I bought a new gasket and o-ring for the oil pump cover and then had trouble getting the cover off. I removed the 4 bolts and tapped it and tried to pry gently on the 2 ears of the oil cover with no luck. I didn't pry too hard as I wanted to be carful. Someone said I needed to loosen the case bolts because the oil pump cover is behind the case.

Checked the factory manual and it shows a "Tuning fork" shaped pry bar to use to get the cover off and doesn't mention splitting/loosening the case bolts.

So my question is do I just need the proper pry bar and more muscle, or do I need to loosen case bolts to get the oil pump cover off??

Thanks,
Eric

edit, I should weigh in again on this. - It shouldn't introduce any leaking, loosening the bolts. The case parting sealer is like aviation gasket and made to never fully dry. When you do loosen the ones around the pump, it will come out a lot easier. You may break something if you don't.

yes you should loosen case bolts to take the binding pressure off the oil pump

On a stock pump, you're not pulling the cover, you're pulling the whole oil pump. You don't want to loosen or remove any case through bolts as you'll end up with leaks along the seam. There are a pair of tabs that are used to pry the pump out, and you need to go from side to side, a little at a time, until the pump is out. BTW, we did a ton of these on 73s and 74s under warranty, and we did the front crank seal and o-ring at the same time. We did 'em in the car. The seal and o-ring are more apt to be the source of the leak. Cast iron pumps leak between the pump and the case, and the cover comes right off as it's not integral with the pump body like the OE pump.

The Cap'n

that must have sucked.

So if I read this correctly Cap'n...I just need to carefully apply more muscle to my prying and don't need to worry about loosening any other bolts other than the 4 that hold on the cover.

Eric

Anybody want to give Cap'n an so I can get out to the shop and pry that sucker off?

He's forgotten more than most of us will ever know. Grouchy and informed. Hell, with those attributes John, you'd make someone a fine wife.

It's not that bad. I did my sons in the car last sunday in under three hours.
Its tough on old shoulders working over your head that long.

The pump should come out without loosening the case bolts.
If it doesn't, you didn't have enough breakfast.

Awesome guys...thanks.



I trust John, AKA Cap'n, but I just feel better when I have a couple of people to verify...Trust but verify. lol

Well just be careful then. Don't say you weren't warned.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic...asc&start=0

The Samba thread you linked in was very interesting. Now I'm wavering again. I may just chicken out and forget about the oil pump gasket until some point in the future if I ever need to rebuild the engine. Seems cowardice is better than valor. I don't want to ruin a perfectly good original 2.0 engine.

The thread mentioned that it was a GEX rebuilt engine and not original. I'm wondering if that might be the cause of the difficulties on that particular engine.