1.8 DX Sump gasket

Want to put a new sump gasket on but looking at the parts suppliers some list a traditional "paper" gasket and others a "rubber" gasket????  I have only ever known of paper gaskets on the other car engines.  Parts list seems to suggest rubber.

Would appreciate confirmation that rubber is the way to go!

I changed mine to rubber and it seems to work well, it's only been on the car for 500 miles. Last time I did fit a paper/card gasket but that did leak after a couple of years.
Good luck with the 2 bolts near the gearbox as I found them a real pain to get them back in straight as they kept on going in on an angle. I fitted them 1st then worked my way round the sump.

you need slightly longer M6X17 bolts to fit the rubber gasket ideally, get yourself a set of allen head bolts these are much easier to refit in the gap between the box and engine

Really?  Need different length bolts???  I note on the parts list that the rubber gasket is standard and only one length of bolt is shown (M6x14)??

Having not taken off the old gasket yet I dont know what gasket if fitted at the moment - paper/rubber.

have another look at the mk2 or mk3 diagrams, you'll see for those with a rubber gasket 16 or 17mm bolts are used

OK will do.  Is the rubber gasket standard on the 1.8DX engine???  Many places seem to sell paper only???

I've never come across a rubber sump gasket on a VW before.

Many thanks for advice!

The MK1/2 gaskets are cork/fibre type, but VW allow for the retro-fit of the rubber gaskets from the MK3 Golf same as they do for the rocker cover gaskets.  I'm not sure if the late MK1 cab/rocco got the rubber roccker/sump gaskets, its possible for the very late runout spec?

Many re-use the original bolts without issues, but VW obviously thought that the extra thickness meant the bolts weren't quite up to the job. plus as I say, you can take the opportunity to get a set of allen head bolts which are much easier to put between the sump and box

You certainly don't need longer bolts I've fitted the windage tray to all my engines it has rubber gasket with metal inserts and std bolts are plenty long enough, for the back 2 just use a short 1/4 drive with a wobbly does the job no problem.

Windage tray??????????  Not sure what that is???

Thansk for the info

Basically it's an oil splash guard, I fit them to all my motors it helps with oil surge

Surprised this isn't a more common mod, it's an OEM part! Admittedly from a 1.9 diesel lump for a T4, but… Just got to exactly the right stage of my rebuild to show this so here are a couple of pics:



You just have to pop the oil pump out to fit it. Luckily I was planning to check the backlash etc anyway…


VW Part number is 037 115 220 B if anyone wants one, should set you back about £30ish. The advantages are in limiting surge and reducing the windage cloud - basically keeping the oil at the bottom of the sump physically separated from the rotating mass so less energy is wasted splashing the oil around the walls of the crankcase. In theory you can run higher RPMs too, but I dunno how much difference it will make in practice. This engine will be a bit of an animal anyway!

Also means you don't have to replace the sump gasket when you take it off

Stone