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Date:         Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:29:03 -0700
Reply-To:     Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Roland <syncronicity1@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Oil pressure light and buzzer
In-Reply-To:  <8CEE5605939EBD9-153C-A32C@webmail-m073.sysops.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

About: "I checked; my oil level's about 75% of the way between the two marks."

I have noticed in the past that anything above the halfway point (50%) can lead to situations that cause the oil buzzer to go off. This has always been on long uphill stretches when I think the 2.1 suffers the oil foaming problem. Similar to what Dennis wrote, when the buzzer has come on, I pull over let it rest, and rev the engine and it goes away.

One inexpensive test would be to remove some oil, put it at or below the 50% point between the 2 marks and see if your symptoms are any different. I keep the oil level at 50% or below.

Roland

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Steven Sittser <ssittservl@aol.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the advice. > > Jeff Schwaia said: > > [make] sure you do not have too much oil in your engine. The > > level should be between the lines, NOT AT THE TOP LINE. > > When the wbx'er has too oil, the crankshaft will splash the oil in the > > crankcase on every revolution. This causes the oil to get frothy (tons > of > > little bubbles) and oil pressure will drop. > > I checked; my oil level's about 75% of the way between the two marks. > > David Beierl said: > > Begin by unplugging the sender wire from the sender on the after face > > of the engine, just left of the crank pulley. Then run the engine > > and see what happens. What *should* happen is that with engine > > stopped, key on, you'll see blinking light but no buzzer. After you > > start, no light or buzzer until ~2000 rpm. Above that the light and > > buzzer should come on. > > I tried this, and the the light and buzzer behaved as they are supposed to. > Key on, engine off: blinking light > Below ~2000 RPM: no light or buzzer > Above ~2000 RPM: blinking light and buzzer > Drop back below ~2000 RPM: blinking light and buzzer both remain on > > So, apparently the light and buzzer "latch" once on, and don't go off > even if the RPM's drop below ~2000. > > I'm curious whether the buzzer and light would stay on if I had reconnected > the sender wire at >2000 RPM (simulating "pressure is OK now"). I wasn't > quite curious enough to stick my hand through the whirling belts o'death to > try it, though. I may rig up a remote switch and try again. > > Dennis Haynes said: > > Once the logic board activates the buzzer it will stay on regardless of > > engine RPM. The only way to silence it is to get the pressure switch > > satisfied or cycle the ignition switch > > That fits with what I found in David's test above. I still should probably > check that satisfying the pressure switch will turn off my light and buzzer > as it's supposed to, but, based on on-the-road behavior, I suspect that > works: > otherwise, the only way I could get the buzzer off would be to shut off > the engine, and that's not (quite) the case. > > Dennis Haynes said: > > What is most likely happening is that after a high speed run the oil is > getting > > to hot or there is some other pressure problem or maybe the switch is > out of > > tolerance. But as the RPMS drop so will the oil pressure and near the > 2,000 > > rpm range the warning is activated and then remains on even down to idle. > > Revving the engine above 2,000 rpm then raises the oil pressure enough to > > satisfy the switch and the buzzer turns off. > > That sounds like it would explain my symptoms. So, perhaps my buzzer and > light aren't really, as they seemed to, coming on at less than 2000 RPM, > but > are coming on just above 2000 RPM, and then staying on at less than 2000 > RPM. > > Scott Daniel said: > > many waterboxers will run just fine ..until oil clearances are so large > > that oil pressure starts being an issue.. > > always when hot of course. > > At some point it's time to retire or rebuild the engine before it just > > blows...like rod through the block. > > The engine was replaced with a rebuilt one in 2006, and recently > overhauled, so I'd like to think that's not an issue. But you never know. > When I had my original engine rebuilt by a supposed Volkswagen expert, > it threw a rod through the block within a few months. (Thus the > replacement. That was an adventure - the shop that did the rebuild had > gone out of business in the interim, and the