Intermediate shaft seal leak - Troubleshooting - VWDiesel.net The IDI, TDI, and mTDI source.

• Intermediate shaft seal leak by veeman on 17 Aug, 2006 06:23
• After getting the new head on my 1.6TD and driving it, everything seemed fine  until I noticed a little oil leak dripping onto the driveway.  D_mn.  Seems to be coming from the crank side of the engine...oil return from turbo is fine and there's oil between the upper and lower cover,  so I'm assuming that it's the intermediate shaft seal.
  
  There was some oil in that area when I had everything apart to do the timing belt, but I didn't have the seal and figured it was from when I pulled the head.  
  
  I'm going to pull the covers tonight and locate the leak for sure, but can someone refresh my memory?...  The intermediate shaft seal is installed in a bolt on carrier and is relatively easy to replace, correct?  I thought I read something in the Bentley about needing to drop the engine, but that might have been for replacing the whole shaft.
  
  Looks like I get to pull that intermediate shaft pulley (cringe) and redo the timing belt / pump timing again...   grrr.... It's not leaking that bad, but I hate leaks.
• #1 by burn_your_money on 17 Aug, 2006 14:53
• Mine leaks too, let me know what you find out.
  
  Is it the same seal as the cam seal? Certain online vendors make it appear this way
• #2 by Master ACiD on 17 Aug, 2006 17:59
• im 99% sure its the same as the cam seal.
  
  be sure you replace the gasket that goes inbetween the holder piece and the block.  actually while you have that side of the motor torn down, you might as well replace the main seal and the cam seal. they are very cheap.
• #3 by coke on 17 Aug, 2006 18:04
• The intermediate shaft has two seals, the oil seal and an o-ring that is green. The seal is the exact same seal as the camshaft seal and this can be done with the engine in the car, because I have done it.
  
  The seals are cheap, 3 bucks or so ... And replace the O-Ring too.
• #4 by bert on 01 Sep, 2006 12:03
• Actually,the seal is not the same as the cam seal,the intermediate shaft turns the opposite rotation to the cam,if you look at the cam seal there is a arrow of rotation,the seal is a special from vw,
  Bert
• #5 by mvptrukin on 01 Sep, 2006 15:38
• All three seals : crankshaft,camshaft, and intermediate shaft are now bidirectional and the same part . I know Bently mentions a unidirectional seal  but that changed years ago. Look on the many parts websites and they will confirm this. When you get the new seal it will have an arrow pointing in both directions. It has been my experience that the intermediate seal is good but the "O" ring seal mentioned by someone else is probably bad and it causes a bad oil leak that makes you think it is the head gasket or worse!
                                                                                          Pete
• #6 by veeman on 05 Sep, 2006 07:09
• Update...
  
  I replaced the intermediate shaft seal yesterday.  Not exactly the most fun way to spend Labor day.  Basically, I had to take off the crank and WP pulley to get the lower cover off, then remove the timing belt to get the intermediate shaft pulley off.
  
  I'd say getting the aluminum intermediate shaft pulley off without wrecking it was the hardest part.  I found a way to use a prybar with an angled tip against the back of the pulley near the hub by bracing it against the block.  Not fun.
  
  The carrier came off easily with two 8mm (13mm head) bolts.  The O-ring looked fine and so did the old seal, but it was definitely leaking.  The seal presses into the carrier very easily, but the trick is getting the seal around the IM shaft without getting it pinched.  I had to try a few times...grease along with a small pick to stretch the seal around the shaft seemed to do the trick.
  
  Two things that bothered me about the job were that there was a shiny spot on the back of the carrier making me think the IM shaft was walking and that the snout of the IM shaft appeared to have a slight groove in it near the center.  The pulley seems to go on fine, but I'm sure that's not good.  I believe you have to pull the engine to remove the IM shaft.  
  
  Reassembly would have been pretty easy had I not found some other issues with the alternator / water pump bracket.  I found one missing bolt for the a/c compressor and another that was sheared off in the cast iron mount.   Since it was the bolt right next to the frame rail, I had to pull the bracket to repair that...without a doubt my LEAST favorite thing to do on these engines.  That last bolt under the pump is a real bear.  Luckily last time, I clearanced the bracket rib a bit to improve access to that area.
  
  So far so good though... no leaks after driving last night and this morning.
• #7 by fatmobile on 05 Sep, 2006 23:45
• Quote

  I'd say getting the aluminum intermediate shaft pulley off without wrecking it was the hardest part. I found a way to use a prybar with an angled tip against the back of the pulley near the hub by bracing it against the block.

  
   I had been lucky with the last few intermediate shaft pullys I removed. They came off easily.
   This last one I did wouldn't come off and I know from previous experience how easily the little edges break.
   I did the same thing you did. Got in behind the pully and leveraged against the center... came right off.
   I've seen the broken AC compressor bolts before too. Not a good thing to find.