Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 19:23:59 -0700
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: HELP - Oil light says on!
In-Reply-To: <199908161441_MC2-8132-1847@compuserve.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Volks,
I have a very fustrating problem. The oil light stays on in my 84 Westie
when ever the RPM is over 1500 RPM. A little back ground on the camper.
1985 Jetta Carat Engine, good compression @ 170, 170, 190, 170
Castrol GTX 20w50 oil with less than 2000km very clean and it looks and
feels like good oil.
Bosch Oil Filter.
One lifter starting to get noisy when cold... (sounds like the #3 cylinder
with 190 PSI compression).
First thing I though was bad high pressure sender. So I replaced it.
Still the same problem. Digging into the bentley manual I read that the
white sender on top of the oil filer assembly goes to ground when the oil
pressure is above 1.8BAR (~25PSI). So I let the van idle until the rad fan
went on once (get the oil to running temp) and took an oil pressure reading
with an electric VDO oil pressure gauge "stolen" from a 84 Rabbit GTI. I
installed the oil pressure sender in the head where the low pressure sender
usually goes. At 2000 RPM the pressure was 30 PSI which is to spec with
the manuals minumum of 28 PSI. Revving it up to 4000 RPM brings the
pressure to a little over 40PSI. At an 800 RPM idle the pressure is aprox
15 to 18 PSI. All of which is in spec. So, I figure dud sender so I took
the yellow wire off the sender and grounded it. Voila! No more oil
pressure light. So, two bad senders? I took my test light and attached it
to 12V and touched the sender at idle, no light, seeing how we are aprox 15
PSI of oil, this is OK. Revving the engine to 1500 RPM turns on the light
- great! the sender works... but wait a minute, why not with the wire
attached? So I attached the yellow wire again. The light is on during the
higher rpms indicating that the sender is working with the wire attached.
Hmm, grounding the yellow wire to the cylinder head and the light goes out
tough... so, what gives? Bad ground to the top of the oil filter
assembly? Help!
-- David Marshall - - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 84 VW Westie, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 87 Audi 5000 Quattro, 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
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