Oil light, Stalls, Sludge in Oil Pan

2005 PD BEW 350,000+ kms

Running fine when the oil light came on. Instantly lost power and stalled 30 seconds later. Grinding sound from turbo area after briefly re-starting attempt. Towed it home. Removed oil pan which showed a ton of sludge. No visible metal shavings inside oil pan area and nothing loose inside and around the crankshaft that I could see/feel. I'm assuming the oil pickup plugged up which caused the lack of oil circulating to turn into sludge but I'm open to any else's opinion.

To be safe I'm going to get an oil pump delete kit instead of just cleaning the oil pickup. To remove the sludge from the crankshaft area is there a specific lubricant that someone can recommend? Is there anything else I should be checking and/or doing?

Anything else to be done ?? Yeah pull the motor as scrap and find a good used one.
Yours has suffered severely by lack of maintenance.

Is this a WVO by any chance??

I worked on the BRM match to that once. Never found what caused it. Had the oil analyzed and they found no antifreeze no bio-fuels used.

Yes. WVO. How do you know the motor is 100% done? I wouldn't mind trying a few basic things before considering this a write-off.

Bottom line was that it was too much work (for me) to even clean it up to check clearances.
Looks like the sludge in yours is a different texture.

JETaah said:

I worked on the BRM match to that once. Never found what caused it. Had the oil analyzed and they found no antifreeze no bio-fuels used.

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That's incredible. And yes - it does look like a different texture. Glad to know this isn't the only freak of nature incident.

soma56 said:

Yes. WVO. How do you know the motor is 100% done? I wouldn't mind trying a few basic things before considering this a write-off.

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Well there ya go!! How many postings are there on this site advising against the use of WVO in ANY vw??? Mercs , old volvos , Fords , yes maybe , but never in a vw.

And let me guess again , you're in one of the colder parts of Canada , rather than say Vancouver Island??

Sure hope you saved a pile of $$$ on your fuel bills. How long / how many miles to get to this situation???

Here's the thing OP: the car is not going to halt due to a clogged oil intake... there's no low oil pressure cutout.

So, there may well be something else you'll need to track down once you replace the screen etc and get the oil system cleaned out.

could be short trips or stuck open t stat or both.

Vince Waldon said:

Here's the thing OP: the car is not going to halt due to a clogged oil intake... there's no low oil pressure cutout.
So, there may well be something else you'll need to track down once you replace the screen etc and get the oil system cleaned out.

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It may be an extreme case of oil starvation, though.
Maybe no oil pressure could allow the turbo shaft to jam or snap.
Again just guessing, maybe the lifters need a minimum of oil supply to open valves.
And of course, crank and cam bearings could gall without oil.

Vince Waldon said:

Here's the thing OP: the car is not going to halt due to a clogged oil intake... there's no low oil pressure cutout.

So, there may well be something else you'll need to track down once you replace the screen etc and get the oil system cleaned out.

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Thanks for your insight and I suspect you're correct in that there is something else being the culprit. My guess is the turbo. That would explain the immediate loss of power. I appreciate the comment.

jimbote said:

could be short trips or stuck open t stat or both.

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I have no idea what you mean by shot trips unless you're suggesting that multiple short trips could have contributed to causing this? The car never gave any indication of overheating. I appreciate the comment.

flee said:

It may be an extreme case of oil starvation, though.
Maybe no oil pressure could allow the turbo shaft to jam or snap.
Again just guessing, maybe the lifters need a minimum of oil supply to open valves.
And of course, crank and cam bearings could gall without oil.

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I like the guesses at troubleshooting. Yes, I'm going to assume the turbo shaft jammed or snapped. We'll find out if lifters need a minimum of oil (hopefully) after I try the following:

Varsol the crap out of the crank area and remove any buildup.
Place the oil pan back on & change the oil filter
Fill up the oil with some specialty gunk remover.
Fire up the engine and see how she sounds.

In any event - this should give me a better idea of what I'm contending with. Perhaps I'll take a quick video so that you guys can hear what the outcome is. Thanks again to all those that gave their two cents and please shout out anything else that comes to mind as I'm kind of at a loss here and crossing my fingers.

Yep, looks like a WVO car to me.

Here is another example:



Good news is, you saved enough money on fuel you can just write a check to replace the engine... so you'll still come out ahead, right?

I would definitely NEVER run WVO in any of my diesels. I've seen too many horror stories. Like this one. I personally had a buddy kill his LBZ (or LB7 can't remember) using veg. No way you could run it in the Cummins, the injectors would be toast. It won't ever find its way into my TDI.


Most people don't invest in the proper filtration setup for WVO as well as the proper storage for it either. Also the people running it are trying to usually save money, so they won't invest in the heavy amount of money needed to do it right. Even if you do, this is the risk that you are taking.

Good news is, if you like french fries, then you have a nice period of time where that's all you smell like


I would say the damage has been done to that engine. When was the last time the pan was pulled to inspect? IF never up until the point of oil starvation, I'd be willing to put money on the fact that the damage done will outweigh the cost of a used complete. My Canadian 2c worth of advice (5c USD)

I would love to burn WVO, but it doesn't play well with the TDI.
What would happen if soma was able to clean it up? Would there be worn internals?
No doubt it needs a new IP and anything else in the fuel system.
Haven't seen an engine that sludged up since my '81 F150 300.

soma56 said:

I have no idea what you mean by shot trips unless you're suggesting that multiple short trips could have contributed to causing this? The car never gave any indication of overheating.

