URO Parts Aluminum Oil Pan

[morricus]

What I thought would be an easy, no brainer upgrade has turned into a genuine irritation. I bought a metal oil pan upgrade kit a few weeks ago and easily installed it. I thought the job was done. But upon installation of the oil level sensor, one of the three pegs securing the sensor snapped off. It was determined it was a defect in the pan, and another pan was sent right out. I easily installed that, had no issues. I used proper torque on all bolts, thought job was done. But a day or so later, the sensor was dripping oil ever so slightly. I very lightly tightened the three securing bolts and the dripping slowed, but did not stop. I did not feel comfortable tightening it any further, so I looked at the cost of replacing the gasket between the sensor and the pan. Of course, the gasket alone is not available and the entire $130 sensor would need to be replaced to get the gasket, which is absolute BS.

Instead, I dropped the pan for a third time and put a thin bead of black RTV around the perimeter of the gasket, then put the pan back up yet again. Dripping at the sensor went away, I think, but after a few days the pan started to drip slightly. I lightly tightened the offending bolts, but no change. I take responsibility for the pan leaking. Clearly I screwed up the bead, which is surprising to me considering I've done this same thing on countless transmission and oil pans with no issue. Regardless, I'm sick of this and don't want to try to fix this situation again. I wanted the metal pan in as a temporary solution until I bought the iabed pan, and still plan on getting one of those works of art as budget allows.

I didn't want to put the stock plastic oil pan back, because the idea of a plastic oil pan is insane to me, and I track this car often now. I came across the Uro Parts aluminum pan for only $97, which looked perfect. Stronger than the plastic pan, not as much as the steel obviously, but still metal. And it utilizes the stock pan gasket, which was important since I proved absolutely incapable of using RTV on this application. I didn't want to re-use the original pan gasket, so I bought a new one for $20 from Amazon. Interestingly, these gaskets seem to be out of stock at most places I checked, so plan ahead of you do this.

I've included a few pictures of the aluminum pan, and also the garbage plastic pan and the metal pan. I'll be installing this tomorrow, when the gasket arrives. I took a chance and bought a oil sensor gasket for a different model and year VW to see if it happens to fit. I'll put some additional pics of the install ect as I put this together. Maybe a lot of you have this aluminum pan installed, but I couldn't find anything. Any comments are welcome. However, I already know aluminum is not as strong as steel....that I screwed up the RTV bead and you have had no issues with your steel pan install......that the sensor gasket I bought prob won't work....and that I should have just bought the iabed in the first place.

But for $97, this looks to be like a good option, on paper.

 

[El_bigote_AJ]

How much stronger is an aluminum pan VS plastic though? my VR6 mk4 had an aluminum pan... had to replace it 2 times because is cracked easy. (car was too low,lol)

 

[morricus]

How much stronger is an aluminum pan VS plastic though? my VR6 mk4 had an aluminum pan... had to replace it 2 times because is cracked easy. (car was too low,lol)

I have no idea. I'm willing to roll the dice with aluminum vs plastic though. Some parts of this car were designed with "good enough" as a design philosophy, which I understand...its a low cost car. But replacing plastic pieces (rear sway bar end links, the oil pan ect) seems like a reasonable move. I cannot bring myself to put the plastic pan back on...unless this aluminum pan fails miserably.

 

[Elwood]

I, too, had (have) an issue with the steel Uro pan. I couldn't get the drain plug tight enough to stop leaking. I finally got it tight enough, but was getting a drop or two of oil from the gasket area. When I checking all the bolts, I discovered a couple were just hand tight despite being properly torqued upon installation. I guess the RTV shrinks up some when it cures or compresses or something. I haven't seen any more oil on the ground, but thanks for posting this. At least I know I have another option.

 

[morricus]

I, too, had (have) an issue with the steel Uro pan. I couldn't get the drain plug tight enough to stop leaking. I finally got it tight enough, but was getting a drop or two of oil from the gasket area. When I checking all the bolts, I discovered a couple were just hand tight despite being properly torqued upon installation. I guess the RTV shrinks up some when it cures or compresses or something. I haven't seen any more oil on the ground, but thanks for posting this. At least I know I have another option.

If this aluminum pan doesn't work out, I'm going to try the steel one again, but use Right Stuff RTV. I've always used that with great success, seems to seal better than Black RTV, which is what I kept using on the steel pan the previous two tries.

 

[projectTVMK7]

I have the same steel oil pan and it leaked from the perimeter when I installed it with the black RTV. I bought and installed this gasket from Amazon and have had no leaks ever since.

