Big rock in road + Golf GT TDi = Fail :(

Firestar_3x · 6 Oct 2010 at 10:54

He's talking tosh, my Passat suffered oil pickup failure half way around the Nurburgring, STOP came on the dash etc, using a combination of rolling and slow driving i got it to the carpark outside the track, rolled it down the hairpin road into the village with VW garage, 40k on the engine since then, only the turbo ended up failing after another 10k.

The OP turned his engine off right away, it will be fine.

PiKe · 6 Oct 2010 at 11:22

It *might* not have been quite as terminal had you not braked, the nose dipping would have made it that much lower...

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 11:38

Firestar_3x said:
He's talking tosh, my Passat suffered oil pickup failure half way around the Nurburgring, STOP came on the dash etc, using a combination of rolling and slow driving i got it to the carpark outside the track, rolled it down the hairpin road into the village with VW garage, 40k on the engine since then, only the turbo ended up failing after another 10k.

The OP turned his engine off right away, it will be fine.

sumps arnt fun on those B5s. its a crappy job even on a transverse golf platform, but so satisfying to get all that rubbish out the pickup

Firestar_3x · 6 Oct 2010 at 11:42

Yep you need to drop parts of the subframe and remove some bits and bobs to get the sump out.

Was interesting to try and explain to a Germany speaking VW mechanic what was wrong, in the end i just turned it on, VVT pickup had no oil pressure so was making noise, he points to the sump and the rest is history.

270 euros later i had a new oil pickup, new oil & oil filter plus 6 hours of labour time done and the car was great, i'd hate to think how much that would have cost at a UK VW garage.

Gribs · 6 Oct 2010 at 11:56

Firestar_3x said:
He's talking tosh, my Passat suffered oil pickup failure half way around the Nurburgring, STOP came on the dash etc, using a combination of rolling and slow driving i got it to the carpark outside the track, rolled it down the hairpin road into the village with VW garage, 40k on the engine since then, only the turbo ended up failing after another 10k.

The OP turned his engine off right away, it will be fine.

Turbo faliure on an old golf would be fairly expensive so even the risk of that would be enough for me to punt it on.

My mum holed the sump in her A3 and also stoped pretty quickly, ie within a few hundred yards. The sump was replaced and all was apparently well but at the next service a lot of bits of metal were picked up when the oil was changed that after a partial strip down were found to come from the oil pump. It ended up with almost a complete new engine in the end.

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 11:57

weeeeeell the "easier" way to do it is unbolt the two front engine mounts and raise the front of the engine using the snub mount. youll get enough clearance to get the sump down. ive seen big increases in oil pressure just by cleaning the gauze. cleaning the sump back to bare metal is a mare though. a mixture of filth and concentrated misery

Gaygle · 6 Oct 2010 at 12:09

Gribs said:
My mum holed the sump in her A3 and also stoped pretty quickly, ie within a few hundred yards. The sump was replaced and all was apparently well but at the next service a lot of bits of metal were picked up when the oil was changed that after a partial strip down were found to come from the oil pump. It ended up with almost a complete new engine in the end.

A few hundred yards with the oil light and STOP shown is a long way if the engine has no oil whatsoever.

I never understand why people still drive on "a bit further" with the oil light on. The red oil light on, to me means, clutch down, hardshoulder, brakes on, engine off. Should take no more than about 5-10 seconds.

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 12:13

the warning systems for these engines are not clever at all

when you turn on the ignition in the morning you wont see a "no oil pressure" warning at all. even with an empty sump, turn on the ignition and there is still no warning.

for the warning to come on that must me that its actually dead, which does against firestar's experience

Firestar_3x · 6 Oct 2010 at 12:31

The oil light in these cars works in a few ways, they change colours and flash depending if its a level or pressure problem, i got low pressure indication and STOP on the screen.

coolamasta · 6 Oct 2010 at 14:00

Thanks for the comments people, just sods law eh, ah well im just happy it wasn't my Evo as it would have been a whole lot worse!

NightShadow said:
Damn, that's pretty bad! Hopefully no long term damage to the engine, did you move the rock when you went back? Good shout on reporting the oil spill, will you/your insurance co. have to pay for the clean up of the road?

I did go back to find the rock (followed trail of oil!) but no sign of it just loads of chips/chunks out of the road so others may have hit it as well

Ranger07 said:
The engine will be fine as long as you switched it off as soon as the oil light came on.

Yeah im hoping it will be OK, soon as oil light and STOP came on engine got switched straight off.

Monster said:
OP: I'm assuming the rock didnt come from the transit then, just the transit was higher and drove over it?

Dont think it did mate, he just had the clearance, if I had another car in front of me they prob would have braked early and went round it or something thus giving me plenty of warning

Foxtrot26 said:
should be fine

but consider a steel belly pan for future safety. you can get a proper vw one for £100

Yeah though about that cheers, might look into it once its sorted as its expense I dont want at the moment!

tommytinkle said:
Ouch! Have seen similar damage caused by a drain run coming up underneath a sump. What kind of damage cost is that going to be?

Sump is £110 for genuine VW, oil I use is £50 plus sealant and labour etc so probs around £250 to sort, would do it myself but not got time with work commitments at the moment

Gribs said:
I'd be getting rid of it as soon as it's got a new sump on and oil in it as with most engines once the oil light is on damage has already occured. If you do intend to keep it then I'd definately consider checking the oil pump for any possible damage as they really don't like being run low on oil.

Nah dont want to get rid of it, its a great car in very good nick for 100,000 miles on it, not long has a new turbo besides that the GT 150 versions are quite rare. Will get a magnetic sump plug I think and when doing oil changes I can keep an eye on any stray metal then!

PiKe said:
It *might* not have been quite as terminal had you not braked, the nose dipping would have made it that much lower...

Yeah I thought of this after as well, just an instinct to slam on the brakes isnt it

Matt82 said:
the warning systems for these engines are not clever at all

when you turn on the ignition in the morning you wont see a "no oil pressure" warning at all. even with an empty sump, turn on the ignition and there is still no warning.

for the warning to come on that must me that its actually dead, which does against firestar's experience

When you turn an ignition on, on any cars the oil and battery light stay on until its started and running :confused:

The light is on when oil pressure gets too low to lubricate the engine, if you started a car and the oil light never went out you got problems!! Mine came on for literally 2 seconds before I switched it off.

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 14:02

have a look at yours next time you jump in there, its not like normal cars, there is no oil pressure warning to go out when you start the engine.

coolamasta · 6 Oct 2010 at 15:08

Matt82 said:
have a look at yours next time you jump in there, its not like normal cars, there is no oil pressure warning to go out when you start the engine.

Really? Hmmm will have to have a look when its fixed but even if thats right I cant imagine when the oil pressure drops low/stops the ECU would sit there and think about it before putting the light on?...

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 15:13

yup, just been out in mine at lunch time.

once the ignition goes on, a lot of lights come up and then go out including oil pressure (apart from EPC, that stays on)

when you crank the engine over, the oil pressure light is already out

coolamasta · 6 Oct 2010 at 15:36

Thats interesting, never seen that on a car before, all other cars ive had the oil and battery light stay on until they detect voltage from the alternator and pressure from the oil sensor.

But again even though they are out when you turn ignition on doesn't mean the oil light wouldn't go on soon as oil pressure drops, might just be VAG group being fancy so your not blinded by lights if you just need ignition on for whatever reason?

mjt · 6 Oct 2010 at 18:48

That's a shame but it seems a relatively cheap fix thankfully!
I see you didn't have the undertray, although I doubt that would have helped much..

Matt82 · 6 Oct 2010 at 19:47

having had a look at your pic... look at the excess sealant. id bet its been down before

with that much excess sealant id be tempted to get the oil pump pick up off too whilst the sumps down

w3bbo · 6 Oct 2010 at 21:24

Credit for calling the FB to clear up the oil - most wouldn;t have thought to do that

.

B&W · 6 Oct 2010 at 23:32

Your engine will be fine. My VRS oil pump/pick up was blocked once and no oil went to the top of the engine, the light came on I thought it was low oil level light(didnt know the problem at this stage had just bought it!), drove home and the engine made a noise like a set of spanners.

Oil pump was replaced, straight away the turbo went. got that replaced, sump, intercooler, exhaust all cleaned out.

Since then done about 10,000 miles, i've had to change the clutch/starter motor and a coil pack.

So your engine will be fine, don't worry.

randal · 6 Oct 2010 at 23:37

w3bbo said:
Credit for calling the FB to clear up the oil - most wouldn;t have thought to do that .

Was literally just about to post that, agreed.