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Just to clarify: the concern with multiple short trips (and this applies to cars burning regular dino juice as well) is not overheating, but underheating: the car doesn't regularly get up to full operating temperature where water and other impurities are boiled out of the oil and vent thru the CCV.

Instead they stay behind and concentrate, eventually degrading the oil's ability to lubricate properly.

This can be an issue with with any internal combustion engine but particularly with our TDIs, since they generate little waste heat and so take their time warming up.

Vince Waldon said:

Just to clarify: the concern with multiple short trips (and this applies to cars burning regular dino juice as well) is not overheating, but underheating: the car doesn't regularly get up to full operating temperature where water and other impurities are boiled out of the oil and vent thru the CCV.

Instead they stay behind and concentrate, eventually degrading the oil's ability to lubricate properly.

This can be an issue with with any internal combustion engine but particularly with our TDIs, since they generate little waste heat and so take their time warming up.

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this^^ thanks Vince!

On the flip side, since [older] diesels use so little fuel, there is not nearly as much water created during the combustion process as would occur in a gasoline fueled car [or many modern diesels]. So you don't get that mayo looking gunk under the oil fill cap like we so commonly see on gasoline engines that are used frequently for short trips especially in the cold.

In other words, short trips are not really ideal for any internal combustion engine, no matter what fuel it burns.

But this has little to do with WVO in particular.

Honestly I would put it togeather and fill the crankcase with new oil and a dose of seafoam. Run it for 10 minutes for a normal drive. Drain and filter and repeat 3 times. I would also use cheap oil. I've seen worse clean up. Still. What a mess!

I tend to agree with Mongler98.

However, I would first remove at least two rod bearing caps for an inspection. The rod bearings are pretty much last to be oiled. If there is no damage there, it can be assumed the main bearings are okay and hopefully the cam journals. As for the cam lobes, inspect. If no damage there....... good to proceed. However, why did the engine stall is the multi-dollar question? Injectors? High pressure pump? Junk in the fuel tank as you no the unused fuel is returned and for some reason PD engines send some soot back to the tank (remove the in-tank fuel pump and see if you don't believe me)? Again, if no seizing of bearings, why the engine stalled needs to be determined and, of course addressed.

I'm amazed that when changing the oil filter that the sludge affect wasn't noticed.

I also have a feeling non-spec oil was used and allowed to go way beyond any limits it may have had.

yea, i keep hearing around the "water cooler" someone say "oh i just go oil change every 10K miles, then find out its SAE generic oil and cry inside.
running frush oil isn't going to do any harm at this point, and if you have good oil PSI then its a good sign that the bearings are still in "tolerance" i would definitely pull the rod bearings, just get some new bolts though. and obviously clean up everyone you can reach with a mighty vac or whatever you got, lint free shop rags etc. btw, if you don't have lint free rags, coffee filters are CHEAP AF and do the same work. you don't want a chunk of paper towel being left behind
ATF is also really good at cleaning up things. i have heard of and seen people full crank case with diesel fuel and unplug the fuel and just crank it with the starter. i would not personally do all that, though, you would be amazed at what hot fresh oil and seafoam will clean out after just a few minutes!
the one thing i WOULD be seriously worried about is the turbo's journal bearing. heat soak can cake up old oil and in a case like this, its highly possible that the turbo has been starved. i would pull the turbo intake boot off and give it a wiggle, if its feels firm and next to no play at all, your good, if you feel a noticeable amount of play end to end, the turbo might be damaged. just be prepared for a runaway just incase the turbo is fubar. In my experience, if the cam lobes and lifters look good, so is the rest of the engine, they get soak oiled vs oil injected at the contact. if the engine was starved for oil it would show up here for sure.

Oil sprayers for cooling the pistons and oiling the cylinder walls may be plugged...... Or, it is possible they may get plugged when some of that sludge breaks loose from inside the oil galleries ........

This is just a horrible mess in my opinion .... thought about it several times yesterday! Gees!

Guys, from his picture the engine clearly is laying on the ground upside down. It is not even in the car. It would be a fool's errand to put the engine back together, put it back into the car, and play around with flushing anything.

It's done.

It's junk.

It's a boat anchor.

WVO killed another one.

Some 2x4 bracing and some clever wiring would fire it right up! Worth a shot lol. Didnt realize it was out of the car. Might be worth a tear down. But these complete engines can be had for what? $800? Not worth the hassle if time is worth $

Drop it in 5 feet of water, if it sinks it’s an anchor, if it floats it’s a turd

I honestly didn't realize the engine was out and on the ground. I went back to see why that I missed it....... well, I remember. When a Thread or any part of it, starts off with photos side by side vs stacked, it throws the narrative into very long lines and shifts things off the screen to the right ..... I do not read or look at it....... strains my eyes. But, I did notice enough and did decipher some of the comments to get the gist of what was going on!

Oh well ........ it is a boat anchor and not worth anymore comments, at least not from me!