Photos?

Is it 'sealanted' on, or gasketed? Presumably the former?

It is sealed by gasket shown below. Same part numbers as for Golf GTI & R.

 

Gasket makes it much easier to unfit/fit.

What does it weigh?

The sump weighs just 820g on my kitchen scales, and the plastic looks to be around 3mm thick under the webbing.

 

Anyone know how many litres of oil the VRS TSI engine needs? It seems that Castrol Edge 5w30 is the recommended oil.

If you do fit it yourself, be cautious of cross-threading any of the bolts that are difficult to get tools on 'square', if you see what I mean.  Typically between engine and gearbox housing.

I take it the part that accepts the sump plug bolts on by the looks of the studs, does that require a seal also?

That is the oil level sensor that bolts onto the 3 studs, which you remove from your old sump think it has a built in rubber "O" ring type seal.

That'll be the level sensor that goes there.

Beaten to it. Yep, has its own gasket.

Edited 19 August, 20169 yr by Wino

Replacement looks pretty easy as the sump is not obstructed once the under-tray has been removed.

#1. Drain oil - 3 mins.

#'2. Remove under-tray - 2-mins

#3. Unclip oil-level sensor cable - 10 secs

#4. Undo 20x bolts. All look fairly easy to reach (once car is lifted). Pop-off the sump. - 10 mins

#5. Remove oil-level senor from old sump and fit to new. - 5 mins

#6. Fit seal to new sump, afix new sump to engine. - 10 mins

#7. Clip oil-level-sensor cable back in-place. - 10 secs

#8. Fill with 5-6L of 5w30 oil. - 2 mins

#9. Start the engine and check for leaks. Topup oil if needed - 5 mins

#10 Refit under-tray. 2 mins

 

Total time - less than 40 mins.

 

Amazed that VW Dealer quoted 2.5 hours. With the proper tools and car-lift it should be possible in less than 30mins.

That is how they can offer such nice coffee and shiny showrooms etc

I took the under-tray off during a break in rain today. The images below show how easy the pan is to reach. The first one shows small scrapes on the under-tray leading to the damaged area of sump. It seems that the car almost cleared the rock, but not quite. The sump sitting a few mm below the tray allowed it to get chewed up. The leak is small (approx 1 drip every minute) but it has to be replaced. Amazing that the Dealer wants 2.5 hours / £340 just for labour. Think I'll do it myself once the sun comes out and the wind drops.

 

I think if the sump was flat (like metal sumps) it would have survived with just a scrape. The webbing has clearly snagged the rock, which in-turn has chewed up the webbing, resulting in penetration. No-way a metal sump would have leaked after such a low speed glancing blow.

Edited 20 August, 20169 yr by Orville

Yep. Needs secondary protection.

Changed it myself without any issues. I took my time and it was all done within an hour. Below is a picture showing the split/crack from inside of the old sump.

 

 

edit: If VAG wants to use cheap plasitc then they should shield it. A metal sump would easily have survived such a small scape/impact. Total DIY cost was £168 including sump, oil, oil filter and seal changes.

Edited 20 August, 20169 yr by Orville

It's weird they don't use a full undertray on the petrol like the do on diesels....

Nice job and good pictures

DIY Guide - Please do not pay ~£500 for a Dealer to replace this piece of plastic

 

Tools Required

*T25 bit to remove the under-tray - 8 screws

*T30 bit to remove the sump - 20 screws

*Size 10 Hex socket to remove the oil-level sensor from old sump.

*At least one jack, but best to raise both sides of the car. Two car-ramps will be ideal. I used one jack plus Axel stands. Ensure cars is safely supported before clambering underneath it.

 

Parts

*New Sump. A local TPS (or any other VAG Specialist) will identify exact part from your Reg number. Part cost me £98incl.

*New Seal. Part cost £18incl

*Oil Filter (optional). £8incl

*6L of oil. I used Castrol Edge FST 5W30. £40-£50.

 

Process

#1. Drain oil

#'2. Remove under-tray

#3. Unclip oil-level sensor cable

#4. Undo 20x bolts. All are easy to reach (once car is lifted). Pop-off the sump.

#5. Remove oil-level senor from old sump and fit to new

#6. Fit seal to new sump, afix new sump to engine

#7. Clip oil-level-sensor cable back in-place

#8. Fill with 5L of 5w30 oil

#9. Start the engine and check for leaks. Topup oil if needed - mine needed an additional 1L (totaling 6L)

#10 Refit under-tray.

 

Comments

*Do not over-tighten screws or bolts. 8-9Nm is the specified torques setting. This is pretty low (think hand-held screwdriver tight).

*Have plenty of rags available to wipe up oil. I used old tea-towels.

*The video below shows how to remove the sump. It is easy as there are no obstructions once the under-tray is off.

Edited 21 August, 20169 yr by Orville

Well done.

You dodged a bullet there.

Imagine if the sump had completely punctured and lost all its oil with engine running.

Imagine if the sump had completely punctured and lost all its oil with engine running.

I think there would have been an oil-level warning quickly followed by a stop-engine-warning. Hopefully the Missus would notice such warnings in-time....

 

From the pictures we were a little lucky because there was quite a large crack which thankfully did not open.

Edited 21 August, 20169 yr by Orville

That is how they can offer such nice coffee and shiny showrooms etc

 

And they employ an apprentice on £4 an hour to do the work which gets a cursory 5 minute checkover by a qualified mechanic on £20 an hour.

 

I swear to God if I had enough money to start one business, it would be car servicing.

Nicely done. Saved yourself a few quid there. Although it's disappointing the sump did fail so easily

Trouble is sat in the drivers seat with the kerb weight of an Octavia nudging a stone and thinking it was only a gentle nudge could be totally different to the amount of stress it really had.

The plastic looks like the sort that is designed to take a fair impact but at least the OP has replaced it and passed on some great info in the process

The exterior webbing is there to strengthen the otherwise thin plastic sump. It may work sufficiently well if it hits a speed bump or something flat, but for irregular objects such as rocks it snags and can then tear itself apart (as in my case). The easiest solutions would have been for VAG to fit a larger protective under-tray, use a thicker designs flat-plastic sump, or just to use a metal sump. I have bumped metal sumps over high kerbs before and never suffered any cracks or failures.

Of course, if my wife looked where she was going it would not have happened, but I am sure most drivers have scraped their undercarriage at some time. Fortunately it was not too expensive for me to replace.

Edited 21 August, 20169 yr by Orville

I suppose one benefit of it being plastic is that it will contribute to how fast the oil warms up from a cold-start, due to the plastic's poor thermal conductivity. That should give fuel efficiency benefits, especially if you do mainly short runs. Presumably there's a coolant-mediated oil cooler? so no great downside to loss of windchill cooling across the sump

 

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The plastic sump will indeed act as an insulator, warming the engine faster. It will also contribute towards higher running oil temperatures, which can be negative. Oil is used to cool as well as lubricate, and excessive heat can cause oil degradation, turbo and engine damage. I have seen my VRS oil temps hit 110deg and many others have reported higher. Whilst this is nowhere near damaging levels it is a good 10-20deg above any other car I have owned that had an oil temp guage. Swings and roundabouts.

 

Several manufacturers use plastic oil sumps. I think Mercedes were the first big name to endorse them. Trawling Google indicates that the main reason for plastic sump usage is weigh-saving of up to 50%. The benefit is reduction of emissions and increased fuel economy, albeit by a small percentile.

Edited 21 August, 20169 yr by Orville