Today (3-15 since I do post these a few days after they’ve happened) I picked up my car and wanted to share with you here on the blog what has happened so far. First will be my post on a VW forum documenting the experience and the second will be the follow up post I made after picking up the car:
Before I moved north, I didn’t know what Frost Heaves were. On my 6th year here, I do know what they are and I’m afraid of them. They’ve done terrible things to my cars. Don’t know what these are? here’s the definition:
Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated into the soil (the freezing front or freezing boundary)
Urban dictionary defines it a bit differently.
Anyway, on my back-road frost heaves can be up to a foot in height or depth, come unexpectedly and are sometimes impossible to avoid since avoiding one means entering the opposite flow of traffic.
I hit one today that was massive. I was going 55 (the speed limit) and slammed on the brakes when I was about 6 feet from it and I hit it going 38. The front of my car dove down but like most days when driving in the winter, my VWR springs did not bottom out (seriously this happens roughly every 5 miles even at cautious low speeds) and my fender didn’t suffer any damage. but unfortunately, Volkswagen’s beautifully designed plastic oil pan was shot.
I didn’t realize this for about 6 miles when suddenly…
-Throttle flickering and P2279 Fault code appearing because I assume the engine was pulling in air from the crack in the oil pan.
-A yellow error in my center display showing a moving RPM starting at 6200 RPM and going down steadily as the “safe redline” warning me not to exceed xxx RPM or overheating risk would occur.
-A small clicking sound from in the engine. i never pinpointed the exact spot
I pull off, turn the car off..wait.
Call roadside assistance, they were an hour away so I go 10 yards to pull into a gas station
-Red error, oil icon appears, computer now displays “Oil Pressure, warning, stop immediately” so I did
When the trunk came, we finally saw the huge puddle of oil under my car where it was sitting and leaking oil from under my car
The shop that has my car is 40 minutes from home so I had a friend come and get me and now I wait. At the cheapest, it’s a $200 part, at the priciest, it’ll be a $750. I’d rather just buy the aftermarket aluminum oil pan for $540 or at the least buy the ECS Skid-Plate.
I’m one of the people on this forum who said VW wouldn’t have gone plastic if they hadn’t proven it would be perfect and withstand a beating.
I was wrong.
I’ll wait for the shop to give me a quote, I’ll ask them to tell me part numbers and I’ll decide if I go the OEM route again or buy aftermarket.
Here’s the engine RPM at IDLE fully stopped as it fluttered 900 to 1200 RPM
Here’s the post upon pickup:
First, thanks everyone here for your support and assistance. Thanks to Haus of Dub for shipping the oil pan so quickly and thanks ECS for so aptly timing the release of their own aftermarket steel oil-pan a mere 16 hours after my incident. You guys are hilarious. They deny my incident had anything to do with the timing of their release.
I picked up the car last night. It was ready Friday just hours after the steel oil pan arrived but I couldn’t get over to Plymouth in time after work.
My car was towed 8 miles to KTM Auto in Plymouth New Hampshire. I’ve written a review on Yelp because these guys deserve all of the love they can get. Absolutely top-notch service shop. It’s always nerve-wrecking to send your car to an unknown mechanic. I couldn’t be happier with the work. They even called haus of dub to find out what kind of sealant is included with the oil pan and they recommend I use the OEM stuff which I appreciate their input.
- 2 Hours of Labor
- $45 for the Oil
- $25 for the sealant
- $120 of my money for Pan, Filter & drain plug (all comes in the haus of dub package) If you do order from them, tell them I said hi.
The car was treated really well, cranked right up, normal oil temp on the 30 mile drive home. no engine light, no noises and certainly nothing that gave me a pause. I left the heat and radio off and really tried to listen to the car and it sounds great.
It snowed yesterday and today so i can’t WOT the car yet but when I pulled away from KTM, there was no oil on the ground and dipstick looks full-up. I think we’re good.
I’m glad this issue is behind me. The $350 in repairs & gas cuts into my APR Intercooler fund so I may not have that on until after Wookies in the Woods but I’m glad the Golf R is back on the road.
I’ve reported the damage to the local DOT maintenance group. I’ll let you guys know if they pay the bill.
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I have a video on the day the car was towed away and a follow up video taken on pickup: