W261w261

Can I see the pickup screen with a bore scope, or is there a baffle or something in the way? The car was purchased last November from the 2nd owner at 105k, and although he was an enthusiast with a 2012 AMG as his other car, it is an '02, and I believe Audi didn't get the synthetic oil religion until a few years later. Hence, I'm a bit concerned about sludge.

I have 2 other 1.8L cars, an 03 A4 and an 04 Passat. On both of those my mechanic has done a 2 step engine flush (add additive, run for 20 minutes, drain and refill with oil+additive). I don't remember the name but it's German, and this shop is heavily into German cars. I have no idea whether this helps or hurts or not, so any comments would be appreciated.

I got my 03 from the elderly original owner at 100k, totally dealer serviced from new. Yet, at 82k the head destructed in what appeared to be an oil starvation (sludge) situation. The Passat was bought last year from the original owner with 51k (!). I put a new timing belt on as I was concerned about the old one aging out, but it was essentially fine. What wasn't fine was that crappy plastic impeller in the water pump, which was starting to come apart,so I did the right thing for the wrong reason. A previous 1.8L blew a head gasket at 66k from that same water pump so I have experience, unfortunately.

Anyway, the 02 has the first owner unknown to me (or the guy I bought it from - it was a CPO) in its past, so even though I'm going to do the flush treatment, I'd kind of like to look at the pickup screen, but not probably bad enough to drop the pan.

Any comments? Thank you.

Prospeeder

The thing about it, is its not really sludge. Its carbon, thats rock hard that packs into the pickup tube. You literally have to chisel it out of the pickup screen. No amount of chemical flush is going to touch the stuff. If your worried, just remove the oil pan and replace or clean the pickup tube. Its 4 hours to remove and replace the pan book time, not that involved. Unfortunatly the 7500 mile regular oil changes initially recommended for these cars destroyed them if they were in any kind of extreme climate. 5w40, full synthetic, 5k mile changes, it will go 300k+


Plus, another reason to not even bother with the flush, is I see the tube blocked up with orange pieces of plastic from the dipstick too, a flush is a waste of time and money, if your worried, remove the pan.

W261w261

Thanks for your comments. Is there a way to look at the pickup tube with a scope through the oil drain hole? ThxThx.

Prospeeder

I dont think you will get a good enough look. Not enough light, and oil will be dripping out of it. its easiest to see how blocked it is by removing it and shining a bright light from the back and seeing how blocked it is.