VW Jetta and the Vacuum Pump fix, new battery and wipers at AutoZone - 2017

A little Vacuum Pump history - The VW Jetta MK5 is known to have a few issues like most cars.
May 2017 - Currently tied up in Marina Mazatlán, Mexico

 The vacuum pump leaking oil is one of them. The pump works fine but the cover leaks oil. The fix by the dealer is to remove the transmission and replace the pump. Ouch! You can imagine the costs. Here in Mexico the dealer wants about 1\3 to 1\4 the cost of that in the US and the pump itself is about 1\4 the price of the one in the US. That I was surprised about because a dealer part is a dealer part. Anyway, of course, there are usually work arounds.

The one major work around is to not remove the transmission and instead remove the cover to the pump and flip it over the tranny arm as you install it. The cover is not supposed to be removed from the pump. This is not as expensive but you are still buying a new pump just for a gasket. Then you are removing the cover from the gasket to install it. However it does work.

I am in deep thought..... how to convey what I would like to say in Spanish. Jack is with us so he will do the heavy lifting. Also the mechanic has a little English.

The arrow is pointing to the vacuum pump. You can see how dirty the engine\tranny is with old and new oil by the pump.

Then there is the local Mexican way. Cleaned up and the vacuum pump has been resealed.

If you are going to remove the cover why not just put some high temp silicone on the cover and put it back on as this will seal it for some years. This also works and is way less money and work than the other methods

The mechanic said he put two new O rings in the pump so what happened to using silicone I don't know. Also I thought there were no replacement O rings for the pump. Here, though, they do some amazing work arounds The pump cover does look like there is some kind of gasket cement on it in places.

A look at part of the inside of Luxury.

Another part.

The front of Luxury.

This is one of the two broken O rings the mechanic
said he took out and replaced from the Vacuum Pump.
VW 2.5L 5 Cylinder Vacuum Pump Oil Leak/ Gasket

We did take the car to the Pemex Lube Center and had the engine cleaned. That way we could see any oil leaks or if the vacuum pump still leaked.

Looks nice.

Oil leak as it was.

Cleaned up and hoping no more leaking.

Then we went to AutoZone to get new wiper blades. Also the VW dealer said the battery was shot. We had it tested here at AutoZone and it was shot.

So we got a new battery and wiper blades.

New sealed battery. We will get a new battery box with the top on it soon also.

Marisela installing our new wiper blades.

She was VERY helpful and pleasant the whole time.

Driving to the US with this car is getting close to reality all the time! The VW Jetta would have made it anyway or with a new battery but we are taking no chances.