I have a 2006 Mk II VRS, the oil pressure light came on recently and I had the car recovered to a VASS specialist. 

 

They've reported that the oil pressure is fluctuating, and going above normal, but not losing oil. They think the engine will be OK due to this, but estimated the repair at £2,500  :x

 

This was £1,500 in parts, 6 hours labour, plus a suggestion of water pump, timing belt, and anything else they notice on the way in (It's had the timing belt and water pump changed twice in the last three years!). 

 

The garage have said this is a common issue and VAG changed a number of parts relating to the oil pump, but I've not come across anything in my searching - does this sound correct? £2,500 would effectively write the car off for me, and I'm struggling to believe so many parts are needed!

 

No further investigation has been done other than 45 minutes running with an oil pressure gauge. 

Have you tried changing the oil filter?

Or checking the pick up pipe?

If you search around Mk5 GTI forums, and others, problems with oil pressure, blocked pickups and failed oil pumps are not that uncommon.

 

The Garage seem to be genuine enough and have an awareness of the problem. A blocked pickup shouldn't contribute to over oil pressure I wouldn't have thought.

 

Are you aware of oil change history?  What oil was used, intervals?  What is the current mileage?

 

That is some cost though. Is that £1,500 in parts without the cambelt, water pump and related incidentals? What are the main part costs in the £1,500.  And £2,500 total repair cost excluding the cambelt and waterpump replacement?

 

There is also the remaining risk of engine damage caused by low or variable oil pressure. They said they think it should be ok. After spending £2,500 that is not a lot of re-assurance.

 

A recycled or rebuilt exchange engine maybe more economical than this surely?  

I left the servicing up to the garage - it went in whenever the car prompted (to a Coventry 'specialist' who turned out to be less than impressive before they closed down). I personally always used Castrol EDGE (VAG Spec). Mileage is ~88,000 miles.

I will go through the proposed work in more detail when I pop in to the garage to retrieve some possessions. I understood the £1,500 to not include cam belt, water pump etc, but the suggested £2,500 to do so.

What would the cost of a recycled or rebuilt engine be?

I've been considering changing the car for a few months, it has some scuffs and scrapes and the seats don't do my back any favours (I've owned it for 5 years). Obviously this has considerably hit any trade in / resale value and left me in a tight spot financially - I would like to work out the most beneficial way of moving it on, either splitting out, selling as-is, or repairing and selling.

Yes,it's a bit of a tight spot and one of those annoying situations where you wish you had of moved on from the vehicle before facing this.

 

You are going to have to carefully look at some scenarios and cost of each, given that you want to move out of the car anyway:

 

Scenario 1 - trade it with fault or scrap it - is it still running? Value £ ? 

 

Scenario 2 - second hand engine transplant. Labour cost to fit will be the same as a reconditioned engine, probably little or no warranty.  Little or no history. It is a hit and miss solution but sometimes works out, especially if you have confidence the engine was good before being removed from donor vehicle. Cost ££.

 

Scenario 3 - Reconditioned engine transplant. A better solution, should have warranty and should be able to have confidence in the engine assuming you can find an engine rebuilder with a decent reputation and history and it is properly rebuilt. Cost £££.

 

Scenario 4 - Repair your engine. You know history, you know the current fault. Assuming that is the only problem, you can have confidence the issue is fixed but the cost seems oppressively high to recover the money on a re-sale. And ??? over any damage like crankshaft due to low oil pressure. The remainder of the engine has still done 90k miles including pistions, rings, valve faces etc... Cost £££

 

Maybe talk through the above with the garage. They may have a reconditioned engine supplier they have worked with before. Other than that, you are going to have to get on the internet or phone and ring some engine remanufacturers who do VAG engine replacements to complete the picture.

 

You need the £ cost or value of each of the scenarios to make an informed decision.  An unrepaired value on your vehicle and a repaired value would help too. If all of the costs to make good exceed the difference between an unrepaired and repaired vehicle, and you are not keeping the vehicle, then it doesn't make much economic sense to repair I'm afraid.

Edited 20 December, 20169 yr by TheClient

Many thanks for the well thought out response. 

Update: I spoke to two technicians at the garage I initially used, both gave me a different story. I decided to have the car taken to another garage for a second opinion.

Try ran their own oil pressure test, and couldn't find a problem (with video for evidence). A few precautionary checks and changes (oil & oil filter change and a new oil pressure switch (iirc)) and there's been no sign of a problem since.

A happy end but overly stressful and unnecessarily expensive due to a complete misdiagnosis.

Bad diagnosis and stressful.  The 2nd opinion has proved worthwhile.  I wonder how they could get the pressure readings and diagnosis so wrong......Faulty test equipment?  Anyway,  hope the happy outcome remains.

I'm pretty sure that oil pressure going above normal will never trigger a pressure warning, wish I'd thought of that when I read the first post before Christmas.

Name and shame the 'VASS specialist' who offered to charge you £2.5k when it should've been £10 + labour for a new pressure switch?

Mmm, hadn't thought that through either, kind of thought when they said fluctuating they were also seeing low pressure as well. Assumptions!

I can make the oil pressure on most engines fluctuate by blipping the throttle!

Yes, mine is quite often showing no oil pressure as well, without problem..........when the key is turned off :D