1.8T Oil Pan Removal...Is it necessary to put front end into the "Service Position"?

[arbowman]

Hello to all! Like the title says:

Is it absolutely necessary to pull off the front bumper and put the core support into the "Service Position" to remove the oil pan on an Audi B6 1.8T engine?

In the Sticky for the oil pan removal it says this needs to be done but I have seen some other DIY's for this job and it looks like the front end has been left on in some cases. Hopefully someone that has done this job with the front end on can give some insight to this.

If the oil pan removal is a total PITA with the front end on, I will take it off but if the job is just slightly harder but not impossible to do with it on, I will leave it on. I really don't want this job to take any longer than it has to by taking off a bunch of stuff that doesn't have to be removed.

I need this info ASAP because I am helping a buddy who is a novice car mechanic do this job TOMORROW MORNING!

The reason we are removing the oil pan is because the low oil pressure light comes on sometimes in my buddy's 2002 A4. We are hoping this is happening because of the common "oil sludge blocking the oil pump pickup screen" issue with the 1.8T engines. The engine does has 215,000 miles on it so it makes sense.

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[lindin34]

Did you check all the common reasons why..the light comes on...like check the oil pressure with the gauge...it should no less than 15 at idle warm..about the switch ?..what oil your using?..have you tried engine flush?...that oil pan is a good amount of work..taking the front bumper is nothing..

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[SEATLRallyTeam]

I did this few months back, mine's a B5 ATW engine so not sure about your B6 but on ATW it has to come off. Reason being, the metal plate that holds the snub-mount covers few front bolts of the oil pan. This job is a major PITA, Engine was jacked up as far as it could go, subframe off from front and, rear loosened as far as it could go, trans mounts off and STILL had to have another person to pry the subframe down while another maneuvered the pan out, getting it back in is harder.

[buddy4024]

If it's a awm you don't have to but you should It's easier to access the bolts on the front end of the oil pan


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[arbowman]

Thanks for all the responses! My buddy's car is actually an 01 so it's a B5. Didn't figure this out until we went to work on it and his engine pieces didn't look anything like the pics in the B6 tutorials. Had to look at the owner's manual in the glove box to find the year. Lol.

This was actually a good thing because we were able to complete the oil pan removal and installation without putting the front end into the service position. We did have to lower the subframe and raise the engine up of course. We also had to deal with getting all the bolts out of the pan which wasn't too bad. Just had to have the right length Allen socket for the bolts in the bell housing. Then we used a 2x4 for a pry bar between the engine and the subframe to gain the extra clearance needed to get the pan down and out.

The trickiest part was getting the mounting flange of the pan down past the snub mount plate in the front. It was a two person job. One of us was on each side of the snub mount plate using a pry bar in between the mount plate and the pan to compress the rubber snub behind the mount plate evenly enough to get the flange of the pan to drop below the top of the plate. Once the flange was behind the plate, we just had to pry and twist with the pry bars to wiggle the pan down the rest of the way. This was only possible because the rubber snub could be compressed some while prying between the plate and the pan. The plate just had to be pryed evenly forward from each side.

We had to re-install the pan using the same prying method but we had to do it twice because the first time the rear flange of the pan was stuck on a lip on the flywheel. It is a super tight fit while installing so we couldn't get it to pop past that lip. Everything was jammed up that tight. The second time we just had to put the rear of the pan up slightly higher past that lip before prying on the front at the snub mount to raise it up.

I can totally understand why some people feel like they have to put the front end into the service position to do this job. It would be very easy to come to the conclusion that it is impossible to get the pan past the snub mount without removing it first but it can be done. Just gotta have the right technique and some patience with a couple of pry bars.

By the way, the low oil pressure issue was caused by the oil pickup screen being blocked by sludge. The issue wasn't really the sludge itself, it was the small holes in the screen were clogged with hard, cooked pieces of oil and then sludge built up on the screen when it couldn't pass through the clogged holes. We poked the hard stuff out of holes with a small piece of wire while shining a light through it and it was good to go again.