your oil pump pick up

[Matt82]

did two of them over the weekend, a 98 agu and a 02 (or 03) AUM.

the agu has lived on 10k service intervals. the sump and pick up were moderately dirty. only had to wire brush parts of the sump, the rest came back to bare metal with brake cleaner and a cloth. the pick up was again moderately dirty, nothing scary.

the aum has lived on 20k service intervals. the sump and pick up were a complete mess. burnt on oil all around the sump, all had to be wire brushed off, even the base (inside) of the sump had burn on oil where the oil returns from the turbo.

the pick up was scary. easily half a teaspoon of grit in there as well as bits of broken dip stick tube so very restricted flow.

IMO avoid 5w30 longlife oil and longlife intervals.

ive got my own ARZ and another AUM to do this week

 

[Westy]

I'm getting mine done when it goes in for its service on the 25th. My car had nearly hit 118K miles and has had a mixed life of long motor way miles by the first owner and now short journeys by me and only 6k miles a year! I'll let you know how messy it is.

 

[Welly]

IMO avoid 5w30 longlife oil and longlife intervals.

Agreed.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Said it all along... my sump needed loads of wire brushing and an overnight soak in the parts washer... changing oil on any car every 20k is insanity imo.... on a turbo car 9k is pushing it tbh...

Should be noted that blocked oil pickups are the main reason for oil starvation and not the actual pump... pumps are changed as its typically easier and cheaper to do so rather than stripping it and checking the pump for wear... (at a dealer)

<tuffty/>

 

[J B]

How easy is it to clean the pick up and sump? Is it just a case of drain the oil remove the sump and then you can access the pick up? My cars coming upto 60k so hopefully it shouldnt be too bad but preventative maintenance is the way forward!

 

[damo.h]

Think its an easy job really. Had this problem with mine not long ago, got top end starvation and it sounded like a tractor. luckily i was stationary at the time of it kicking in otherwise it would of been expensive.. A lot of ringing round to be told oooo it;s going to cost you pal yr looking at a new top end at least, i got it sorted at a local approved garage for £130 inc parts and flush... Had it put back to time and distance as it had been on long life since birth ... Agree with tuffty on this long life servicing.... Stupidity

 

[Matt82]

im not charging anywhere near enough compared to that!!

 

[Prawn]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

Interesting thoughts chaps.....

My new motor has been on AVS for the first 70k of it's life, I wonder how bad it would be..... it's on 99k now.

Is it something that using an engine flush will help with? or is removing the sump and cleaning the pick up the only real option?

How long did it take you to do the job start to finish Matt? I'm thinking ti might be worthwhile before I take it out to the ring in september!

 

[<tuffty/>]

My S3 was on AVS when I bought it with 82k on the clock... I ran some wynns engine flush through shortly after and prior to an oil change and have been changing every 5/6k since... when I took the sump off at 98k to do the BT conversion I had to clean the pick up but the oil pump was fine... the rocker cover and sump however had loads of 'baked' on oil deposits and took some effort to clean....

If you are capable of doing this job then get it done IHMO, its not difficult other than the 2 little b*stard sump bolts by the flywheel but a halfords wobble extension for a 1/4" socket set makes life easier.

I would advise only using the OEM sump sealant though... experience with other sump sealants have proven to be next to useless and is the only stuff I would use personally...

<tuffty/>

 

[Matt82]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

Interesting thoughts chaps.....

My new motor has been on AVS for the first 70k of it's life, I wonder how bad it would be..... it's on 99k now.

Is it something that using an engine flush will help with? or is removing the sump and cleaning the pick up the only real option?

How long did it take you to do the job start to finish Matt? I'm thinking ti might be worthwhile before I take it out to the ring in september!

the AUM i did was on 96k, all AVS. the burnt on stuff would only come with off a wire brush. would have been easier (probably messier) to use a wire brush drill attachment.

the stuff in the pickup was fragments of the burnt oil and to be honest practically felt like grit. i really cant see a flush shifting it.

i really recommend you do this before the ring, a guy on another board lost his BAM lump at the ring due to oil starvation last year. all in all its about 40 mins of messing about as long as you get those two "inner" bolts properly. theyre behind the flywheel and access is almost zero. kill those bolts and its a gearbox/clutch/flywheel off job to recover them

as for sealant, i just use VW's own as per ELSAWIN. works every time for me

the next annoying part is cleaning off all the old gasket.

 

[Broken Byzan]

The bolts are access able if you turn the engine as there is a cut out in the back of the flywheel to allow access.

As there is only one cut out you need to align it for the one, and then the other. As stated 1/4 drive is the way forward due to is small size

 

[Matt82]

and for crying out loud 10NM!!!!!!

 

[sportstractor]

that does sound like a really good idea to do this. Probably explains the tractor sound you get when you first start them. Hmmm do I really want to get covered in dirty gritty oil though, no not really.

 

[badger5]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm,

Interesting thoughts chaps.....

My new motor has been on AVS for the first 70k of it's life, I wonder how bad it would be..... it's on 99k now.

Is it something that using an engine flush will help with? or is removing the sump and cleaning the pick up the only real option?

