Jeffro420
Active member
Hello all,
So I am a relative newbie to the world of doing one's own car work... got started late, so some of you may laugh at this but please help a guy out if you can.
I was changing the oil on my 2010 Jetta TDI immediately after I changed the oil on my wife's 2004 Toyota Corolla. The filter on the Toyota is underneath the car...
So, since this is only the second time I have changed the oil in my Jetta, I foolishly saw a cap next to my oil pan that had the EXACT same size cap as my oil filter (which is on the top of the engine in my 2010 TDI). The cap is marked in blue in the attached picture:
Anyway, I had just drained my oil and then I opened this cap to "change the filter" (it was very tight), and it certainly looked like some oil fell out, but attached to the cap was a rod, looked like it might be a bolt, and the box that it was connected to was suddenly loose.
I realized my mistake and carefully reinserted the bolt and tightened it. I continued to change my oil, and it seemed to fill up fine, I ran the car for 10 minutes and no problems or funny noises.
The box had on it part number 038.117 VWH (marked in orange), and Google leads me to believe this is the "oil cooler" cap, or possibly the oil level sensor? The box had some ridges on the outside, looked like it might be a heat exchanger or something. When I've had trouble with Google this forum has helped me before.
So, can anyone tell me what this cap is for? Is it engine oil that fell out, or did I just empty something really important? Thank you SO MUCH for your help!
So I am a relative newbie to the world of doing one's own car work... got started late, so some of you may laugh at this but please help a guy out if you can.
I was changing the oil on my 2010 Jetta TDI immediately after I changed the oil on my wife's 2004 Toyota Corolla. The filter on the Toyota is underneath the car...
So, since this is only the second time I have changed the oil in my Jetta, I foolishly saw a cap next to my oil pan that had the EXACT same size cap as my oil filter (which is on the top of the engine in my 2010 TDI). The cap is marked in blue in the attached picture:
Anyway, I had just drained my oil and then I opened this cap to "change the filter" (it was very tight), and it certainly looked like some oil fell out, but attached to the cap was a rod, looked like it might be a bolt, and the box that it was connected to was suddenly loose.
I realized my mistake and carefully reinserted the bolt and tightened it. I continued to change my oil, and it seemed to fill up fine, I ran the car for 10 minutes and no problems or funny noises.
The box had on it part number 038.117 VWH (marked in orange), and Google leads me to believe this is the "oil cooler" cap, or possibly the oil level sensor? The box had some ridges on the outside, looked like it might be a heat exchanger or something. When I've had trouble with Google this forum has helped me before.
So, can anyone tell me what this cap is for? Is it engine oil that fell out, or did I just empty something really important? Thank you SO MUCH for your help!
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