Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 15:54:11 -0500
Reply-To: Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Larry Alofs <lalofs@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: 1.9l with 23psi @ 4000 rpm
In-Reply-To: <CA+n284MCWCWzwej4GFK1FZ488PRHn13H2wNtgF9iMPwQp7G6bw@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Mr. Pickle: (is that you Wes?)
I'd just go on and drive it. It seems to me that a flickering oil
light when warm at idle is considered rather normal in these engines
as they age.
You can keep an eye on the pressure and see if it gets much lower
and get your head in the engine compartment and check for knocking
noises at various speeds from time to time. Keep using the good oil.
Larry A.
On Tue, Jan 3, 2012 at 2:17 PM, pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com> wrote:
> Just to follow up on this earlier message:
> Faced with the fact that I have oil pressure well below "good pressure", is
> the only prudent thing to do to replace the engine?
> (There are no symptoms of problems other than the reading on the gauge.)
>
> While I've read numerous tales of woe regarding 2.1l with low pressure
> failing spectacularly, I haven't really come across accounts of how the
> 1.9ls fail. Is it likely to strand us on the side of the road without
> warning, or get looser first (which would be easily seen on the pressure
> gauge, presumably)?
>
> It seems it would be a shame to give up on this engine if its likely to
> have a year or two left on it, regardless of whether its below spec. For
> example, considering that the least expensive route to replacement would be
> to replace it with a "good used 1.9l engine removed from a running van", is
> it really likely that such a replacement would be in significantly better
> shape?
>
> -Wes
>
>
> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 8:49 PM, pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> A little while ago I sent the below email to list regarding a flickering
>> oil light after extended highway driving on 5w50 oil. After this email and
>> the replies I got, I switched the oil back to Mobil 1 15w50 oil and then we
>> haven't driven since. I finally got around to installing a VDO oil
>> pressure gauge and just got back from a test drive.
>>
>>
>> It's funny how high the pressure starts out in the cold weather. Easily
>> 3.5-4 bar. Anyways, after 20 minutes or so of driving so that the engine
>> has been warm for a long time, I take t up to 4000 rpms (48mph in 3rd gear,
>> I don't have a tach) and I get ~1.9bar, so around 28psi. But after a
>> minute or two of this (which is how long it takes the oil to get up to
>> temperature, I guess) it drops to ~1.6 bar, say 23psi, where it settles.
>>
>> So I guess this is pretty bad! (I guess I could check the accuracy with a
>> mechanical gauges, but I'm not holding out any hope for this changing
>> things...)
>>
>> So I guess these are my questions:
>> How long do I have before breakdown? My understanding is that, unlike the
>> 2.1l, the 1.9l is unlikely to fail catastrophically, right?
>> Is further driving severely reducing the rebuildability of this engine?
>> In general, how likely is it that this engine can be rebuilt to good
>> tolerances? (I'm thinking right now about what I've read about the case
>> journals in the 1.9l engines).
>> I know there are high capacity oil pumps that can be installed on these
>> engines. Is that an effective way to buy some time?
>>
>> Thanks very much for any advice guys, this is a bummer, but I'm sure I'll
>> figure out a way to deal with it somehow!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 27, 2011 at 10:27 PM, pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> On our returning-home-after-thanksgiving drive, we had some scary oil
>>> light flicker.
>>>
>>> Here are the details:
>>>
>>> Engine has just a little over 100k miles on it.
>>> I typically run Mobil 1 15w50 in it, but shortly before this drive
>>> changed the oil to Castrol Syntec 5w50, hoping to achieve better
>>> lubrication during cold-starts in the winter. I used a Mobil 1 filter
>>> (which I've used occasionally before, though now it was replacing a Fram
>>> tough-guard).
>>> Flicker definitely seemed related to oil pressure. That is: it only came
>>> on after driving fast for a long block of time, and then letting the engine
>>> drop to idle. After I first noticed a flicker happen once and confirming
>>> the oil level was fine, I tried this experiment several times and could
>>> often get some flickers out of it, although not always. Raising the engine
>>> rpms *at all* would completely kill the flicker. I couldn't give it even a
>>> tiny amount of gas and still have flicker, even after a long run.
>>>
>>> Further mitigating factors:
>>> We have an auxiliary battery setup with heavy gauge wire coupling the
>>> batteries via a Stancor relay. The auxiliary battery is a year old or so
>>> and so almost certainly in worse condition than the starter battery, since
>>> that never gets drained at all. I have the batteries set up so that a
>>> switch can be used to kill the stancor relay when driving (or force it to
>>> be engaged when the engine is off). Anyways, with the stancor relay
>>> disabled, I wouldn't get any oil light flicker, as the engine was idling
>>> high enough to avoid it. The flicker was only happening after a long fast
>>> run *and* at especially low rpms, which would only happen when both
>>> batteries where being powered by the alternator.
>>>
>>>
>>> Obviously I find this all pretty scary! I figure the first step is to
>>> figure out what my oil pressure is at various operating speeds and
>>> temperatures. So I've ordered parts to install an oil pressure gauge.
>>>
>>> I realize there's a lower threshold (blue) .25 bar switch that VW
>>> recommends to replace the existing .3 bar switch, which would likely
>>> eliminate my flicker, but right now I'm just worried this is an indication
>>> of deeper problems. I've ordered one of these switches anyways just in
>>> case my current switch is bad, but the behavior I'm seeing rules out a
>>> wiring issue I think, and I haven't actually heard of anyone having an old
>>> switch that was still responding, but just at too high a pressure (if
>>> anything I would expect them to fail in the other direction.)
>>>
>>> I also realize the switch to castrol 5w50 may have been what made the
>>> difference. But I'm reluctant to throw back in some 15w50, have the light
>>> go back off, and then just call the problem solved... I mean, I shouldn't
>>> really be that close to the edge of triggering the switch right? Or should
>>> I be considering it likely that the 5w50 really was just too unstable in a
>>> 1.9l (which has no oil cooler) at high speeds?
>>>
>>>
>>> I'll be grateful for any advice... wow, I hope this engine isn't giving
>>> up on us!! I was planning on getting a lot more life out of it...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
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