code and see if it comes back? or begin testing sensors? what's the best way to approach diagnostics on this?

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Any diagnostic issue you need to verify first. Start with clearing the codes and see if they return. If they do try and backtrack mentally where you were, what you took apart and if anything could have been stretched or knicked while you were working. I think P0036 is the heated element for the downstream O2, I don't know for certain off the top of my head though.

 

P0456 is likely as you said related to the fuel cap issue. Clear the codes, see if they return.

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I think P0036 is the heated element for the downstream O2, I don't know for certain off the top of my head though.

 

P0456 is likely as you said related to the fuel cap issue. Clear the codes, see if they return.

 

Thanks. I cleared them last night and then went on a nice long drive. P0036 came back, P0456 did not. When I was working on the car I seem to remember a wire hanging down that I tucked up into the body. I think this was the downstream O2 wire and I may have damaged something. I'll have to wait till the weekend to jack the car up and crawl under it again.

 

 

Get a catch can. Oil vapors lower your fuel's octane level rather significantly. Kevin at Kiggly did some interesting research on it a year or 2 ago.

 

I'm going to look into it, The problem I am running into is nobody wants to sell just the plate to replace the PCV, it's all a kit and a couple hundred dollars. I can make my own lines, but so far the only adapter plate I found is from Spulen.

 

It's a project for next year, right now I still have to do the timing belt, maybe an O2 sensor, Brakes, maybe tires, Clear a phantom steering rack idiot light (anybody have a vagcom?) reattach the wing that MAG ripped off in their car wash, reattach the wiper that moo moo ripped off in their car wash, and a few other things before I get to doing more tuning stuff...if I decide to keep the car at all.

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