Replacement of breather hoses at rear of engine

[woodshed]

I have an oil leak from somewhere at the back of the engine. Not a lot, but enough to leave a bit on the drive each time I park.

I have had advice from several sources, that I should replace the breather hoses at the rear of the engine.

I have done a good few searches on the web and find 2 different routes.

The first one says the replacement parts need to be bought from Audi.

The second one says that you can replace them with hose bought from Halfords (which I did for the front one). There is even advice about making the hose a litle longer so it keeps itself on by presure from the rubber. What I dont understand is; all the pictures of the audi part show a moulded fitting on one end of the pipe, that goes into the rocker cover. How can you replace that with a plain pipe?

Any definitive advice will be appreciated.

[Conan_the_Librarian]

The only places to by the proper pipes is Audi or TPS if you have access to someone with a trade account there. I have not come across any after market solutions with the exception of DIY. The 2 hoses are showing £87 a pair from Audi.

To make your own you will need some 19mm Rubber or Silicone hose.
Now this is what I plan to do on an ABZ I am rebuilding, partly because I already have some of the components.
The passenger side pipe is indeed moulded at the top to self seal but it still pushes onto a piece of tube that will allow a cable tie to be used to seal the end of an ordinary bit of 19mm rubber tube. Both the lower ends in the 'V' are secured by clips.



I have bought 2 x 90° silicone bends and I have some ali tubing from another project. Add 8 large flat cable ties and construct you hose.
Points to remember:

1. Ensure the Ali dosn't vibrate against the block.
2. MOST IMPORTANT - That if your existing hoses have perished (and they do) then they are letting in unmetered air. This will effect performance, economy and more importantly the transmission.
3. Doing it this way is a 1/4 the price of the Audi parts
4. It's only vacuum so jubilee clips aren't vital.

Take a wander around Halfords and see what you can find in the way of coolant hose.

[woodshed]

Thanks a lot. Your help is much appreciated.

Martin

[ainarssems]

They were totally broken to pieces on friends A8 when he bought it. We just picked a pile of looked like a coolant hoses of the approximate size from the local scrapyard for 2 quid and were able to make out some that fit almost perfectly after we found out they were 45 quid a piece from stealership

[Night Train]

Would a delayed shift (in kickdown) be symptomatic of this problem?
I ask as I've some oil smoke emanating from the rear of the n/s head

[woodshed]

Would the fact that my economy is fine and the engine performing well, indicate that my oil leak is probably not the breather hoses?

Martin

[IT]

Breather hoses permising usually cause erratic idling and sometimes stalling at junctions / roundabouts as a first sign of problems....

If you're idling well, theres a good chance they're fine..

[Dezzy]

Hmmm i'm a bit lumpy at idle but revs smooth at 1k

[Simon Wallwork]

I know it sounds a bit 'Scottish', but I taped mine up with insulation tape.

I put pukka pipes on later but the tape looked like it would have lasted for years. My awkward pipe was well perished and badly split.

Good use of 10p worth of tape. It stopped the lethal cutting out that made the car deadly to drive but cheap to buy!

[s2_bo]

Does anyone know roughly how long the two hoses are?
I'm just trying to order some silicone replacements and want to see if there is maybe some elbows with the right length legs to make them fit with just cutting one side for the cam cover side.

Edit:
I just bought a meter of this flexi hose which will hopefully do the job...