Just had the timing chain replaced on my daughter’s Tiguan a couple of weeks ago. She took it on a 600 mile road trip over the weekend. The day after she arrived, she noticed an oil spot under her car. Her dad checked the oil and said it read EMPTY! He said, the best he can tell is it’s coming from the upper timing chain case. Can anyone help shed some light on this for me? Will she be able to drive it back if she continues to put oil in it as she goes?
She can if she can keep it above the “add” mark the whole time. (Actually, as pointed out later, this assumes the oil isn’t getting all over the engine as she drives.)
How much oil did her dad need to add? We need to know that to see if there might have been engine damage here.
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Well, that part isn’t supposed to leak any oil, and the interface was disturbed as part of timing chain job, so maybe just the seal between engine & case there needs fixing. As far as whether to drive it or not, depends on how quickly the oil is leaking out, and under which conditions? If that’s not known for certain, common sense says to tow the tiguan to the shop who did the TC work and ask them for a repair to the oil leak.
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This is a little hard to answer without knowing how much oil was added.
IS the oil just leaking down or is it spraying all over the engine as its leaking? if it just leaked out 2 quarts and is just leaking straight down, then she should be ok driving back as long as she carries a funnel and 3-4 quarts of oil with her and checks it very often. remember the leak can get worse on the way back. so, a few extra quarts are wise.
Now if the oil is spraying all over the engine compartment from the leak, which is more likely to happen if it gets worse, if it is not already. Then I would like to see it fixed first. because the oil over everything could cause the serpentine belt to slip off. if oil is being sprayed on the exhaust manifold it will definitely start smoking and smell, and possibly catch fire.
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