Being owner of a vehicle is essential, we most of the time need it to get to work and for almost all of our daily trips. This essential portion of our annual budget frequently causes us surprises, being aware about oil leaking on your car is one of them… Indeed, an oil leak is almost never harmless and can quickly lead to the breakage of your engine if you don’t discern it. If you are aware about oil leaking on your Volkswagen Beetle, you have come to the right place, we will first assist you to locate the cause of the oil leak and, secondly, we will help you to repair it, if possible.

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Identifying the origin of the oil leaking on your Volkswagen Beetle

If you observe fluid leaking from under your Volkswagen Beetle, the first thing to do is to examine all of your levels (power steering, engine oil, brake fluid, coolant) to discover if any of them can fairly quickly be defined as the origin of the leak. To limit the risks, it is absolutely vital to examine your levels every 2 weeks to prevent any risk of engine breakage.
In our case we will only be focused on case you identify oil leaking from your Volkswagen Beetle, as far as engine oil is concerned, the liquid will be quite viscous and in shades of brown to black and if it is gearbox oil, it will be rather in amber tones and will have a strong unpleasant smell.
It’s not constantly easy to locate the cause of the oil that leaks on a Volkswagen Beetle because of the accessibility of the engine block, even so here are the steps to follow to locate the source of the oil:

  • Locate the point where the oil falls, the area from which it leaks onto the floor…
  • Go back up the route of the dripping oil to its basis, if the blot is too important, don’t be reluctant to clean the engine block and drive to have the ability to track down it more quickly.
  • To assist you, here is a list of the auto parts that mostly cause oil to leak from a car: the drain plug and its seal; one of your crankcase gaskets; the oil pressure switch; the oil filter; the transmission drain plug; the transmission sealing rings.

If possible, repair the part that created the oil to leak on your Volkswagen Beetle.

Now that you’ve discovered the cause of the oil leaking, it’s time to get down to business. Naturally, for a while, you’ll be able to add more oil to top up the level, dependant upon its degree, but you should know that this is not a long lasting solution and that the leak could intensify at any time. We are going to show you the repairs that we think you can perform alone with some knowledge, tools and according to the accessibility that you are going to have on your engine. In any case, you should know that after repairing an oil leak on a Volkswagen Beetle, you will have to change your engine or gearbox oil.

Oil leakage from the drain plug and its seal on Volkswagen Beetle

In this circumstance, the procedure is fairly simple, you just have to lift your Volkswagen Beetle, if possible perfectly horizontal, remove your drain plug, drain your engine oil, change your drain gasket, tighten the plug to the perfect torque and examine the hot engine to make sure the leak has been fixed.

Oil leaking over from the oil filter of my Volkswagen Beetle

In case that your oil leak comes from your oil filter, you will basically need to change it. To achieve this, take a filter wrench, remove the old filter, ensuring that the gasket does not stick to the engine, set the new filter and tighten it moderately. Same test, hot check if oil is leaking from your Volkswagen Beetle.

Oil leaking from the pressure switch of my Volkswagen Beetle

Finally, if it is your pressure switch that is the trigger of your leak on your Volkswagen Beetle, you can, determined by its ease of access, reach it and change it very easily. To get this done, place a drain tray under the part, disconnect the electrical wire, remove the part, quickly reposition the replacement pressure switch, clean the assembly and do a hot check to validate that you no longer have any oil leaking from your Volkswagen Beetle.

For any other type of leak, we recommend you to go to your mechanic because the repair needs too much knowledge and tools to be conducted serenely alone.

If you have any further questions about the Volkswagen Beetle, do not hesitate to consult our Volkswagen Beetle category.