SummerSmoke
Member
Hi folks,
I've gotten good help here in the past so I was hoping someone would be able to help me out of a bind I got myself into here.
The full story is as follows: The last time I changed my oil on my 2002 jetta, I apparently didn't fasten the oil filler cap down, and consequently when I next drove, it came off. I was oblivious to this until the oil pressure warning light came on while driving. I pulled over and put the cap back on, hoping the low pressure was only caused by the open cap. By the time the light came on again, I was only a few hundred feet from my house so I just pulled into my driveway and shut it off (I later learned this was a bad idea).
The next thing I figured I would try is changing the oil again, just in case that might fix things. This is when I discovered what I believe to be the problem. While the cap was off, oil seems to have splashed up onto the heat shield attached to the hood of the car. It seems to have dissolved away part of it, causing a bunch of fibrous material to fall into the open filler hole. A lot of it is matted up just inside the opening, so I pulled out as much as I could, but I want to try to get as much out as possible before I replace the oil and try to start it again.
Does anyone have a diagram of the oil system? Where would these fibers have ended up once falling into there? Are there any narrow passages that could be clogged? When I removed the filter it looked fairly clean -- so I'm hoping this means that not too much material made its way deeper into the engine workings. The car seems to idle fine without any warning lights so I guess the engine must be getting some oil, just not enough for higher RPMs.
Alternatively, are there any solvents I could safely use inside the oil system that would have a chance of dissolving this stuff? I'm not totally sure what it's made of however...
Truthfully I don't know a whole lot about repairing cars myself, so if I can solve this without having to take apart everything that would be ideal... if that's not possible I might just have to sell it to someone with more expertise.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I've gotten good help here in the past so I was hoping someone would be able to help me out of a bind I got myself into here.
The full story is as follows: The last time I changed my oil on my 2002 jetta, I apparently didn't fasten the oil filler cap down, and consequently when I next drove, it came off. I was oblivious to this until the oil pressure warning light came on while driving. I pulled over and put the cap back on, hoping the low pressure was only caused by the open cap. By the time the light came on again, I was only a few hundred feet from my house so I just pulled into my driveway and shut it off (I later learned this was a bad idea).
The next thing I figured I would try is changing the oil again, just in case that might fix things. This is when I discovered what I believe to be the problem. While the cap was off, oil seems to have splashed up onto the heat shield attached to the hood of the car. It seems to have dissolved away part of it, causing a bunch of fibrous material to fall into the open filler hole. A lot of it is matted up just inside the opening, so I pulled out as much as I could, but I want to try to get as much out as possible before I replace the oil and try to start it again.
Does anyone have a diagram of the oil system? Where would these fibers have ended up once falling into there? Are there any narrow passages that could be clogged? When I removed the filter it looked fairly clean -- so I'm hoping this means that not too much material made its way deeper into the engine workings. The car seems to idle fine without any warning lights so I guess the engine must be getting some oil, just not enough for higher RPMs.
Alternatively, are there any solvents I could safely use inside the oil system that would have a chance of dissolving this stuff? I'm not totally sure what it's made of however...
Truthfully I don't know a whole lot about repairing cars myself, so if I can solve this without having to take apart everything that would be ideal... if that's not possible I might just have to sell it to someone with more expertise.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.