The brief
Mr Lee's Passat came in with two jobs: the front dampers, the shock absorbers, were worn, and the oil sump was leaking. Both worth sorting in one visit, the worn shocks for ride and safety, the sump leak before the oil loss adds up. The front shocks damp the springs, and as they wear the body floats and bounces and the front goes loose over bumps. The oil sump, the pan at the bottom of the engine, seals with a gasket that hardens with age and lets go, so oil weeps out the join and drips. Worn shocks don't recover and a weeping sump only worsens, so the front shock pair needed replacing and the sump resealing.
The diagnosis
On the lift each front strut got a bounce-and-inspect, both past it, weak damping and weeping, the body carrying on after a push. With the engine cleaned off and run, the oil leak traced to the sump gasket, weeping from the seam between the pan and the block, not from anywhere higher up. The rears and the rest of the engine's seals checked out. So it was a front shock pair plus a sump reseal: the matching corners done together, and the sump pulled and resealed.
The work
Both front struts were unbolted and removed, and a new genuine VW-spec pair fitted with fresh top mounts checked, every fastener torqued, and the front geometry checked and set. Then the undertray came off, the oil drained, the sump pan removed, both mating faces cleaned back to bare metal, the oil pickup checked clear, and the sump refitted with a fresh seal to spec, every bolt torqued in sequence. Fresh oil to level, and the engine run and checked warm for any weep. A road test confirmed the ride had settled, no float, the front planted, and the sump dry with the level holding.
The outcome
A composed ride that settles in one motion, the front planted again over bumps, the sump sealed and dry, and the oil level holding. The Passat went home with the front suspension and the oil leak both sorted. Worn shocks and a weeping sump only get worse, so doing the front pair and resealing the sump in one visit put it right.
