2007 VW Transporter 2.5TDi 4motion
- Thread starter Bailes1992
- Start date
So I started doing some diagnosis today. Two things have cropped up that are 'new'. That is the fuel gauge not working, and the fans on full by default when the engine is running.
As always, when presented by a problem I start gathering information. What are the chances of these two issues starting simultaneously and being totally unrelated?
I started looking at wiring diagrams and come across 'Sender Earth 410'. This is a clean earth from the instrument cluster that goes to the fuel level sender, brake fluid level switch, coolant level switch, screen wash level switch and ambient air temperature sensor. And a little googling shows a few people who had issues with the fans running on full when their ambient air temperature sensor failed.
So I went out to the van armed with my trusty £7.99 multimeter from Lidl. First thing to check was which side was the interior loom and which side was the fuel tank loom. I checked for resistance between the fuel level sender pins and found the female side to have 167ohms or so. Which, is what I'd expect for the fuel level in the tank.
I then checked from the battery negative terminal to the two sender pins on the male side of the plug looking for an earth, but both pins were open circuit.
So, I put the plug together, popped the test lead into the current measurement side of the tester, and fed the battery negative into the appropriate terminal on the plug. And BOOM! Working fuel gauge and no fans...
So, at this moment in time I'm assuming an internal failure in the cluster itself. The ambient air temperature sensor is in the headlight loom that I had out during the last lot of work I did. Maybe one the plugs got wet and shorted out the cluster? Question is, if this will be a DIY fix or if I'll have to send it off to be repaired. We shall see!
The oil pressure light is now pretty repeatable and consistent. Once the oil temp is above 70°c or so, I can pretty much make it come on and off on command. I'm pulling the sump off this weekend to take a look and find out what's going on. The engine still sounds and runs perfect, so while it's pressure is low, it must be borderline. Either the oil pump is tired or something is blocking the pickup.
Today I've spent a small fortune. I've ordered polyurethane bushes all round, new shocks, springs, mounts, drop links, ball joints, tie rods and a new oil pump. I start a new job in a month so don't have much time to get it all done before I'll need the Volvo on a daily basis as my company car will be going back. So there should be a decent amount of updates in the coming weeks!
As always, when presented by a problem I start gathering information. What are the chances of these two issues starting simultaneously and being totally unrelated?
I started looking at wiring diagrams and come across 'Sender Earth 410'. This is a clean earth from the instrument cluster that goes to the fuel level sender, brake fluid level switch, coolant level switch, screen wash level switch and ambient air temperature sensor. And a little googling shows a few people who had issues with the fans running on full when their ambient air temperature sensor failed.
So I went out to the van armed with my trusty £7.99 multimeter from Lidl. First thing to check was which side was the interior loom and which side was the fuel tank loom. I checked for resistance between the fuel level sender pins and found the female side to have 167ohms or so. Which, is what I'd expect for the fuel level in the tank.
I then checked from the battery negative terminal to the two sender pins on the male side of the plug looking for an earth, but both pins were open circuit.
So, I put the plug together, popped the test lead into the current measurement side of the tester, and fed the battery negative into the appropriate terminal on the plug. And BOOM! Working fuel gauge and no fans...
So, at this moment in time I'm assuming an internal failure in the cluster itself. The ambient air temperature sensor is in the headlight loom that I had out during the last lot of work I did. Maybe one the plugs got wet and shorted out the cluster? Question is, if this will be a DIY fix or if I'll have to send it off to be repaired. We shall see!
The oil pressure light is now pretty repeatable and consistent. Once the oil temp is above 70°c or so, I can pretty much make it come on and off on command. I'm pulling the sump off this weekend to take a look and find out what's going on. The engine still sounds and runs perfect, so while it's pressure is low, it must be borderline. Either the oil pump is tired or something is blocking the pickup.
