Mysterious Oil Leak

[thomi39]

Yesterday I started my 1997 Jetta 2.0 and all of a sudden a huge oil puddle was under the front end. I looked and the oil filter had oil running down it. I put on a new filter thinking the gasket was bad and changed the oil. Still leaking and looks like it is coming from the unit the filter screws onto. Any ideas what is making it leak and where?

[Mr_Diesel]

There should be a little square box above the oil filter, this is called your oil cooler/heat exchanger. The oil filter seals to the cooler. The cooler seals to the flange on the engine. They both have o rings to seal. Take the oil filter off, and make sure that little nut on the pipe is tight... This will ensure that the seal between the flange and oil cooler is tight. If it is already tight, you might have a hole in your oil cooler!

Keep my updated.

[thomi39]

I will let you know how the "Mysterious Oil Leak" is fixed when it is.:rolleyes:

[burn_your_money]

I'd imagine you know this already, but you lubricated the seal with oil prior to installing the filter right?

[thomi39]

Oil leak has been fixed by a local shop that is by reputation a great VW one. O-ring/seal at top of the cooling unit/heat exchanger was bad. I watched the mechanic work on it for a while and it seems to really be a bitch to get to on my 1997 Jetta GLS. Being that it also cools the oil with coolant running through the unit it is also messy to work on with coolant going all over the place. But now it is fixed.
One thing that I did learn is that when you put in fresh coolant, make sure the cooling system is free of air. Had no heat when I got the car back and both the check engine and coolant lights on dash were on. Took it back to the shop and after about another gallon of antifreeze and watching the cooling system burp and bubble for over an hour all is well.
By the way. I did oil the seal on the new filter when I put it on.
Thanks Mr. Diesel for the heads up on this. You were dead-on as to what the problem was.
Happy Holidays!

[burn_your_money]

Thanks for letting us know what the problem was