Author Topic: Buzzer and oil warning light at idle (Read 5377 times)

bvolks73 · « **on:** March 17, 2007, 01:58:36 pm »

Starting about an hour (and 30 miles or so) ago my oil warning light and buzzer has been coming on at an idle. If I rev it up it goes away and at certain rpm's it kind of fluctuates. I drove it about 30 miles home after it started doing it and it never came on at all at highway speed. It didn't heat up at all and I don't hear any odd rattling sounds that would indicate it's starving for oil. Any ideas? Just a bad sensor maybe? I think I'm going to grab my brother's oil pressure guage and put it in just to be on ther safe side.

mainer · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2007, 02:03:10 pm »

I'm pirtty sure that the unit on the gage cluster is known for going.
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jtanguay · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2007, 03:03:20 pm »

yep. never trust the buzzer. install the mech gauge, and rip out the buzzer. great for peace of mind!

jimbrown618 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2007, 05:38:24 pm »

Ditto to what jtanguay said. I had a similar problem last summer with intermitant oil buzzer warnings when decelerating from high speed. I changed both high & low pressure sensors and installed a good oil pressure gage. No more problems. Also insure your not using crap oil filters like fram. Use only Mann or Bosch. Cheers.

Jim

dittohead · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2007, 07:37:22 pm »

I have just been through this with both a gas and a diesel jetta. On the diesel one, it happened right after i changed the oil/filter, and i didnt know i needed to use a cetain filter.

jtanguay · « **Reply #5 on:** March 18, 2007, 04:42:44 am »

well it has to do with the fram filter's bypass. it doesn't take much to bypass the fram filter, which therefore makes the filter useless. why have a filter if it's not going to do its job? of course the MANN and BOSCH filters have the bypass, but it takes quite a bit of pressure to open them (if there wasn't a bypass your engine would die... they are a necessity)

it is also especially important since we use thicker oils than gassers. thicker oils mean extra pressure inside the filter on say... cold starts? do you want your car to be pumped with unfiltered oil on a cold start?

any little bits of crap from the turbo can be sent right through the motor to wreak havoc on the metal parts... not good at all! cheap oils can coke inside the turbo if it gets hot enough, and you shut the car down before letting it cool.

good information to have right there. that's why it is also recommended to use thinner synthetic oil in the winter. so you can avoid having the oil filter bypass open.

hope that helps

bvolks73 · « **Reply #6 on:** March 23, 2007, 04:50:09 am »

Just put the guage in. It's showing 100+ psi at idle when it's cold (guage only goes up to 100 psi) and drops to around 75 when it's warm and idling. When I bring the rpm's up it goes back up to around 100 again. Is that roughly where it should be?

insdtanoodles · « **Reply #7 on:** March 23, 2007, 12:08:55 pm »

Quote from: bvolks73

Just put the guage in. It's showing 100+ psi at idle when it's cold (guage only goes up to 100 psi) and drops to around 75 when it's warm and idling. When I bring the rpm's up it goes back up to around 100 again. Is that roughly where it should be?

in my bentley manual it says at least 29psi @2000rpm and a maxium of 101psi at higher engine speeds and those numbers are for a fully warm engine (oil temps at 80 degrees)

jtanguay · « **Reply #8 on:** March 23, 2007, 12:57:59 pm »

doesnt really matter what the oil pressure is with a fram filter. the bypass can still open up and send dirty oil right through your engine!!! pretty disgusting when i started reading about it... i will never go back to fram ever!!!!!! especially on a turbocharged vehicle where coked oil may be sent through the entire engine to do some serious damage!

so hmmmm 100 psi at idle oil pressure... kinda high? what oil is that? dino 15w40?

bvolks73 · « **Reply #9 on:** March 23, 2007, 05:13:26 pm »

Yep. Dino 15W40. After putting a few hundred miles on it's staying at 40 PSI at an idle and at 70 PSI or so at 80 km/h in 5th gear. I'm due for an oil change so I think I'll try a Bosch filter this time.