Plastic Bits Clogging Oil Screen (Photo Included)

4470 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by John_E, Apr 21, 2019

bobinyelm

Discussion Starter · Apr 12, 2019

I recently acquired an '02 Passat 1.8T Wagon (auto) w/ 175k miles in really nice shape (runs and shifts flawlessly, not even a door ding) except that the oil pressure light flickers above about 2500rpm. It needs an ABS module, but other than that, it's great.

I assumed (dumb, I know), it was sludge from a PO not using synthetic oil clogging the screen and causing oil starvation at higher rpms.

I purchased a new German-made oil pump and screen, and dropped the subframe to replace the pump and found that the screen had no sludge, but was packed full of small white hard plastic bits, all about 3mm-5mm in size that resembled pieces of a chain rail guide liner as I've seen used in some engines. There was a few of these in the pan, but the oil pump had done a great job of collecting 99% of them. The pan was pretty clean otherwise, and the bottom end of the engine looked normal for the miles on it.

I snapped a photo of some of what I picked out on my workbench (attached).

Engine bottom end (old oil pump still in place)- No excessive deposits I could see.

Engine Auto part Automotive engine part Vehicle

Removing the valve cover I saw no chain guide on the cam chain end that looked like white plastic on the hydraulic cam chain foot, and the tensioner for the oil pump chain, both of which were black material and intact with no broken corners.

So I am at a loss to know where the plastic could have come from, so am asking here (after doing searches that mentioned junk in the pan, but nothing that looked like my recovered pieces).

The engine was quiet and ran perfectly before, as it does now with the new pump and screen (and no oil pressure light now, of course), but I am a bit nervous wondering if there is something disintegrating that will cause FUTURE problems.

Ideas?

Thanks,
Bob

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Iowegian

· #2 · Apr 12, 2019

Check the cam bearing surfaces for wear and the CCT (cam chain tensioner) pads for wear. If those both look good the other things to worry about would be the main bearings and the turbo. Bottom line, if it runs well and the oil pressure is good now you are probably lucky and hopefully it will go for a long time.

BTW, I probably have a spare ABS module that would fit your car. PM me if you're interested in it. I replaced it only to find out it was a wheel sensor that was causing my ABS problems and the rebuild guys confirmed it was OK.

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AndreasPassat

· #3 · Apr 13, 2019

This is exactly what happened to my 1st Passat.
Long story short (my whole deal has been well documented here on this forum) I purchased my now daily driver, a 1998 GLS V6 5sp manual FWD in July of 2006.
I bought the car knowing it had some serious issues with the engine. At the time I had no idea what the problem was.
I drove the car for 3 months and the valve train finally let loose. Parked the car for a number of years and finally one day got back at it.
When I took the valve covers off the passengers side CCT had the plastic shoes completely gone. Then the oil pan came off. The plastic shoes got all ground up into chunks and sucked into the oil pick-up screen, just like yours.

I was lucky and didn't experience any cam bearing journal damage. However, both CCT's and all the cam followers were complete junk.

What happens is, conventional motor oil when left unchecked / neglected will attack the plastic shoes on the CCT's and cause them to become very brittle. The bits and pieces bounce around in valve train for a while until they get flushed down into the oil pan and then sucked up into the pick-up screen.

I have seen other cars with similar issues. Plastic in the oil pan but all the shoes and oil tensioner is all intact. That comes from your dumbass Joe the Hack mechanic that replaces the CCT shoes but doesn't bother going after all that foreign material left inside the engine. And then he charges you an assload of money for doing a job well done.
It's exactly why many of us here do our own wrenching. Most mechanics are like politicians, they can't be trusted.

When this happens and the CCT(s) is replaced or repaired, that is the time to switch over to full synthetic oil. Synthetic oil does not cause any issues with the plastic shoes.

There are a total of 3 pieces of plastic inside the 1.8 engine. two pieces on the CCT (shoe on top and bottom) the other piece of plastic is the chain tensioner on the oil pump.
New oil pumps have a revised piece of plastic from the original design.

