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Model specific boards => Golf mk3 => Topic started by: Rmachines on 28 October 2007, 16:50
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Cleaning your oil sump pickup…
I thought I would post this because its something that goes forgotten! I have done it to all of my cars and its certainly worth doing with your next oil change!
First off, do this when you change your oil next, you will need the following things.
Oil flush additive
New oil
New oil filter
New sump gasket
1. Add engine flush to existing oil and run engine for 15/20 mins (or what ever it tells you to) This will act as a detergent and help break down all the gunge and other rubbish that builds up inside the engine after many miles of driving.
2. Now you can drop the dirty oil, drain all the oil and remove filter, try not to get it up your sleeve! It could be HOT Its always better to dump the oil while its warm because its thinner and will drain out much better!
3. Now you will have to do the tricky part! Remove the sump bolts, This takes a bit of time as there is a fair few bolts holding it on, but trust me it will be worth it! Remove the sump carefully, it will probably have a bit of oil left in it, so clean it out well and dry it off ready to refit. You will probably have to scrape off the old gasket and fit a new one, don’t worry they are pennies!
4. Now you will see the gauze mesh on the oil pick up, these vary between cars and engines but either way it’s a mesh thing on the end of a tube! Since you have cleaned all the crap out the engine the gunge will sit at the bottom and get sucked up to this, but cant pass due to the mesh, it can be like sucking water through a hay stack which is far from ideal. Get some brake and parts cleaner, or petrol and spray it on to the mesh, clean it out really well! Once that’s cleaned up and free of thousands of miles worth of gunge and dirt, you can fit up the sump with the new gasket and bolt it all up again.
5. Now fit a new oil filter and refill with the you favourite oil, approx 3.5L don’t forget to smear a bit of fresh oil around the oil filter seal! Tighten it by hand only.
Run the engine, ensure the pressure gets up and oil light goes out, then wait a few minutes and double check oil leval.
6. You can now drive knowing that your engine oil is clean and flowing free!
WARNING!
When working under the car ALWAYS support the car on axel stands, and chock the wheels, being crushed by your car isn’t a nice way to die!
The oil could be very hot! Always drain it into an approved container and dispose of it using environmentally friendly oil tanks provided by your local council
Use common sense when working on cars, health and safety is an important issue! keep the working area clean and safe.
Please note I made this guide as clear as possible but you have to use a bit of common sense as well! Feel free ask ask questions, its simple enough to do, and not to time consuming, If for some reason you manage to blow up your engine in the process DON’T blame me!!!
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Hmm sounds like good advice this.
Is there a downside to doing this i.e. the potential of doing any harm to an engine that probably has 100k worth of built up solid gunk inside it?
How easy is it fit the new gasket? Do you need a torque wratchet to set the 'tightness' of the bolts when replacing?
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Theres no risk what so ever! It can only do good!!
The Gasket is realy easy, Somtimes you will need to use a knife blade to remove the old one but usualy it just pulls off and the new one just pushes on and its as simple as that.
The sump bolts are 20NM - Although its not critical they are done to exactly this, thats the OEM Setting. generaly doing it untill it gets tight, then a quater of a turn will do fine.
I would also like to add - This is fantastic if you have noisy hydraluic lifters as it will help supply better pressure to them and quieten them down, I had a bad knock for over a year and after doing this they quietend down, It was recomended by a very experianced retired mechanic.
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Got a more thorough way...
Drain a litre of oil from the sump plug and refit plug.
Add 1 litre of ATF (automatic transmission fluid) which is a LOT more effective than the crap expensive oil flushes.
Run car for 200 miles.
Dump oil again.
Drain oil and clean under sump replacing sump gasket after.
Top up with another fresh litre of ATF and some cheapo 5w uber thin oil.
Run car for 200 miles.
Dump oil again.
Change oil filter, fit new copper sump plug washer and refit sump plug. Top up with fully synthetic 10w or 15w oil.
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When you are doing this are those magnetic sump plugs worth putting in.....
Something about attracting any metal particles in the oil to the plug to stop them circulating round the engine in the oil
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I did get one but it was the wrong one so i'll fit one next oil change. I think they've got to be worth it, the magnetic on them is seriously strong too. The one i've got can hold up a hammer!
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ATF Fluid is a bit of a tricky one with some people, It has been known to cause damage to some engines (esp fords) So i generaly dont recomend it, we use a standard flush crap that comes in a huge tub but there are good ones out there. the ATF Method is supposidly very good but not 100% on what damage was caused and what engine it was (i seem to remeber it being a ford duratec or zetec)
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The only problems it will do is show up faults. If you have a crap seal on an oil cooler being held together with crap it'll leak when the crap is shifted as an example. Personally i'd prefer any inperfections to be exposed sooner rather than later!
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Hi!
Would this be suitable to do for a diesel?
Thanks
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Which method are we talking about? the cleaning of the gauze or the ATF fluid?
Cleaning the sump wont to any harm at all, infact its even more important on a diesel due to the carbon buildups. ATF should be fine to run as well, diesel oil has more detergents in it anyway because they do get so dirty, I cant see why it would cause a problem.
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both man, much appreciated :)
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mine deffo needs a good oil change, just havnt got the time/money :angry:
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mine needs a good oil change aswell. I shall see if i have time to remove and clean sump when i do it.
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BTW Mods please sticky this thread in mk3 maintanance section :afro:
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I've got noisey hydraulic lifters when the engine is first started (i always though it might be a pressure thing) so i'll give this a go at my next oil change too. I did consider also changing the oil pump in there as at 125k it's done quite a lot now!
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I will add this to my list of to do's lol
the to do's far out way my pocket atm lol