Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 19:28:34 -0500
Reply-To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
Subject: Spooked!
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While driving my manual tranny 88GL home this afternoon the oil
pressure alarm sounded and the oil pressure light came on. I killed the
ignition immediately, noted all the gages seemed normal, and being very
close to my house just coasted on down the street, around the corner,
and halfway up my up-slope driveway and stopped. All the while I'm
thinking "Omigosh! What now?" ( I have an important art show to
participate in on Sat. and have to set up by 6 am -- this is not good!)
After getting stopped, I sat for a moment, the turned the ignition on.
All the lights did their normal thing. I hit the switch, the engine
started right up, oil pressure light went out. I noted no strange
sounds, and the oil pressure alarm did not sound. I drove the remaining
100 feet up the hill to the house - all was normal.
Today was extraordinarily hot - 100 plus degrees, driving was slow
coming off the highway home, and even though the temp gauge needle was
in the middle, nothing seemed wrong. I did note that at very slow speeds
the fan kept coming on frequently. I was poking along about 30 mph when
the alarm sounded and the oil pressure light came on.
I opened the hatch, and noted the engine seemed really hot. The heat
just came boiling out. I looked for oil leaking, coolant leaking, etc,
but found nothing. Oil dip stick measures halfway between the marks, and
the coolant level is up. I checked the rear oil pressure switch, and the
wiring connector, but it was tight.
I let the van sit a while with the hatch open to cool the engine, then
started it up. After Idling a minute, I revved the engine up to 3000. I
ran perfect. No lights, no alarms. I have tried several times now, but
cannot reproduce the event. Of course the circumstances have changed as
the atmosphere is cooling down.
Anybody have any ideas? Can the engine oil get so hot under normal
driving conditions as to cause low oil pressure. Surely that is not a
good thing. But how can I avoid that in the common daily summer weather
here in the South. I'm afraid this event might repeat itself at a
tremendously inopportune time - as such events usually do.
Thanks,
John
--
John Rodgers
Clayartist and Moldmaker
88'GL VW Bus Driver
Chelsea, AL
Http://www.moldhaus.com
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