morricus
Go Kart Champion
- Location
- Dripping Springs, TX
- Car(s)
- 2019 GTI
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.
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.