Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:34:59 -0400
Reply-To: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: HELP!!! Oil Pressure Buzzer On!!
In-Reply-To: <20070814231812.488CD3286F6@mail.umassd.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
The 5 quarts of oil was already 1/2 quart over. The pint of restore was
icing. The 10w-40 is the wrong viscosity for summer highway travel. You
need something that ends in "50". 45 mph up a hill in 4th gear is lugging
the engine. Save up for those rod bearings. The oil switch for the oil
pressure warning buzzer is between the oil pump and filter. A filter
restriction problem will only help to keep the buzzer off. Don't blame the
Fram. The Bosch filter is a step down. Champion labs repack.
Drain the oil, change the filter, 4.5 quarts, no more, Mobil 1, 15w-50 and
try again.
Dennis
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Richard Golen
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 7:18 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: HELP!!! Oil Pressure Buzzer On!!
Hi!
My family and I are supposed to be leaving for a 10 day road trip on
Saturday. Unfortunately my 87 Westfalia has decided to "act up". As
of right now, the oil pressure buzzer has decided to come on this
afternoon. I've done an oil change recently and other work, and had
an interesting problem this morning which I thought I fixed, and I'm
not sure if this morning's problem is related to the oil buzzer.
Here's the background:
1. Changed oil and filter on Saturday. 5 qts Mobil 1 10-40 High
Mileage...tossed in a pint of "Restore" for good measure. Looking
back at it I probably overfilled the engine by 1/2 a quart.
2. Driving today up a moderate hill at 45 mph, 4th gear. Smoke
billows out of exhaust, some power loss....stopped at top of hill,
shut off engine. Checked for leaks - no leaks. Restarted engine,
smoked for 10 seconds, and then smoke cleared. I suspect that going
up hill with an over filled with 1/2 quart oil, oil got sucked into
breather and into throttle body.
3. Drove home (7 miles) no problem...no smoking, no loss of power.
4. Took apart air cleaner, intake hoses, and throttle body. Found oil
covered inside of hoses and throttle body. Cleaned oil out of hoses, etc.
5. Removed spark plugs, all clean, no oil fouling. Assumed that oil burned
off.
6. Put it all back together. Started engine, ran well at idle. Shut
engine off. Assumed that all was well.
7. About an hour later, got in the Westy, started it up and drove
off. About 1/4 mile later, the oil pressure buzzer came on at 3k rpm.
Drove home.
8. Remembered about an old post to the list where Fram filters caused
some oil pressure problems. Replaced new Fram filter with new Bosch
filter. No change in buzzer.
9. Checked all oil pressure sensor wires and connectors, all seem ok.
Ok, I'm not a firm believer in coincidence....so I suspect that the
oil buzzer problem is related to the earlier ingestion of oil through
the intake...
Anyone have any ideas on things I could check? Or should I cancel the
trip and start thinking about a new engine? Current engine has 146K miles.
Thanks in advance.
Ric
