Date: Thu, 10 May 2012 21:37:00 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Oil Pressure Lamp? Denoument.
In-Reply-To: <4FAC7D74.2060307@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Big points for using 'furgled.'
Don't forget, it's 'just a blockage or leakage of fluids or electrons.'
( fluids include gases btw, not just liquids )
On 5/10/2012 7:46 PM, Rocket J Squirrel wrote:
> Dennis and Scott: as I said, you could be right.
>
>
> Don't forget that I am a guy who is famous for catastrophizing the
> slightest hiccup in my van's behavior. But here I feel confident, and
> I'm sticking with my hypothesis that it's nothing more than a bit of
> conductance caused by deep soakage on, and possible in, the OP switch.
>
> I think it's a new one, put on last year when I installed tencentlife's
> oil pressure gauge sender modification.
>
> BUT, but -- if I'm wrong, then you are both owed a fine ale from one of
> the many microbreweries Bend, Oregon, is proud to be the home of. Same
> goes for anyone else in the peanut gallery here who comes up with a
> cogent argument that the symptoms I described (read the whole thread,
> don't just jump in -- ignorance of what this is about is grounds for
> immediate disqualification) indicate a /dire/ problem which requires
> immediate rewiring of the dash oil pressure circuit. It is, after all,
> the very least I could do after all the help and advice the two of you,
> and indeed, everyone else on this list, have given me.
>
> Besides, even if I'm wrong, the worst that could happen is that the wire
> to the switch shorts to chassis and my oil pressure light comes on. I do
> have a functioning OP gauge on an independent circuit.
>
> On the other hand, if they both indicate zero pressure then I am well
> and truely, um, furgled.
>
> (Is "furgled" a word? Can I use it here?)
>
> --
> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
> Bend, Ore.
> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company in
> San Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
> On 05/10/2012 05:28 PM, Dennis Haynes wrote:
>> As they should. But moisture affecting low voltage circuits still
>> indicates
>> a problem. Either a bad switch or the wiring insulation is failing.
>>
>> Dennis
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>> Behalf Of
>> Richard Koerner
>> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 8:17 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Oil Pressure Lamp? Denoument.
>>
>> YES!!! All Warning Lights bright at turn of key before starting!!!
>> All go
>> off after starting, sometimes a blip of throttle to make go off, been
>> like
>> that for 24 years since I bought Vanagon.
>>
>> Rich
>> San Diego
>>
>> --- On Thu, 5/10/12, Dennis Haynes<d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> From: Dennis Haynes<d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
>> Subject: RE: Oil Pressure Lamp? Denoument.
>> To: "'Richard Koerner'"<rjkinpb@SBCGLOBAL.NET>,
>> vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Date: Thursday, May 10, 2012, 4:25 PM
>>
>> Does the Warning light turn on brightly with the ignition on before the
>> engine is started? If moisture can make a change in any electrical
>> circuit
>> you have an insulation breakdown that needs to be addressed. Stop
>> fooling
>> yourself.
>>
>> Dennis
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>> Behalf Of
>> Richard Koerner
>> Sent: Thursday, May 10, 2012 6:08 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Oil Pressure Lamp? Denoument.
>>
>> I concur! Moderator David B. yesterday correctly diagnosed the faint
>> dull
>> red glow in my oil pressure LED as possible moisture in the circuit;
>> turns
>> out I had used a hose to gently wash off the engine compartment and must
>> have got some on the sender. Once engine came up to temperature, the
>> moisture evaporated away and so did my false indicator light.
>>
>> Rich
>> San Diego
>>
>> --- On Thu, 5/10/12, Rocket J Squirrel<camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>
>> From: Rocket J Squirrel<camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: Oil Pressure Lamp? Denoument.
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Date: Thursday, May 10, 2012, 2:45 PM
>>
>> Wet oil pressure switch?
>>
>> Yesterday we put new coolant into my 1.9. Using a "Libby Bong" one
>> can get
>> quite a gusher out of the bleeder in the engine compartment. Coolant
>> washed
>> over the oil pressure gauge sender and oil pressure switch which are
>> moved
>> above the left head when using tencentlife's adapter setup, which I am.
>>
>> Drove the van briefly yesterday, and there were no warning lamps,
>> everything
>> read okay. But this morning, I needed to move the van a couple
>> hundred feet
>> and the oil pressure lamp did not go out even though the oil pressure
>> gauge
>> read normally. But the lamp was not on at full power, either: it was
>> only at
>> half-brightness.
>>
>> I had to run a bunch of errands in Mrs Squirrel's car in the morning,
>> but
>> after lunch I brought the van back to the driveway, and the oil lamp was
>> quite dim, but not out. Turned off the engine, connected a voltmeter
>> to the
>> switch's "hot" terminal and turned on the ignition w/o starting the
>> engine.
>> Read about 0.5V. Started the engine. Read 10.5 volts.
>> Puzzled I check the dash lamp -- dark. Revved the engine to kick in the
>> alternator and the voltage rose to about 11.5 or 12V and the lamp, of
>> course, was dead dark.
>>
>> Took it for a long drive, no sign of spurious lamp lightage.
>>
>> It's my theory that the oil pressure switch was soaked with coolant and
>> offered a sufficiently low enough resistance to allow current to flow
>> through the lamp to cause it to partially light. Then it dried out.
>>
>> Even though a brief check with an ohmmeter showed that a 50/50 mix of
>> G-05 coolant is about as conductive as distilled water, this is my
>> story and
>> I'm sticking to it.
>>
>> --
>> Jack "Rocket j Squirrel" Elliott
>> Bend, Ore.
>> 1984 Westfalia. A poor but proud people.
>> 1971 "Ladybug"-brand utility trailer ca. 1972 from a defunct company
>> in San
>> Clemente, Calif., now repurposed as The Westrailia.
>
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