Hi all!
So I decided to change the oil in Ethyl today. I had no idea how long it had been and the guy I purchased her from had no idea as well. Bought a nice new oil drip pan, a new oil screen, gaskets and 3 qts of Castrol 20W50 GTX. I crawled under the bus and found that the sump plate had no center drain. No big deal, then I noticed that one of the step studs was about a quater inch longer than the rest and sticking out lower than the sump plate.
I removed the cap nuts (not sure they are actual caps nuts and one was stripped but they seemed to be working) and let the oil drain. One of the step studs came out along with the nut. And a few of the nuts are rounded over some.   So I let it drain, and drain and drain. Heck I think it's still out there dripping.

The oil screen was FILLED with gunk and the underside of the sump plate was caked with the same gunk as well. I have a "parts pan and I tossed them in there to clean 'em up. Got them cleaned up the screen looked pretty good and I think I can reuse it which is a good thing because the new screen I bought will not fit. It's too high. It will fit the bolt holes but will not seat properly as the metal piece inside is taller than the original. Now it's 5 pm Saturday and the VW parts places are closed. So I'm thinking I'm just going to get all new parts. New sump plate with a drain plug, new step studs and caps nuts and hope the threads aren't messed up on the block. OR...now that I'm on my second beer maybe it will be better to get it towed to R&M and let a pro do it right the first time.

Opinions?

 

Is the screen you bought made somewhere in Asia?  Try to steer clear of any parts made anywhere in Asia.  Try to buy parts made in Europe or North America.  Central and South American parts are usually pretty good . . . but avoid Brazilian parts if possible . . . but if the choice is Brazil or Asia, I'll go with Brazil.

When you do reinstall the sump plate, don't overtighten the nuts.  If you overtighten them, you will either strip the threads out of the case or warp the sump plate.  I don't recall the torque spec for those nuts, but it's just a few INCH pounds.  If you don't have at torque wrench that will read that low, use a nut driver or a 1/4" drive ratchet and wrap your fingers around the head of the ratchet.

If you re-use your sump plate (or buy a used one) make sure it's flat before you install it.  I keep a few of those cheap two sided (one fine, one course) sharpening stones on hand for this type of thing.  Start with the course side and rub it in a circular motion around the mounting surface of the plate.   Almost immediatly, you'll see the arear around the bolt holes get bright and shiny . . . thats 'cause those areas are high because someone in the past torqued 'em down to 30 or 40 times there spec.  Keep going until the whole mounting surface shines.  Go around it a time or two with the fine side for good measure.  I use high temp silicone on the gaskets, but don't bead it up . . . I rub just a little bit into the gasket to help prevent the paper from wicking oil.