oil problem! massive leak, please help

[82VWCaddy]

i have an 82 Vw caddy 1.6L diesel. less than 3000 miles ago I installed a new rebuilt motor in it. two days ago I was driving it, cruising on the highway, and my oil pressure suddenly dropped to zero. I drove it for 5 miles at the most to get it home, water temp stayed in normal range (185 F). Well i parked it, shut it off immediately, and opened the hood. I saw oil all over just the passenger side of the engine bay. All the oil was gone obviously, however, the engine starts and runs fine. There was no signs when I was driving besides my oil pressure gauge reading zero. So does anyone have any ideas what could have caused this? Also what seal could have blown, I am currently trying to take it apart but two jobs are killing my time. Any help would be appreciated, and yes everything was running normal before this happened. I do have 5 aftermarket gauges installed to make sure everything is running well, so if you have questions on specs let me know, i have voltmeter, oil pressure, tachometer, EGT, and water temperature installed. I basically restored this caddy, everything on the motor is brand new except for the valve cover, intake and exhaust manifolds and the breather hose for the crank to manifold hose. (I even replaced all the factory bolts with new higher or equal grade ones)

please let me know what you all can come up with. thanks

stranded VW Caddy

[le0n]

wow, five miles? you're really brave.

how much oil went back into it to top it off? (just curious)

can you tell where the oil was coming from? perhaps you can clean everything off and let it idle while inspecting for the leaks. start looking at the port and line/tubing where your aftermarket oil gauge connects, because it could be directly related to your main symptom (zero oil pressure)...

good luck and welcome to the VWOC...

[nitroscope8]

You're gonna have to refill the oil and let it run while you inspect where it's coming from. If it pissed that much oil out then you most likely have a leak on the pressure side of the system. This could be oil pressure switch, oil passage block off plug missing a seal, oil filter housing seal, improperly installed front main seal.

[82VWCaddy]

Thanks everyone for responding quickly. I finally got time to look at it and take the front of the motor apart. The leak came from my intermediate shaft seal. It completely blew out, pulled the pulley off and the seal came with. So I am currently replacing that seal right now. I was really lucky that the timing belt didnt break because the timing belt somehow started to get cut by the pulley's edge. So I find myself very fortunate and also I think I should payed more attention to my oil pressure gauge. Because two weeks prier my oil pressure dropped by 10 psi from normal but i didnt see any leaks at the time. Does anyone know if these motors like to eat oil or is it due to being a new motor? Ever since I first got this rebuilt motor (professionally done by GEX) it burns a little bit of oil, about a quart every 750-1000 miles.

[le0n]

it really shouldn't be burning any oil at that rate. unless some of the piston rings were installed incorrectly, or the valve stem seals didn't get installed properly, or your crank case ventilation is not working properly.

do you have any visual evidence for how the seal failed?

[82VWCaddy]

the seal blew out of the flange housing, the seal was stuck on the pulley when i removed it. how can the crankcase ventilation not working?

[le0n]

if your positive crankcase ventilation valve is stuck...

[briano1234]

on the diesel there isn't a PVC valve. IT has a breather hose off the valve cover into the air plenum.

Seals go, if you are running a thicker oil as 20w50, cut it back to 10w30.
It could of been a bad seal.

ca-ca happens occasionally.