How long did it take you to do the job start to finish Matt? I'm thinking ti might be worthwhile before I take it out to the ring in september!

its fcuked then..
drop sump
remove pickup clean or replace (£12 part)
scrub the hell out of it.. possibly engine flush before you drop the sump

AVS as has been said by many is death to these engines, as they carbon up somethign rotten

 

[Matt82]

id rather than the be forking out for a new lump. the difference in engine sound afterwards is so noticable. one day ill get a free moment and do it on my own engine when i can clear everyone elses cars out the way!

 

[GeneralWest]

My car has the AMK engine and has covered 124k. I brought it at 118K and it had been on longlife servicing since new. After reading posts on here I took my sump off two weeks ago to check the oil pickup and I'm so glad I did. The pickup pipe was two thirds blocked and the inside of the sump was covered in burnt on black residue. It's now all nice and shiny, it will hopefully stay that way as I plan to change the oil every 5k from now on.

 

[Matt82]

5k is a good start but 5w40 fully synth can only help too. tbh i cant see why 7k-8k wouldnt be perfectly safe, but 20k is just stupid

 

[Westy]

Yeah cheers to whoever mentioned the oil pickup about a month ago because I would have been none the wiser and wouldn't have added it to my service list if I didn't read it here.

 

[J B]

Looks like my job list is just getting longer and longer!

 

[1animal1]

yeah mines time 2 now cos i got hers too!!

whats the cost for this additional work then, £12 for the pick up if you cant be ***** to clean it, sealant is?

plus 40 mins labour?

 

[Matt82]

i hope i can find this access point on the flywheel. i dont think ive seen it and i only had a flywheel off a few weeks ago. and improvement in access would be a benefit. surely that would imbalance the thing?

 

[Matt82]

plus 40 mins labour?

plus whatever they wanna charge.

if you have 5w30 long life in their id dump it. the guys car i was working on on saturday had castrol SLX, after 2k miles it was pitch black but he wanted to keep it *shrug* when i had a drum and a bit of brand new quantum platinum sat int he shed with a box of new filters too

 

[Westy]

I got quoted £82 all in. Part, a pressure test on the pump to make sure its ok and labour.

 

[1animal1]

i have genuine Audi stuff in there at the minute...not the longlife luckily.....

hmm, i was just going to get my neighbour to take them into his work and get them dropped, im guessing it isnt a driveway jobby? Just spoke to him and he says it will be easier on the ramp and theres a way of getting to these two screws by turning the flywheel a little, he says you can then get a big Allen key in to get the bolts off...it is a while since he touched an S3 though and he may be using his Leon as a reference point

 

[Matt82]

nothing stopping you doing it on the driveway at all tbh

 

[Broken Byzan]

The flywheel is balanced around the cut out bit, its a design feature.

"runs off to find a pic"

 

[Matt82]

think i got one. amazing!!

 

[Broken Byzan]

thats the badger ^^^

 

[Matt82]

well ill post back next time to say how those marks help because i tell thee its very nerve racking tackling those bolts. ive done two so far where it felt very sketchy about whether they would come out or not. the rest have all been done with a long reach ball end 5mm job which worked fine

 

[J B]

What are size are the bolts for the sump, and are these allen key? And im assuming the tricky two are 5mm allen key bolts from what you just said Matt?

 

[Matt82]

10mm hex bolt with 5mm allen centre. crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle

 

[J B]

Ah so you can use either! Cool cheers for that :thumbsup:

Just need to order my growing list of parts form audi!!

 

[badger5]

the 2 awkward ones in the bell housing area can be accessed with a ball ended allen key and stick somethign sticky on the top of it so the bolt does not fall off and into the bell housing when lowering it
ALSO
when refitting, do a couple up on front & rear faces loose first then do the 2 x buggers in th ebell housing next, as alignment can be an ****, and the brass inserts in the seal can be clogged with silicon from last sump fitting.. M7 threads so not your std tap size to clear out.

 

[S3 CYP]

Is there a guide on the world wide web for the actual cleaning of the pump and associated pipes out there - mines currently on 93k it was on longlife (5w30) from its birth up to till 80k - changed to 5w40 since I have had it and changed every 6k - want to check the state of mine now for peace of mind.

Thanks.

 

[funnyclub]

Getting mine checked soon what oil do you guys recommend from here on in?

 

[Matt82]

5w40 fully synth. quantum platinum for mine

 

[5ean]

If anyone is doing this within the next couple weeks do you fancy taking pics and doing a proper write up? I'm sure like myself a fair few others would be greatful and if its as good for your pride and joy as everyone says then surely its worth having a proper write up for?

 

[MintyS3]

Im hoping mines ok. Only on 38k miles now and basically changed every 9k.

I use Castrol Edge 5W30.

 

[thorsy22]

If anyone is doing this within the next couple weeks do you fancy taking pics and doing a proper write up? I'm sure like myself a fair few others would be greatful and if its as good for your pride and joy as everyone says then surely its worth having a proper write up for?

Seconded, another thing to go on my list of things to do!

 

[J B]

Does anyone know what tools are required to change the oil pickup pipe? Im doing mine this weekend but need to borrow the tools from work as im not at home!?