Thought I might do a quick guide with some photo's after changing the gaskets on the rear of the engine due to a leak which I didn't really know where it was coming from. 2.5 TDi.
After discovering I had a leak because of the driveway getting covered in oil (around 500ml over 3-4 weeks) I had a look but couldn't really see where it was coming from other than oil around the front and rear oil sump gasket on the drivers side and oil on the bottom of the sump. I did a lot of reading for common leaks but was lacking a few photo's to help.
The common leaks I found were:
O ring in between oil cooler and oil filter bracket. This can become real hard and brittle.
Gasket in between engine block and oil filter bracket.
Oil return pipe gasket on the rear bottom of the turbo.
Depending on how many of the above you want to fix you may want to remove the engine to driveshfat support. I'd say certainly if you're doing the latter two you'll benefit from the extra space.
This is the bracket.
![Image]()
There's 2 13mm headed bolts that you can just make out at the bottom and the other 3 are 17mm heads. Be aware that one of these 3 bolts, the one you can see clearly in the picture, is longer than the others. If you place it in the bracket when it's removed you'll see which ones go where easily.
Here's the engine without the bracket. The engine and box won't fall apart or anything with it removed.
![Image]()
To start with remove the oil filter as the above picture, you'll not lose too much oil but be careful not to spill the filter contents. On my filter I needed a 27mm socket, others are different. Underneath you'll see the oil cooler retaining nut. This can come loose and cause the oil cooler (square metal box) to become unseated on its top side and leak. It's worth nipping up to see if you can get away with it but as stated the O ring seal can become to hard and not reseal.
![Image]()
If not then remove the nut with a 27mm socket leaving this:
![Image]()
You then have to unscrew the tube in the middle which isn't too tight, remove it and the oil cooler will drop on its hoses. On top it has several spikes in a circular shape and the O ring sits around these. I couldn't take a picture due to space. Below is a picture of the O ring. Worth noting is that when I replaced the O ring I secured the 2 little tabs onto 2 of the spikes. If this is right I don't know because when I removed the cooler my O ring just fell off.
![Image]()
This is the first possible leak done and you may choose or only need to go this far. Not me.
From here, once you pull the oil cooler to one side you'll see the oil filter bracket and its retaining bolt through the middle.
![Image]()
To remove this you'll need something like an 18" breaker bar (less if you're feeling strong! but probably not more because of space restrictions) and a 32mm socket. This bolt is tight. I thought I was going to flip the van trying to loosen it
Once it's off the gasket behind is either an O ring or a pattern part as below, shown besides the banjo bolt and it's copper sealing ring that you've just taken off.
![Image]()
That's the second leak mentioned.
The final one is up above this lot on the bottom of the turbo. You'll need a light to see up there. It can leak onto the exhaust manifold and drip down onto the engine block. Here's a bit of a poor picture but you can see the oval shaped flange with it's two retaining bolts.
![Image]()
To remove these two bolts you'll need a 10mm socket. I had it on a universal wobbly type socket, two long extension bars and a short one. It's a long way up and you'll not get at them from above. Now removing them is an easy job.
Once they're out I managed to remove the old gasket and manouevre the new gasket into place from above and also, after removing the air intake tube, I got one of the bolts back in and finger tight from above.
Here's where it went badly for me. I couldn't get the other bolt (the one obscured slightly by the tube in the picture) back in from above so had to go from below and it's a wierd angle because of the manifold heat shield. It took me 7 hours on and off, over 3 days, lying on the floor in some wierd angles to get this bolt back in. I found that bending (smacking) the heat shield using a bar and hammer and getting the extension bars as tight to the engine as I could was the best angle to make the bolt (balanced in the socket on top of the extensions and wobbly joint) locate in its hole properly and catch a thread. A horrible job that I never want to do again and God help, I hope it doesn't leak again from anywhere else now.
Replacement from here is just a reversal of removal.
There is also the chance of the bottom of the oil dipstick tube leaking, you can just see the base slightly right of centre in the 6th picture with a steel pipe going to it on my engine, and the cam and/or crank seals but my seals were done when I had the timing belt done and I could tell that my leak wasn't the dipstick tube.
