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Date:         Fri, 3 Jun 2011 20:09:54 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Spooked!
Comments: To: John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <4DE97C32.9060609@charter.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

---- John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET> wrote: > 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.

John, all engine oil thins out with heat, whether multi-grade or not. My understanding is that the waterboxer cannot keep the oil cooled enough to avoid this situation. I assume you use a good 15W50 or 20W50. I have had a similar situation, but would get a warning light only when slowing from speed to idle. It would occur under very hot ambient temperatures, usually over 100 F, and when I had been driving at highway speed. I However, I have an oil pressure gauge, and the pressure would drop to around 15 psi at 3500 rpm in 4th gear. Last summer I learned that entering cooler air resulted in an increase in oil pressure, sometimes a dramatic change, as when I encountered a thunderstorm on Raton Pass last summer.

I installed a tencentlife external oil cooler. Problem seems gone, though I have not hit the road yet this summer (but we are forecast for 100 F tomorrow, about a month early this year). When I've driven in low nineties F temperatures before the external oil cooler, the oil pressure would generally run around 22 psi or a little lower. Now it runs around 40 psi with the external cooler. I consider it a great buy.

mcneely


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