Date:         Sun, 7 Apr 2002 17:13:23 -0500
Reply-To:     Larry Alofs <lalofs@ENTERACT.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Larry Alofs <lalofs@ENTERACT.COM>
Subject:      I-4 Question, Little Vanagon content
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi,
Perhaps someone who has been there can advise me.
  We have a 94 Golf which has been leaking oil recently from along the
edge of the oil pan.  When I got under there a couple of weeks ago, I
found that many of the bolts were rather loose. I tightened them and
assumed that the problem was solved.  A few days ago I found that the
leak was just as bad if not worse and the bolts were still tight.  It
looked like there was a rubber (neoprene?) gasket visible around the
edges.
  Looking in the Bentley I find a drawing for an ABA engine which shows
something that I would imagine to be a windage tray, except that it is
labeled as a "noise baffle" (!).  The book says that it is not used on
all models.
  Well yesterday I took it apart and found that I am one of the lucky
ones.  There is no gasket in the traditional sense.  The tray is metal
with a layer of rubber on both sides of the edge where it fits between
the block and the pan.  It has no obvious defects, but it may be
distorted with a little waviness along the edge that was leaking.  All
the rubber looks normal.  I dressed down the edge of the pan with a
large flat file and found slight unevenness in that area.
  I called a few dealers around Chicago yesterday to see if by some
miracle one of them had the tray in stock (and was open on Saturday).
  No luck finding it quickly, but I learned that it costs $95. and can
be ordered. They call it a "restrictor". It was apparently installed
only in the early 94 engines.
 One parts guy told me "they use black RTV there".
I hesitate to do this because it would make disassembly very difficult
later.  When I dropped the pan, I could not remove it until I also got
the tray loose from the block. (This was related to some interference
from the  power steering pump.)
 My questions:
   Has anyone already solved this problem, and how?
   Should I use the RTV?
   Should I buy the new tray even tho the old one looks quite good?

TIA   Sorry for the length of this.

Larry A.