Today I've spent a small fortune. I've ordered polyurethane bushes all round, new shocks, springs, mounts, drop links, ball joints, tie rods and a new oil pump. I start a new job in a month so don't have much time to get it all done before I'll need the Volvo on a daily basis as my company car will be going back. So there should be a decent amount of updates in the coming weeks!
Started pulling the sump off to inspect the oil pump and pickup tube.
I've found a few guides, but none for a 4motion, and this appears to be a problem on a 4motion.
All the guides suggest to avoid the sump, you need to remove the engine mounts and jack the engine up an inch or so.
So, off with the lower engine mount.
Airbox out, upper engine mount unbolted, engine jacked up and chocked in place with a piece of wood so the jack can be removed.
Drained the 2 months/500miles old Mobil 1 0w40 out of the engine.
Removed two T30 torx screws holding a coolant pipe onto the side of the sump.
Removed the ball housing bolts that fix to the sump.
And then I loosed off all the sump bolts, bar 3. There is two of the bolts above the bevel gear and one above the O/S inner CV joint.
So now I'm stuck. Some research is required.
I don't know if I can unbolt the bevel gear from the gearbox and if it will give me enough 'play' to get the screws out. Or If I need to remove the propshaft and O/S driveshaft. Either way, feeling a bit bummed out about this van. Nothing is ever easy.
I've found a few guides, but none for a 4motion, and this appears to be a problem on a 4motion.
All the guides suggest to avoid the sump, you need to remove the engine mounts and jack the engine up an inch or so.
So, off with the lower engine mount.
Airbox out, upper engine mount unbolted, engine jacked up and chocked in place with a piece of wood so the jack can be removed.
Drained the 2 months/500miles old Mobil 1 0w40 out of the engine.
Removed two T30 torx screws holding a coolant pipe onto the side of the sump.
Removed the ball housing bolts that fix to the sump.
And then I loosed off all the sump bolts, bar 3. There is two of the bolts above the bevel gear and one above the O/S inner CV joint.
So now I'm stuck. Some research is required.
I don't know if I can unbolt the bevel gear from the gearbox and if it will give me enough 'play' to get the screws out. Or If I need to remove the propshaft and O/S driveshaft. Either way, feeling a bit bummed out about this van. Nothing is ever easy.
What transmission code? HumbleMechanic goes over AWD disassembly in a few videos and yes, you can unbolt the bevel box.
It's a JKT.
After an hour on Google and not coming up with much I asked ChatGPT and it told me that yes, on the 4motion Transporters with the 5 cylinder diesel engine the bevel gear has to come out. What was funny was when I asked it where it found that information it confidently told me "ELSAWIN". When I asked how it had access to ELSAWIN as it is paid software it denied it had ever looked there.
I have all new bushes, ball joints shocks and springs to fit. I was hoping to do some other jobs first but considering I'm now going to have to pull the driveshaft to get to get this bevel gear out, I might as well just delve into it and get it all done.
Plus, my Wife is nagging about this box of parts in our dining room.
So I managed to spare a few hours today and get some work done on the van. I've purchased ELSAWIN and confirmed that the angle gear needs to come out in order to the drop the sump.
I've bought all new parts to refresh the suspension anyway, so the only additional bits that need doing is the removal of the O/S driveshaft and then the angle gear.
I haven't taken too many pictures as I was trying to utilise my time the best I could.
I got the van off the ramps and onto axle stands.
And then proceeded to snap one of the two strut pinch bolts.
But I'm an engineering genius, and managed to use the nut on the end to pull what was left of the bolt out a little bit. I was then able to apply some WD40 and hit it back in. I continued this until it came loose.
There was not a lot left of either of the pinch bolts and I still have the N/S to remove. I think I'll order a new set out of precaution.
So this is where I got to with the O/S along with our cat Dave.
This is the nearside.
Unfortunately, someone has bodged the O/S inner CV boot with some silicone or RTV. So going to have to replace that inner boot.
And the lower arms are out and ready for a good clean, some fresh chassis black and some new bushes and ball joints.
