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I took my GTI to the dealer because it was leaking oil

Mudig

Passed Driver's Ed
After a couple of hours he told me that the oil is leaking from the rear main seal, cam carrier and brake vacuum pump. Then he gave me an estimate to replace these seals for $3,260. I was shocked at that price and immediately told him to forget about it. He also told me that the transmission needs to be serviced but I told him I had it done a couple of weeks ago...he replied with "oh okay then!"

Now I don't know if he was bsing me about all the work that needs to be done on it and I know close to nothing about the things he mentioned, but I was wondering...is that an accurate price? Am I really this screwed that I need to pay $3300 on repairs for a car that's barely valued at $7-8k?
 

BudgetPhoenix

Autocross Champion
A lot of labor involved. The trans needs to be removed for the rear main seal. The cam carrier is not a simple job to removed like a valve cover since timing needs to be locked to prevent cams from coming out of place when you remove the cover as they will be totally exposed. Vacuum pump not as much and kind overlaps with the cam girdle removal. Seems a bit on the high side but I could easily see a shop charging over 2000+ the cam girdle and rear mail seal. How bad is your cam girdle and vac pump leaking anyway? The rear main seal if it really is leaking should be fixed ASAP. The leak will get worse over time. I just did mine in my garage with a DSG trans .
 

SELA_MK6GTI

Go Kart Champion
Rear main seal shouldn’t be that much, take it to a reputable tuner shop near your area.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

zrickety

The Fixer
We did my buddy's rear main seal in the driveway. It was not that bad. Can be done on a Saturday if you have a good mechanic friend. $300 if you buy new tools. Do that and a new PCV and the other leaks may go away.
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
Find a good independent shop that knows Volkswagens and have them change the rear main seal and brake vacuum pump gasket. Because there’s virtually zero overlap with what needs to be removed between the rear main seal and cam carrier job you can do one and then see how bad the other leak is.

If the cam carrier leak is slow you could just leave it be for a while. A slow leak won’t hurt anything, just check the oil level frequently.

I’d place a priority on the rear main seal, especially if there’s any visible oil under the car at where the engine and transmission come together. If you let it go too long it can ruin your clutch as well.
 

JNF1283

New member
First lesson learned: never take your car to a stealership.


Find a reputable, privately owned shop and you'll be miles ahead...pun intended.
 

MLue1

Drag Racing Champion
...If the cam carrier leak is slow you could just leave it be for a while. A slow leak won’t hurt anything, just check the oil level frequently....
FYI Any leaks high up can leak down and if it meets the water pump cause failure of the water pump seal.
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
FYI Any leaks high up can leak down and if it meets the water pump cause failure of the water pump seal.

This is true, but the cam carrier is on the opposite end of the engine. It'd have to be a pretty severe leak for any oil to get from there to the water pump.

Good point though, in regards to being aware of oil leak locations and the water pump.
 

andrewd

New member
Cam carrier pays about 5.5 hours and includes R&I vacuum pump. Rear main seal is somewhere around 8-10hrs. The quote is quite high if all they are doing is a reseal. Possible they quoted cam carrier + timing components and rear main seal + pcv valve which would be wise if they haven’t been replaced.
 

MrFancypants

Autocross Champion
The cam carrier can leak all around the engine, but from the front its more likely to leak down onto the intake manifold.

I’m sorry, I’m having a senior moment. For some reason I was thinking of the cam bridge. It’d be interesting if that were to somehow spring a leak.
 

Uberryan

Banned
How old is the car, how many miles, when was the last time the PCV was replaced (if ever) and do you have any mods done?

I'm curious about the above.

That said, you have multiple, semi-labor intensive locations that need a new gasket and a reseal. It's not extremely high of a price, but the labor hours are probably around 10-15. I would shop for an independent shop's quotes on the RMS, but definitely replace the PCV if this is your first time hearing about it, and ever doing it. I honestly would change my PCV out at the same interval as my sparkplugs at this point.
 

1ashchuckton

Autocross Champion
This thread has me thinking of doing a preventative PCV change. Does anyone know if this part can be aftermarket or should it be oem?
 

Mudig

Passed Driver's Ed
How old is the car, how many miles, when was the last time the PCV was replaced (if ever) and do you have any mods done?

I'm curious about the above.

That said, you have multiple, semi-labor intensive locations that need a new gasket and a reseal. It's not extremely high of a price, but the labor hours are probably around 10-15. I would shop for an independent shop's quotes on the RMS, but definitely replace the PCV if this is your first time hearing about it, and ever doing it. I honestly would change my PCV out at the same interval as my sparkplugs at this point.

I got it new back in 2010 and it has 88k miles...never. No mods.
 
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