I would remove all plastic that can be found, I'd even use a shop-vac on the head to suck out any left over pieces. Swap out the CCT for a new one. Put it all back together.
Put in some cheap conventional oil, new oil filter and a full can of Sea-Foam and run that engine for a few days. Drain the oil and put in fresh Synthetic oil and oil filter of your choice and you should be good to go.

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AndreasPassat

· #4 · Apr 13, 2019

Here's a shot of that oil pump chain tensioner, from a 1.8t rebuild I did a few years ago.

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axenstar

· #5 · Apr 13, 2019

All above + the plastic dipstick tube.

My old lady 98 AEB had been neglected by the previous owner and the dipstick plastic tube disintegrated into the engine along with the CCT bottom shoe.

Having had the oil pressure issues, I wanted to find a way to get the pieces out of the pickup tube without dropping the oil pan.

I drained the oil, poured a gallon or so of Kerosane through the dipstick tube until the the pickup is submerged. Let it sit overnight. Tilted the car so that the the pieces flow out with the kero upon removing the drain plug.

Repeated this three times. Indeed, some pieces came out. Then I rinsed the engine using a cheap conventional oil and a new filter for about 20 min. Drained it and filled with synthetic oil.

The oil light was gone. But eventually I had to replace the oil pump. Evidently it had been damaged over the course of the abuse.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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AndreasPassat

· #6 · Apr 13, 2019

I need to make an adjusted statement about my post #3.

I stated that are 3 pieces of plastic inside the engine. While that is true, for some it may not. Depending what year/version, some cars came with a windage tray on the bottom end and a splatter tray on top of the cams.
The 1.8t engine that I rebuilt did not have those items in it. So that would be 3 pieces of plastic. But please note with the trays you could have up to five pieces of plastic inside the engine.

The tray on the bottom directly below the crankshaft is a windage tray, this prevents oil from being whipped to the sides of the engine from the crankshaft spinning at high RPM's.
The tray on the top of the cams is to prevent all the oil splatter whipping of the cams to stay contained within an area to help prevent excess oil being sucked into the PCV system.

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PZ

· #7 · Apr 13, 2019

I see yellow plastic from either CCT of oil pump tensioner. I also see quite a bit of the broken PCV tube and the little orange bulb from the actual dipstick.

I had a similar issue on a customers car, new head, new CCT, cracked and sealed with JB Weld. Oil light on during highway drive, found parts of former CCT pads and JB Weld blocking the pickup tube. New pump and now the engine has been running fine in my car for the last 4 years. Engine was actually a warranty replacement with only about 60K on it but I guess they re-used the CCT. It failed and they replaced the head, but never cleaned the sump. New owner bought it cheap with a cracked pan and did not know what he got into. After I repaired it, he let it sit non-titled for a year before donating the car to me for my swap.

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GpzGuy

· #8 · Apr 17, 2019

AndreasPassat said:
This is exactly what happened to my 1st Passat.
Long story short (my whole deal has been well documented here on this forum) I purchased my now daily driver, a 1998 GLS V6 5sp manual FWD in July of 2006.
I bought the car knowing it had some serious issues with the engine. At the time I had no idea what the problem was.
I drove the car for 3 months and the valve train finally let loose. Parked the car for a number of years and finally one day got back at it.
When I took the valve covers off the passengers side CCT had the plastic shoes completely gone. Then the oil pan came off. The plastic shoes got all ground up into chunks and sucked into the oil pick-up screen, just like yours.

I was lucky and didn't experience any cam bearing journal damage. However, both CCT's and all the cam followers were complete junk.

What happens is, conventional motor oil when left unchecked / neglected will attack the plastic shoes on the CCT's and cause them to become very brittle. The bits and pieces bounce around in valve train for a while until they get flushed down into the oil pan and then sucked up into the pick-up screen.