attitude of the owner was, > "it's not my problem - it was working great when it left the shop.") > > Scott Daniel said: > > I'd just check the real oil pressure .. like with a gauge. > > An excellent idea, but complex enough that I think I'll try simpler > solutions > first. (Unless there's an easy way to do this that I don't know about.) > > John Rodgers said: > > Running with the Mann or Mahle filters which are known good - can't do > > anything but help. > > > > Make sure both the switch and the connection is secure. > > Zoltan said: > > It sounds like the oil pressure sensor is getting bad. > > The connection seems OK. Maybe the high-pressure sensor's bad. (The > low-pressure sensor doesn't seem to play a role in this.) Based on > Dennis's theory, it could simply be erroneously signaling "low pressure" > when the pressure isn't really too low. > > I think I'll try replacing the filter with Mann or Mahle at my next oil > change, and see if that makes a difference. It it doesn't, I'll replace > the high-pressure sensor switch (assuming I can get to it). > > After that... I don't know. Maybe some 75W200 oil or something. > > - Steven Sittser > > -----Original Message----- > From: Steven Sittser <ssittservl@aol.com> > To: vanagon <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com> > Sent: Wed, Apr 4, 2012 7:13 pm > Subject: Oil pressure light and buzzer > > My oil pressure light and buzzer are coming on. I know, I know, that > happens on lots of Vanagons, but, after searching through the mailing list, > reading the description of the system at GoWesty ( > http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=810), and looking > elsewhere, I haven't quite found a match for my symptoms. > > I have an '88 Westfaila, with 20W50 oil that I put in in November, and > some filter they had in a package deal sale at AutoZone - might have be an > STP. My oil level is fine. > > The buzzer comes on and the light starts flashing only under the following > conditions: > (1) It's hot outside, or at least pretty warm, and > (2) I've been driving at highway speeds for at least > about 10 minutes, and > (3) I decelerate (usually getting off the highway), and the > engine RPM's are below about 2000. > > If I raise the RPM's above about 2000, the light and buzzer go off, then > come on again if the RPM's drop back down again. This goes on for 5 or 10 > minutes, after which it will usually get tired of me ignoring it and the > buzzer and light will go off. > > The strange part is, the GoWesty description, and other, similar > descriptions, say that the buzzer can only come on ABOVE about 2000 RPM. > Mine only comes on only BELOW about 2000 RPM. > > It may or may not be significant that, about 8 years ago, the van was in a > serious front-end accident. The shop that did the repairs was less than > thorough, and I still occasionally discover things that were mis-wired or > installed poorly. I've also had some major engine work done in the last > year or so by a shop that has turned out to be less than competent (but > what they lack in competence they make up for in high prices), so there is > at least some possibility of miswiring (or other issues) there, too. > > So: any ideas what's up? > > I've read that many people feel that using anything other than Mann or > Mahle filters can cause the buzzer and light, but I've read others that > think that using them is just masking a problem that has some other cause. > Still, maybe I should just change the oil and try a German filter. > > I could try replacing the two oil pressure switches. From what I've read > this sounds fairly difficult (or expensive, if I have a shop do it) for > something that may or may not be the problem, but perhaps that's the way to > go. > > I'm sort of thinking (but not at all sure) that I don't have a real oil > pressure problem, since this has been going on for a while, and the engine > hasn't exploded yet. > > And in any case, there's the oddity of my light and buzzer only coming on > below 2000 RPM, when all the literature I can find says the buzzer only > comes on above 2000 RPM. > > I've had the problem occasionally in the past, but I didn't pay enough > attention to know if the symptoms were identical. At least once it was a > loose wire on one of the pressure sensors, but I don't think that's the > case this time - the behavior seems too predictable, and not random enough > for a loose wire. I've used mostly Fram, Mann, and Mahle filters in the > past, but occasionally something else, usually (as far as I remember) > without trouble. > > Thank you for any advice! > > - Steven Sittser > > > >


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