Maintenance issues were already obvious, but the fact that even the rubber seal on the oil filler cap had never been replaced really says it all.
When the rubber seal on the oil cap is used for too long, it hardens and no longer seals properly. That’s exactly what happened on the T5, with the predictable result: oil escaping where it shouldn’t.
After thoroughly cleaning the engine block and replacing the oil filler cap seal, the oil now stays exactly where it belongs.
The spark plugs were replaced as well as part of this service.
When replacing the tailgate, I didn’t swap the lock at the same time. That has now been taken care of too, finishing off another small but important job.