I have seen other cars with similar issues. Plastic in the oil pan but all the shoes and oil tensioner is all intact. That comes from your dumbass Joe the Hack mechanic that replaces the CCT shoes but doesn't bother going after all that foreign material left inside the engine. And then he charges you an assload of money for doing a job well done.
It's exactly why many of us here do our own wrenching. Most mechanics are like politicians, they can't be trusted.

When this happens and the CCT(s) is replaced or repaired, that is the time to switch over to full synthetic oil. Synthetic oil does not cause any issues with the plastic shoes.

There are a total of 3 pieces of plastic inside the 1.8 engine. two pieces on the CCT (shoe on top and bottom) the other piece of plastic is the chain tensioner on the oil pump.
New oil pumps have a revised piece of plastic from the original design.

I would remove all plastic that can be found, I'd even use a shop-vac on the head to suck out any left over pieces. Swap out the CCT for a new one. Put it all back together.
Put in some cheap conventional oil, new oil filter and a full can of Sea-Foam and run that engine for a few days. Drain the oil and put in fresh Synthetic oil and oil filter of your choice and you should be good to go.

Yes, this is leftover cam chain tensioner shoes. But I don't agree that it is a problem with oil attacking the plastic. It's caused by a combination of aging, degredation and wear. Oxidation from combustion gasses in the crankcase and heat from the engine causes embrittlement of the plastic, and wear from the chain causes it to thin to the point where it simply fractures. This will happen with the use of synthetic oil too.

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overtonis

· #9 · Apr 17, 2019

oh boy. This was massive issue for Passat for our years (I have 2003). Problem is oil pan was designed too close to engine (this is how it was explained to me by Passat). Many people had engine problems due to clogging of oil filer. Oil was being heated too high (due to poor design) and breaking down into calcified pieces that were clogging filters. There was big lawsuit for this problem. I ended up being reimbursed for over $600 by Passat but that time period to report problem has long expired. Also, most were not using synthetic back then. That why they recommend only 5W 40 Synthetic Oil for Passat for our year.

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PZ

· #10 · Apr 19, 2019

Synthetic oil pretty much stops the wear on the CCT pads. 240K on my son's V6 and original CCT pads looked great at 220K when I last checked.

overtonis said:
oh boy. This was massive issue for Passat for our years (I have 2003). Problem is oil pan was designed too close to engine (this is how it was explained to me by Passat). Many people had engine problems due to clogging of oil filer. Oil was being heated too high (due to poor design) and breaking down into calcified pieces that were clogging filters. There was big lawsuit for this problem. I ended up being reimbursed for over $600 by Passat but that time period to report problem has long expired. Also, most were not using synthetic back then. That why they recommend only 5W 40 Synthetic Oil for Passat for our year.

Someone lied to you or you do not understand how engines work. All oil pans are close to the engine on every engine. It was actually the lack of synthetic oil requirement that caused issues on the 1.8T. Regular oil can not stand up to the heat produced from a turbo engine. The smaller capacity of the longitudinal setup did not help matters. The coked oil plugged the pickup screen of the oil pump. Then the engine lost oil pressure, damage resulted.

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John_E

· #11 · Apr 21, 2019

overtonis said:
oh boy. This was massive issue for Passat for our years (I have 2003). Problem is oil pan was designed too close to engine (this is how it was explained to me by Passat). Many people had engine problems due to clogging of oil filer. Oil was being heated too high (due to poor design) and breaking down into calcified pieces that were clogging filters. There was big lawsuit for this problem. I ended up being reimbursed for over $600 by Passat but that time period to report problem has long expired. Also, most were not using synthetic back then. That why they recommend only 5W 40 Synthetic Oil for Passat for our year.

You absolutely need synthetic oil on these cars. An oversize oil filter helps, as well.
(I use the big Purolator L40316, which is a repackaged Mann 940/25. It takes a full quart(!) of oil on pre-installation pre-fill.)

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