Unfortunately, I didn't realise that there's a 6mm hex headed bolt inside the small shaft that runs from the gearbox, through the bevel gear to the O/S driveshaft. I can't remove the angle gear until I get that bolt out. There is a specific tool to remove this bolt. But apparently a 1/4" 6mm socket on a suitably long extension works just fine. Unfortunately, all my hex sockets are 3/8ths. So I'm going to pop to Halfords this evening to try get the correct bits. If I do, I'll have the sump off tonight and hopefully a diagnosis for our intermittent oil pressure issues.
I've bought all new parts to refresh the suspension anyway, so the only additional bits that need doing is the removal of the O/S driveshaft and then the angle gear.
I haven't taken too many pictures as I was trying to utilise my time the best I could.
I got the van off the ramps and onto axle stands.
And then proceeded to snap one of the two strut pinch bolts.
But I'm an engineering genius, and managed to use the nut on the end to pull what was left of the bolt out a little bit. I was then able to apply some WD40 and hit it back in. I continued this until it came loose.
There was not a lot left of either of the pinch bolts and I still have the N/S to remove. I think I'll order a new set out of precaution.
So this is where I got to with the O/S along with our cat Dave.
This is the nearside.
Unfortunately, someone has bodged the O/S inner CV boot with some silicone or RTV. So going to have to replace that inner boot.
And the lower arms are out and ready for a good clean, some fresh chassis black and some new bushes and ball joints.
Unfortunately, I didn't realise that there's a 6mm hex headed bolt inside the small shaft that runs from the gearbox, through the bevel gear to the O/S driveshaft. I can't remove the angle gear until I get that bolt out. There is a specific tool to remove this bolt. But apparently a 1/4" 6mm socket on a suitably long extension works just fine. Unfortunately, all my hex sockets are 3/8ths. So I'm going to pop to Halfords this evening to try get the correct bits. If I do, I'll have the sump off tonight and hopefully a diagnosis for our intermittent oil pressure issues.
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So it took a total of 700mm of extensions to get here.
Out the bolt came.
Unfortunately I got to here and got stuck. The bevel gear is totally free, I can rotate it around 30° in either direction but there just isn't room to slide it off.
Had a look on ELSAWIN. Under the 'removing the sump' section it states that on AWD vehicles, the bevel gear needs to be removed. Great! I'm going in the right direction. Go to the 'removing the bevel gear' section and it says...
REMOVE THE SUBFRAME
What the hell VW? God, I hate this van.
Out the bolt came.
Unfortunately I got to here and got stuck. The bevel gear is totally free, I can rotate it around 30° in either direction but there just isn't room to slide it off.
Had a look on ELSAWIN. Under the 'removing the sump' section it states that on AWD vehicles, the bevel gear needs to be removed. Great! I'm going in the right direction. Go to the 'removing the bevel gear' section and it says...
REMOVE THE SUBFRAME
What the hell VW? God, I hate this van.
Back outside on my lunch break today. Subframe came out this morning with little fuss, only took me around 20minutes to unbolt the rear engine mount and steering rack. I was worried about the fixing bolts for the subframe but they practically fell off.
Unfortunately the rear engine mount is fouling the bevel gear when you try to slide it out. Even more unfortunately, 2 of the 4 fixing screws are totally inaccessible. Apparently it can be done with the turbo in situ, but I'm currently not convinced.
The 4 bolts holding the engine mount to the engine itself are 16mm, which is an odd size in itself. The only 16mm my rather vast socket set had in it was a spark plug socket that on the 3rd bolt fell off the end of the extension bar and down between the engine block and the bevel gear. Totally inaccessible and unobtainable until I get the bevel gear out. So now I need to go buy some 16mm sockets, and cry. Feeling totally defeated with this van right now. It shouldn't be this difficult to remove a sump.
Unfortunately the rear engine mount is fouling the bevel gear when you try to slide it out. Even more unfortunately, 2 of the 4 fixing screws are totally inaccessible. Apparently it can be done with the turbo in situ, but I'm currently not convinced.
