Oil sludge filler pipe, burning smell & oil spots in wheel arches T6.1 150ps 10k miles

[Jack02]

Hey Guys & Girls, wondered if you might be able to help, I’ve got a T6.1 150ps which has covered about 10k miles now and just coming up to a year old, noticed a really bad smell while accelerating up the motorway yesterday and just thought it was either a car up the road or someone having a bonfire however once i got to where I was going I checked under the bonnet and also around wheels/ under the van, there was a lot of white gunk in the filler tube and fresh oil spots also around the inside of the wheel arch liners on all four wheels. VW did the first oil change on the van 500 miles ago and I have spoken to them on the phone but they don’t seem to be worried as there are no lights on the dash. Have read a few posts about the oil emulsification which kind of puts my mind at ease about the filler tube but still not sure where all the fresh oil spots and burning smell (regen?) coming from or if I should be worried? Any help greatly appreciated

 

[Pauly]

Gunge in the filler is totally normal and common on T6 engines so that is nothing to worry about

If the spots in the wheel arches are oil and it came from your engine i think you would know about it, for oil to come out of the engine get low and onto the tyres in a quantity to flick up like that then there must be evidence of oil around the engine bay/lower engine cover/underneath in general ?

Is it definitely oil ?
Has is come out of your vehicle ?

I would get underneath it and have a good look around, check the lower engine area and also the area where the engine meets the gearbox etc etc

 

[Pedro20001]

Check they have fitted the dipstick back in fully, just had mine serviced and they didn't and sprayed oil spots all over the rhs of the engine bay

 

[Salty Spuds]

I had oil in the wheel arches shortly after an oil change. I think it was oil that had been spilled when they re-filled the engine after the change and had settled in the undertray.

 

[Jack02]

Gunge in the filler is totally normal and common on T6 engines so that is nothing to worry about

If the spots in the wheel arches are oil and it came from your engine i think you would know about it, for oil to come out of the engine get low and onto the tyres in a quantity to flick up like that then there must be evidence of oil around the engine bay/lower engine cover/underneath in general ?

Is it definitely oil ?
Has is come out of your vehicle ?

I would get underneath it and have a good look around, check the lower engine area and also the area where the engine meets the gearbox etc etc

Thanks for your reply mate, spots of oil I feel are most definitely from the van itself as haven’t driven over anything wet and last time I went to fill up was about a week ago before I last washed the van, hasn’t rained since then, I say oil but whether it’s hydraulic, engine or gearbox I’m not sure, it’s greasy and looks fresh, doesn’t dry out, I’ve just driven over to a friends now and need to take some more pics to see if there’s more, if it does a regen does it just chuck the crap out under the van?

I’ve been underneath and there are no drips or obvious puddles, the only recent patches that I could see were on the two black tubular rails which aren’t covered by the undertray, these looked like something could of dripped off them but wouldn’t explain the oil round the front wheel arches, I park on a gravel drive which makes it difficult to tell, might chuck some cardboard under there tonight, the only other leak that I could see would be from the nsf shock but again this could just be the wax from the factory now covered in dirt ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thinking about it VW sent me a video of the underneath when the service was carried out so will go play spot the difference quickly haha

Check they have fitted the dipstick back in fully, just had mine serviced and they didn't and sprayed oil spots all over the rhs of the engine bay

Haven’t checked the dipstick to be fair, will do that now

I had oil in the wheel arches shortly after an oil change. I think it was oil that had been spilled when they re-filled the engine after the change and had settled in the

Another good shout, thank you, the service was about 3 weeks ago now! I did have a similar issue to this once but it was a caddy after a cambelt change, the new water pump was leaking coolant onto the drivers tyre but I didn’t have it on both sides like this!

 

[Loz]

Check the rubber gators on the steering rack and driveshafts for any splits,

 

[Jack02]

Had a quick look just now and the only thing I could see was maybe here in the picture between the cv joint and gearbox?

 

[saronica]

Had a quick look just now and the only thing I could see was maybe here in the picture between the cv joint and gearbox?

View attachment 155996

I would have thought there would be evidence of residue on the casing there, which to be fair is like new.

 

[Paynewright]

I think you have two unrelated occurrences. Personally, I think you’ve driven through something thats flung up into the wheel arches. If you had a leak somewhere it wouldn’t get into all the arches in the same pattern.

 

[Jack02]

I think you have two unrelated occurrences. Personally, I think you’ve driven through something thats flung up into the wheel arches. If you had a leak somewhere it wouldn’t get into all the arches in the same pattern.

Think you’re probably right it was just the smell that made me worried and then saw the spots in the arches, the vans a big investment for me and just trying to look after it!

 

[Salty Spuds]

Think you’re probably right it was just the smell that made me worried and then saw the spots in the arches, the vans a big investment for me and just trying to look after it!

The smell was probably a re-gen

 

[S18RVW]

Sludge in the filler cap can be down to not giving the van a good run out.

 

[Rioja John]

I’ve wrapped some double bubble double foil insulation around my filler neck and zip tied it on, I’ve no signs of the emulsion in my filler now but most of my driving is back and forth Stoke on Trent to Towyn approx 80 miles each way.

John.

 

[Jack02]

Just checked the dipstick and the emulsification is also down there, oil is creamy, still seems odd as the oil that’s in there should only be 500 miles or so old so another 9.5k before it’s gets changed again

 

[Pauly]

Could be a bit in the dipstick tube ?

 

[Jack02]

Could be a bit in the dipstick tube ?

Dipped it 4 times and cleaned it off after every dip, can’t even see the oil level because of the sludge!

 

[Pete C]

If the oil in the sump really is emulsified, then you should not drive the vehicle.

Pete

 

[rubuild]

Dipped it 4 times and cleaned it off after every dip, can’t even see the oil level because of the sludge!

Just checked the dipstick and the emulsification is also down there, oil is creamy, still seems odd as the oil that’s in there should only be 500 miles or so old so another 9.5k before it’s gets changed againView attachment 156718

Hi there,

Appreciate your concerns a year ago (and apologies late entry into this tread) ....our van has just done 10k at 20/07/23.

We've had a 2021 LWB 6.1 from new and also v worried about the engine health, especially in say 4-6 years time when it's way out of warranty?

It's a massive, massive investment for us, we don't earn a huge amount, and VW are almost dismissive in nature of loads of emulsified sludge in the filler tube - I'm not convinced.

I grew up on a farm and any engine with a sniff of emulsification was a worry/would be moved on. Undoing the filler cap after when the engine is still cold and there's bloody steam rising up (on a wet/raining day too so humidity outside the filler on opening high/should equalise?).

Loads of people will say that "it's totally normal" on a T6.1 150 engine ....but will they be saying that in 6 years+ time if they are all shagged?

I've called VW many times and they reply something along the lines of "if the service team say its ok then it must be" .....that is a shit answer!

My point that I'm pushing them on is; "why have 2 families we go camping with, doing the same journeys, with same age exact same 150 engine, DO NOT have the same issue??".

Also, we have monitored the MPG and my mates LWB, fully converted, stacked to the ceiling, bikes on the rear tail, family of 5 (so much heavier than our load) vehicle is doing up to 25-30% better MPG. ....and we are driving in convoy so driving styles matched.

I reckon there's a dodgy batch of 150 engines that VW know they just have to palm-off till they are out of warranty - imagine the claims against them is they admitted to issues, particularly the lost MPG claims.

Apologies for all the information - have you had any further developments?

All very best, Ru