ok.... apart from the fact that it's a kombi, it seems to be leaking a lot of oil onto the heater boxes... its starting to bother me so how exactly can i reduce the amount of leakage?

gaskets and goopy glue stuff?

Take the tappet covers off, clean all the mating surfaces of any old sealer and gasket residue, adjust the tappets while you've got them off, then fit NEW gaskets (shouldn't need to use any sealer, but do so if you want to) and refit tappet cover. Check the tension/pressure of the retaining spring so that it snaps into place evenly at both points where it touches on the cover, it should need to stretch out about 6mm to hold the cover in place adequately.

Cheers, Ian.

As above^^but use a sealant............'PERMATEX Aviation gasket sealant No 3', this is a non hardening sealant which holds the gasket in place. I recently watched a fellow VW enthusiast use two new gaskets in one day trying to fix a leak, I used the old (but still good) gasket with the permatex and presto the problem was fixed.

what craig said 99.9% of tin covers on t4's are bent and buckled so sealant is the only way unless you spring for a new set of ally covers $$$$$$$$$$:beer:beer:beer

would repco or bursons have that Permatex stuff?

thanks so much guys... will give it a go

ergh... on closer inspection the oils all over the fuel pump and the bottom of the engine and the protective plate thingies... could it be the gearbox seal? (please say no)

check the oil pressure switch just behind the distributor,it can crack and oil will end up all over the bottom of the motor. the switch still works it just lets oil out which dribbles down and air flow does the rest.

they sell permatex at supercheap.

permatex non hardening rocks!

good chance it the push rod seals

Easy to do in a type 4.

just a pain. Type 1 is harder to do but seals better IMO

Permatex is great, I've been using it for about 20 odd years....
Repco, Auto One just about everyone sells it....

Aviation jointing goo is very similar if not the same....

I only use it on the tappet cover and don't have any leakage....
You just have to make sure everything is clean.....

I also use Permatex on the pushrod seals...
do both sides of the seals, then when they crack, and the seals will crack... the permatex stops any leaks...

Lee

cool... thanks people... ill wait for a free day then ill slide under there and get all oily for the greater good