The 4 bolts holding the engine mount to the engine itself are 16mm, which is an odd size in itself. The only 16mm my rather vast socket set had in it was a spark plug socket that on the 3rd bolt fell off the end of the extension bar and down between the engine block and the bevel gear. Totally inaccessible and unobtainable until I get the bevel gear out. So now I need to go buy some 16mm sockets, and cry. Feeling totally defeated with this van right now. It shouldn't be this difficult to remove a sump.
Wow! That's one hell of a complicated job!!
CleanSump
Site Donor 2026
You are really dedicated to this!
I think I'd have locked my wife that wanted the VW van in the back of it and called a wrecker to come haul them both away.
I think I'd have locked my wife that wanted the VW van in the back of it and called a wrecker to come haul them both away.
You could possibly be right. The front crash bar along with the radiators etc can be removed quite easily and the engine 'walked' out the front. However, that still requires subframe removal etc.
I'm now on a 'what else while I'm in here' thought process. I already have new bushes for the wishbones, drop links, track rods & ends, ball joints, springs, shocks and top mounts.
I'm going to replace all the fixing hardware. I think it would be wise to replace the steering rack bushes. I did consider replacing the steering rack but I don't have the funds for it right now. Subframe bushes also have 215k on them so should probably replace those. Polyurethane or rubber though? The underside of the van will be getting cleaned and a lanolin coating applied as they've started salting the roads here now. If I have time, I may strip and apply an epoxy mastic to the subframe and wishbones.
I probably have 2 more hours before I can get the sump off. Unfortunately the weather is showing nothing but rain for the foreseeable, and I'm basically made of sugar.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
In the first post September 2 you said you let your heart lead your head. 3 months of many parts and much frustration and you haven't come to the end yet. Man. Everyone following is feeling your pain and pulling for you to persevere and get it done. You'll either hate this van or never sell it. Respect.
I'll get there. I just didn't expect these vans to be so difficult and time consuming to do such basic jobs on. It's frustrating, but I suspect when I sort out all the mechanical issues and get it to a good standard it'll warm on me. And, for future repairs, I'll be more accustomed to working on it and understand what's required before I start.
The 5 pot thrum and manual box makes for an entertaining drive. But, I need it to be reliable. I need to offload the Volvo as I don't really have room for it. But I can't do that until I have total trust in the van. And right now, I don't.
No………!!
Well guys, I'm in.
It should not require this much disassembly to remove the sump on any vehicle. How utterly ridiculous.
Good news, nothing remotely exciting in the sump. I was worried about the weird metal spatter looking things, but they seem to be from the original casting.
However, the source of all our issues was starting to become apparent. Some of the sump bolts were coming out with a thick ring on RTV around them.
There was RTV hanging over the inner edge of the sump.
And there was signs of excess RTV around where the sump was bolted up to the block.
Can ya' guess what the issue is going to be yet?
Yep...
I scraped some of it out just to check there was no metal shavings in there.
I'm amazed this engine has survived.
It should not require this much disassembly to remove the sump on any vehicle. How utterly ridiculous.
Good news, nothing remotely exciting in the sump. I was worried about the weird metal spatter looking things, but they seem to be from the original casting.
However, the source of all our issues was starting to become apparent. Some of the sump bolts were coming out with a thick ring on RTV around them.
There was RTV hanging over the inner edge of the sump.
And there was signs of excess RTV around where the sump was bolted up to the block.
Can ya' guess what the issue is going to be yet?
Yep...
I scraped some of it out just to check there was no metal shavings in there.
I'm amazed this engine has survived.
Wow!!!! That is disgusting!!! Disgusting amount of work to find a disgusting mess!! So glad you did not go through all of that for nothing. Wow!!!
On a side note, how much further can you remove to inspect for anything more rtv in the oil system?
Wow, I am impressed you've stuck with it! This makes me think that if I ever have to use rtv to seal up an engine, I should do a lot of practice on how much is actually needed to make a seal!
