Date:         Sun, 2 Mar 2008 19:57:12 -0500
Reply-To:     Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Allan Streib <streib@CS.INDIANA.EDU>
Subject:      oil pressure woes
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Had the oil pressure alarm go off again tonight.  I had some trouble
with this earlier, it happens after running a while at higher speed
and then dropping down to "neighborhood" speed.

I changed the oil to 15W50 Mobil 1, and the problem seemed to go away.
But, this evening it happened again, probably about 100 miles or so on
the new oil.  I had just climbed a longish hill at about 4000 RPM in
2nd, and then was cruising at about 25 - 30 MPH in 3rd.  Engine
temperature was normal.  If I revved the engine the alarm stopped.

I checked the oil, the level is OK.  Definitely not overfilled, I made
sure of that when I did the change.  I have the proper OEM (Mahle)
filter as well.

The oil does have a bit of gasoline smell, hardly any but a bit.  I'm
not sure how much of this is normal on a waterboxer.  Seems it would
have to have a LOT of gas in it to get too thin in just 100 miles, and
it did not seem (subjectively opinion) that there was.

Can anyone recommend an oil pressure gauge kit (brand, where to buy)
so I can verify whether the pressure is really too low?

Allan
--
1991 Vanagon GL