Author Topic: Oil pressure light & warning buzzer (Read 6304 times)

jimbrown618 · « **on:** April 26, 2006, 01:25:28 pm »

Cheers All,

Drove about 200 km today on expressway averaging 120km/hr. On return I exited on ramp, geared down to 60km & my oil light started flashing & a warning buzzer sounded. It kept up for about 10 seconds & then as I came to the stop light all warning lights & sounds stopped. I pulled car over to side, let it idle for a few minutes & then shut it off. Checked oil level & engine area, all were fine. Temperature was normal also. Started up & then drove at 80km/hr for my remaining trip home about 15km. Car is a VW 97 Golf TD 1.9 with 340K km. I've had this car on the expressway numerous times over the last three months of ownweship & this has not happened before. I serached on the forum here & saw that others have had problems with the oil pressure sensors. Anyone got any idea what could be causing this?

Jim

LeeG · « **Reply #1 on:** April 27, 2006, 02:31:09 am »

My 1.6 td started something similar about 100,000 km ago.
Initially, it only happened after standing on it hard for a while then slowing down to just above 2000 RPM -> alarm and oil light. (Like a long uphill passing lane, then catching a truck doing the speed limit.) Blipping throttle would turn it off.

Many km later, it has gotten worse such that it happens any time the car slows to and holds a speed just above 2,000 rpm. Also worse when the oil is fresh, so I kinda gave up on changing it very often :? it gets a regular transfusion to replace blowby. I am pretty confident that my problem is just a motor getting long in the tooth and loose inthe bearings.

I have heard that the dash is rigged such that there are 2 low oil warnings, one pressure at idle, a higher one above 2000 rpm, but I have my doubts since that would only work for cars with factory tach. Anyone know about this relationship between RPM and oil warnings?

insdtanoodles · « **Reply #2 on:** May 01, 2006, 02:14:26 am »

my car did that last week too, in my case it was the vacume pump. the retaining clip came off and the pump came loose, lost my power assissted breaks

maybe your pump is failing but im no expert I can olny tell you what happened to me.

jtanguay · « **Reply #3 on:** May 01, 2006, 11:01:27 pm »

I believe there are two oil pres senders, and and if even one of the senders is off, the light will buzz... could just be a bad sender. Get a pres gauge

91 ECO · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2006, 09:56:18 pm »

Did you ever find the culprit?? Just had the same thing happen on the way home tonight. Drove 100 miles at 70-75mph, slowed down to get off the interstate, and the light/buzzer went off. Went to the gas station and let idle...no buzzer. Checked the engine compartment (plenty of oil, no strange leaks). Drove another 50 miles and slowed down coming into town and had a intermittent light/buzzer all the way through town to my house. Once at the house, let the car idle and no light/buzzer. My engine has 300,000 miles and I recently changed the timing belt.

jimbrown618 · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2006, 10:11:57 pm »

I'm in the process of changing my two oil pressure sensors & then I'll take the car on a good high-speed run to see if the problem rears it's head again. I'm also running a Bosch oil filter which I think is similar to the VW dealer one so I don't think that's the problem. Oil is Amsoil Synthetic Heavy-Duty Diesel 15W-40 that has about 4000k on it. I've had the car on two short high-speed runs last week (100-120 @ 20 minutes) and had no problems. Cheers.

Jim

PS - oh yeah, I'll be installing oil temp & pressure gauges as well...

Rat407 · « **Reply #6 on:** May 08, 2006, 10:37:18 pm »

Ahhh the ole' oil buzzer and warning light mystery. I have a 91 ECO Jetta and I had that problem and went and rebuilt the entire engine only to have the same problem again. So far I have put 14k miles on the engine with no problems. I'm running Rotella 15w-40 and Mahle OC-51 oil filters. I get 20psi at the head oil pressure at cold start up and in 3 miles of driving it goes to zero and stays there. As for oil up at my cam and around the head, got plenty and I mean plenty. I got flow just no pressure. It's a mystery for me. I have several trips on the interstate running 80mph for an hour straight with no problems. I just come to the conclusion that it is part of life with this engine and my ownership of it. All the bearings are within spec according to the Bentley, yes the intermediate shaft bearings as well. The only thing I can think of is the oil squirters are flowing more oil than they should and it is causing the low oil pressure.

91 ECO, I thought you were going to bring the jetta up here and do the timing belt. It is a piece of cake and it would have been at no charge. Just your time and a trip up here. You really need to open up that exhaust, man what a difference that made.

91 ECO · « **Reply #7 on:** May 15, 2006, 09:00:55 am »

Turns out my oil pressure is really getting low. Bought a mechanical oil pressure guage to check it out and after the oil is warm, I'm only getting 8psi at idle. Since I do not have a tach, I can't tell you the exact rpm, but I'm only getting 23psi cruising 60-65mph. The high pressure switch kicks on at around 20psi so my pressure is probably there after a long run on the interstate. With the mileage on the engine, I can't complain too much.

jimbrown618 · « **Reply #8 on:** May 15, 2006, 09:43:19 am »

Yeah, I'll soon be installing a mechanical oil pressure gauge as well along with the new sensors. Took the car on a long highway run on Saturday (120km/hr for 30 minutes...) and everything was fine so maybe it's just a flakey sensor.

Jim

jimbrown618 · « **Reply #9 on:** July 03, 2006, 06:36:58 pm »

"UPDATE"

Changed both oil pressure sensors out & also installed oil pressure gauge a few weeks ago. Then took a trip to Ottawa from Borden (aprox 1000km round trip) with no problems. All is well now with no alarms. Seems this problem is solved.

Jim