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
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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.
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