My brother has a '97 Passat 1.8T, 87,000 miles, and for a few months it has been very tappety. Had it serviced at the main dealer (I use the word "serviced" in the loosest possible sense) and it went away. Came back again recently, then on a long drive the oil warning light came on. Cut a long story short, local VW specialist said it's the pump - only providing 0.5 bar instead of 2.5. I know my bruv's lucky not to have ruined the engine, but has anyone heard of problems with oil pumps on the 1.8T? The other factor is that the specialist found the engine oil was black - i.e. it can't have been changed at the last service... Cheers Martyn '94 Vento 16v
Could be bearings or any other part of the system then, not just the pump. Sounds like a well dodgy service anyway - did he run it out of oil, or did the light come on due to lack of pressure even with a full sump? Never heard of any problems with the pumps in general.
The oil level was fine, altho bruv did take the "panic" option when faced with red light 200 miles from home - he put some more in! Lucky that didn't damage the cat as it was over the max level when the engine had cooled. Wouldn't have thought the pump would fail even if the oil hadn't been changed in ages? Martyn '94 Vento 16v
No, that shouldn't lead to pump failure. It could have blocked an oilway and run a bearing though, which would kill the oil pressure.
Or if they didn't change the filter in ages either, could have blocked that..... then the oil would just spew from the relief valve back into the sump.
If the oil hasnt been changed regular chances are that the strainer on the end of the oil pump is blocked causing low oil pressure.I've heard of this happening before on a 1.8t and have seen it happen lot's of times on other cars as well,all because the oil hasnt been changed !! If it is this the cure is to fit a new oil pump
A main dealer won't check oil pressure as part of the service routine, thats what oil pressure switches are for. Also any engine especially one which has covered nearly 90k will blacken engine oil within a few hundred miles of a change due to the build up of carbon deposits.
Thanks for your help guys. Bruv has just got the car back from the VW specialist, the strainer was indeed blocked. New pump and 333 worse off! Can't prove this was down to the oil as far as the main dealer was concerned so I suppose the moral of the tale is - steer clear of VW dealers! Cheers Martyn '94 Vento 16v
My brother's A4 1.8t (123000 miles) appears to have the same problem. Is there any way of clearing the strainer without replacing the oil pump? A whole new pump for a blocked strainer seems a bit excesive.
I've just had the same on my 2001 leon 18t, had low oil pressure..head started getting noisy, oil pressure check reveled that it was not increasing past 3 bar when being gently reved. Checked the strainer and it was blocked. this car has its booked fully stamped at main dealer. small black deposits, carbon maybe? New strainer is 6 + vat at vw but you might aswell do the pump with that milage on it! only a few hours work