Here are some torque settings from the Brooklands manual
Banjo bolt in oil filter bracket: 52 ft.lb (7.0 kgm)
Oil cooler to oil filter nut: 18 ft.lb (2.5 kgm)
Hope this helps someone.
After discovering I had a leak because of the driveway getting covered in oil (around 500ml over 3-4 weeks) I had a look but couldn't really see where it was coming from other than oil around the front and rear oil sump gasket on the drivers side and oil on the bottom of the sump. I did a lot of reading for common leaks but was lacking a few photo's to help.
The common leaks I found were:
O ring in between oil cooler and oil filter bracket. This can become real hard and brittle.
Gasket in between engine block and oil filter bracket.
Oil return pipe gasket on the rear bottom of the turbo.
Depending on how many of the above you want to fix you may want to remove the engine to driveshfat support. I'd say certainly if you're doing the latter two you'll benefit from the extra space.
This is the bracket.
There's 2 13mm headed bolts that you can just make out at the bottom and the other 3 are 17mm heads. Be aware that one of these 3 bolts, the one you can see clearly in the picture, is longer than the others. If you place it in the bracket when it's removed you'll see which ones go where easily.
Here's the engine without the bracket. The engine and box won't fall apart or anything with it removed.
To start with remove the oil filter as the above picture, you'll not lose too much oil but be careful not to spill the filter contents. On my filter I needed a 27mm socket, others are different. Underneath you'll see the oil cooler retaining nut. This can come loose and cause the oil cooler (square metal box) to become unseated on its top side and leak. It's worth nipping up to see if you can get away with it but as stated the O ring seal can become to hard and not reseal.
If not then remove the nut with a 27mm socket leaving this:
You then have to unscrew the tube in the middle which isn't too tight, remove it and the oil cooler will drop on its hoses. On top it has several spikes in a circular shape and the O ring sits around these. I couldn't take a picture due to space. Below is a picture of the O ring. Worth noting is that when I replaced the O ring I secured the 2 little tabs onto 2 of the spikes. If this is right I don't know because when I removed the cooler my O ring just fell off.
This is the first possible leak done and you may choose or only need to go this far. Not me.
From here, once you pull the oil cooler to one side you'll see the oil filter bracket and its retaining bolt through the middle.
To remove this you'll need something like an 18" breaker bar (less if you're feeling strong! but probably not more because of space restrictions) and a 32mm socket. This bolt is tight. I thought I was going to flip the van trying to loosen it
Once it's off the gasket behind is either an O ring or a pattern part as below, shown besides the banjo bolt and it's copper sealing ring that you've just taken off.
That's the second leak mentioned.
The final one is up above this lot on the bottom of the turbo. You'll need a light to see up there. It can leak onto the exhaust manifold and drip down onto the engine block. Here's a bit of a poor picture but you can see the oval shaped flange with it's two retaining bolts.
To remove these two bolts you'll need a 10mm socket. I had it on a universal wobbly type socket, two long extension bars and a short one. It's a long way up and you'll not get at them from above. Now removing them is an easy job.
Once they're out I managed to remove the old gasket and manouevre the new gasket into place from above and also, after removing the air intake tube, I got one of the bolts back in and finger tight from above.
Here's where it went badly for me. I couldn't get the other bolt (the one obscured slightly by the tube in the picture) back in from above so had to go from below and it's a wierd angle because of the manifold heat shield. It took me 7 hours on and off, over 3 days, lying on the floor in some wierd angles to get this bolt back in. I found that bending (smacking) the heat shield using a bar and hammer and getting the extension bars as tight to the engine as I could was the best angle to make the bolt (balanced in the socket on top of the extensions and wobbly joint) locate in its hole properly and catch a thread. A horrible job that I never want to do again and God help, I hope it doesn't leak again from anywhere else now.
Replacement from here is just a reversal of removal.
There is also the chance of the bottom of the oil dipstick tube leaking, you can just see the base slightly right of centre in the 6th picture with a steel pipe going to it on my engine, and the cam and/or crank seals but my seals were done when I had the timing belt done and I could tell that my leak wasn't the dipstick tube.
Here are some torque settings from the Brooklands manual
Banjo bolt in oil filter bracket: 52 ft.lb (7.0 kgm)
Oil cooler to oil filter nut: 18 ft.lb (2.5 kgm)
Hope this helps someone.
