oil leaks

I've noticed that after every time I go for a drive there is a little bit of oil on the ground. This might sound dumb, but is this normal? I'm planning to put a little more punch into my 1500cc sp but not sure if a leaky engine is worth working on. I never seem to have to fill much oil into it and there is no smoke or really excessive oil burning smell

Any thoughts?

You need to give it a really good degrease and see where it is leaking from

It could be as simple as one of the rocker gaskets or sump gasket.
Push rod tubes can be slightly more troublesome, same with say oil cooler seals or the front engine seal. A bit more work required to fix.

The difficult ones are if the motor has a heap of blow by / crank case pressure and is forcing oil out.

They "shouldnt" leak.
Mine doesnt leak at home where it is flat but seems to leave a drop at work where I have to park on a slight side incline.

They don't leak, they are just marking their territory. lol

Mine is leaking quite a bit, not so good, but I guess everyone at work knows where Zelda sits 😉

Mine will take a little more effort to fix, have to take the LHS head off.
Seems the head itself has become displaced, which isn't good!
Any other car, water cooled that is, wouldn't run. But because no water can get into the engine in an air cooled monster, I am all good until it just implodes...

Will need to remove the engine to fix mine. I hope it isn't the same for you and it is an easy fix!
Degrease the engine, clean it up, and find where that leak is coming from, then go from there!

ClockworkMonkey wrote:I've noticed that after every time I go for a drive there is a little bit of oil on the ground. This might sound dumb, but is this normal? I'm planning to put a little more punch into my 1500cc sp but not sure if a leaky engine is worth working on. I never seem to have to fill much oil into it and there is no smoke or really excessive oil burning smell

Any thoughts?

most VW engines do leak oil due to the expansion & contraction
because they get so hot due to the air cooling..

its common for sump gasket nuts to leak..
I use a new gasket kit with new washers every time and most times they don't leak - other times they do

tappet covers need new gaskets as the gaskets get compressed by the tappet cover

My last ones lasted about a year before they started to leak
unless they are replaced each time the tappets are adjusted.

and they need to be replaced carefully with no old bits of gasket cement or gasket left and perfectly clean,,
I then use permatex gasket cement on the tappet cover and grease on the engine surface..
and fit them carefully, as the gaskets can move as You fit them..
and they never leak until the gaskets get compressed from the pressure of the tappet cover clamps..

and there are different quality/material gaskets..

once a tappet cover gasket starts to leak it can drip a lot of oil

push rod tube seals can also leak...
they can crack or just leak due to the pushrod tubes expanding and contracting.

I always use permatex gasket cement on both sides of these seals to stop any leaks...

Some people don't use gasket cement... and that is why they leak...

If the breather pipe is blocked- oil can be blown out of the crankcase and will come out from behind the crankshaft pulley
and even the dipstick hole..

the engine can also leak where the case is joined across the centre of the engine ... due to heat expansion..

so all these things can be fixed..

so, no problem with an engine rebuild due to oil leaks..

cheers

LEE

PS: If I have an oil leak.. I degrease under My engine with spray can of foaming engine degreaser then hose it off..

mine dont leak

Lee i disagree with the use of permatex or any gasket goo on the pushrod tube seals . they should be just wiped in a light smear of high temp grease as like you say the motors expand and contract with the heat .
Oh and dont use the shitty red rubber pushrod tube seals either as they go hard with the heat , the white silicon are the go

Hrm ... i'll have to give it a good degreasing and have a look where it is actually coming from... my driveway is sloped so that could be something. i had the oil cooler seals? replaced a while ago so they are good... it was pissing oil out before i got it fixed. thanks for all the info guys!! do most of you build / do all your own maintinance? i have no tools and no space so most of the work is done by my mechanic ... do they run like vw maintinance courses or anything around the place?