Club 80-90 Forums

As it says, I'll be doing it in the next few days. Does anyone have any handy hints, or is it just like it says in the Haynes manual? ie-remove filler tube, drain oil, take off sump, take off oil filter screen, clean it and put a new gasket on it, then a new sump gasket on, then fill it up and off you go?
Do you drain the oil hot or cold and do you need to change the oil filter screen gasket?

I did mine a few weeks ago - pretty much as the Haynes manual suggests ... but the joint between the filler pipe and the oil sump was solid ... so I just removed the oil sump with the filler pipe attached. I couldn't even budge this in a vice so I just put it back the same way.

The oil was warm from a 20 minute drive so ran out easily. You will need a large pan to collect the oil when it comes out! Yes, take the filer screen off too. I cleaned the sump and oil filter screen with compressed air and an oil cleaning fluid.

AND when you fit the new seal (which is rubbery) on the oil sump and offer it up, it tends to catch on the internal fittings on the front side of the oil sump so get someone to help - we put the seal onto the bottom of the gearbox rim rather than fitting it to the oil sump. This can be fiddly!

Also when refilling don't over fill .. measure the 2.5 litres carefully, start the engine and go through the gears with the brake on and then check, add small amounts and recheck. The only way to remove overfill is to undo the sump plate - messy. Patience is well worth the time at this stage. Do the road test and check again.

Hope this helps! (The seal should be available from VW Parts Dept)

But did you change the filter screen gasket?And did it make a lot of difference to the driving? Mine gets really sluggish after a long run out so I suspect the oil is goosed and when it gets hot it gets aerated.

Dubstar wrote:But did you change the filter screen gasket?And did it make a lot of difference to the driving?

Nope - just cleaned it out and re-fitted (no gasket) - it looked new after cleaning. I can't say the gearbox changed much after cleaning ... but new oil is always good for gearboxes!