Fel-Pro OS 30821 Oil Pan Gasket Set

 

[morricus]

I have the same steel oil pan and it leaked from the perimeter when I installed it with the black RTV. I bought and installed this gasket from Amazon and have had no leaks ever since.

Fel-Pro OS 30821 Oil Pan Gasket Set

That's an awesome find. I would have tried that on the existing steel pan before the aluminum had I known, but honestly prob would have started with the aluminum before the steel had I known it could be had for under $100. I bought the steel pan as a complete kit from a vendor I really like, but wonder why they don't include this fel pro gasket instead of black rtv.

 

[Ridebjj]

Why not put the a skidplate on and leave the plastic pan alone? Seems like people have no end of strife when trying to replace it pre-emptively.

 

[morricus]

Why not put the a skidplate on and leave the plastic pan alone? Seems like people have no end of strife when trying to replace it pre-emptively.

Because the only one I could find that seemed to be worth it was well over $400. And most are designedffor a Mk7, 7.5 doesn't fit. I don't know what my future plans are regarding aero and cooling, I was interested in spending that much. I'm not saying your wrong, just explaining why I didn't. And I know this is ridiculous, but it honestly just irritated me to know it was plastic. No rational reason except annoyance.

 

[morricus]

The groove on the aluminum pan that the OEM gasket sits in isn't in exactly the same pattern as the plastic OEM pan. There are wavy areas on the aluminum pan that the OEM pan lacks. I can get the new gasket to fit, but its not exact. I'm going to move forward anyway, because it should still seal. Besides, I've already done this four times, if it leaks again, whats a fifth? I don't understand Uro parts reasoning in altering the OEM groove pattern.

 

[2slowvw]

For what its worth, i have seen many torches alight because of composite "plastic" oil pans. The fact of the matter is, they are quieter, lighter, and just as strong if not stronger than aluminum oil pans. I have seen many aluminum oil pans crack over time and doubt they are very much stronger if at all than the composite pans in real world testing. The only reason I would swap out pans if it included different and beneficial baffling, cooling, or capacity.

Disclaimer - Im a big proponent of its your car do as you like. So if you think it looks cooler or makes you sleep easier at night, go for it!

 

[morricus]

For what its worth, i have seen many torches alight because of composite "plastic" oil pans. The fact of the matter is, they are quieter, lighter, and just as strong if not stronger than aluminum oil pans. I have seen many aluminum oil pans crack over time and doubt they are very much stronger if at all than the composite pans in real world testing. The only reason I would swap out pans if it included different and beneficial baffling, cooling, or capacity.

Disclaimer - Im a big proponent of its your car do as you like. So if you think it looks cooler or makes you sleep easier at night, go for it!

I'm a big proponent of taking the advice of experienced people seriously, which is clearly you. Perhaps if anything, this post should be a lesson to not try to fix that which is not broken. Lesson learned I guess, but since I already have the new aluminum pan, I'm going to tempt fate and throw it on.

I'd love to think that because its aluminum that my oil temps will go down 100 degrees. But that is nonsense. I'm quite certain they'll be exactly the same. But who knows. Thanks for the info and advice!

 

[2slowvw]

I'm a big proponent of taking the advice of experienced people seriously, which is clearly you. Perhaps if anything, this post should be a lesson to not try to fix that which is not broken. Lesson learned I guess, but since I already have the new aluminum pan, I'm going to tempt fate and throw it on.

I'd love to think that because its aluminum that my oil temps will go down 100 degrees. But that is nonsense. I'm quite certain they'll be exactly the same. But who knows. Thanks for the info and advice!

Don't get me wrong, a steel pan is nice for protection, aluminum is better for dissipating heat but cracks more often than not where a steel pan would have just dented if something hit it. This whole subject is taboo because people hate plastic, but it has come a long way and goes through the same testing cycles as other parts. Remember when all intake manifolds were metal, now look at ours.

 

[morricus]

The oil level sensor to pan gasket I bought seems to fit. I'm still not sure if I should use it. My concern is that the repeated removal of the sensor has compressed the original gasket too many times and it will continue to leak. This new gasket (URO part # 038103196) seems to be the exact same dimensions as the OEM, but who knows. OEM is black gasket, new gasket is brown.

 

[morricus]

I used the new, brown gasket. installed pan with no issues, torqued everything down to spec. Filled with new oil, let it sit overnight. No leaks. I'm going to keep an eye on it, hopefully everything stays dry.