Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 15:42:54 -0400
Reply-To: dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET>
Subject: Re: disabling the damn oil buzzer
In-Reply-To: <CA0ECCC2-F3C2-4E88-B96F-17BEF4D84054@ll.mit.edu>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
What oil are you using. The fact that you are going 15 minutes before the noise begins tells me the board and woring are fine. Something is amiss. You either have the wrong .9 bar sensor, (is it gray?) or you truly have an oil pressure problem. .9 bar is ~12.7 psi. If the engine can't maintain that pressure at 2,000 rpm, you have a problem. Keep in mind that this sensor is located at the pump outlet, before the the oil filter. If the filter drops 2-3psi, there isn't much left for the bearings. What oil pressure did Click and Clack measuer, at what RPM, snd was the engine driven during the test? A healthy engine should be able to maintain ~10 psi/1,000 rpm.
Try changing the oil to 20w-50 and make sure you do not overfill it. If you are using something like 5w-30, that is a problem. Also, make sure you are getting coolant flow to the oil cooler.
Dennis
----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Leek <tleek@LL.MIT.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, April 4, 2006 12:23 pm
Subject: disabling the damn oil buzzer
> Vanagon people,
>
> I have an 87 Vanagon that likes to buzz at me and flash the oil light
> after 15 minutes. Super annoying. Wife wants me to sell the piece
> of $*&#$. Oil pressure is fine (according to click and clack). Yes,
> I've replaced both oil pressure senders. No, I don't have time or
> money to diagnose the wiring harness or that dynamic oil pressure
> L-
> board behind the speedo.
>
> So ... I'm looking to disable the buzzer somehow. Here are the
> options as I see them.
>
> 1. Short the 0.9 bar sensor where it comes into the L-board to
> ground. This works, i.e. if I pull over whilst the buzzing is
> happening and do this, the buzzing stops. But is this a bad idea
> somehow?
>
> 2. Remove that stupid L-board, since (after staring at the wiring
> diagrams) doesn't it just serve to warn you when the oil pressure is
> not in spec? I can't see how it actually "controls" anything.
> Unfortunately, I've tried this and it means I can no longer start the
> car. Perhaps I can't just take it out without jumping some magic
> wires together?
>
> 3. Find the buzzer and kill it dead. Okay, so where the hell is it?
> Is it the wee electro-mechanical looking device on one end of the
> aforementioned L-board? Is this bad idea since that buzzer wherever
> it lives buzzes when other bad things happen that I may want to know
> about like engine getting too hot.
>
> I'm leaning toward 1.
>
> Help!
>
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