Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 12:51:24 -0500
Reply-To: Bill Johnson <bjohns@DTX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Bill Johnson <bjohns@DTX.NET>
Subject: Re: First trip: HELP! Oil Pressure Light
I had a '78 that did that for 40k miles. I think it may be a
problem with oil pressure around the rods. I switched to a
heavy oil and the lamp went out. I tried everything. That
10w-XX stuff was too light for my vehicle to build up pressure.
Bill
----- Original Message -----
From: Alan J. Flint <ajflint@ITSA.UCSF.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, October 12, 1999 12:30 PM
Subject: First trip: HELP! Oil Pressure Light
Dear Listers:
My wife and I just returned from our first trip in our
"new" 87
Syncro Westfalia. We were mostly in Acadia and other parts of
Maine. It
went rather well. One moose seemed particularly interested in
checking
out the van (up close).
First off, I want to thank all of you (and earlier Type
2 drivers)
for waving, flashing or beeping "hello" every time we crossed
paths. My
wife couldnt get over it. She drives a new Volvo.
The only mechanical problem we had was the OIL PRESSURE
warning
light came on. This happened four times total and was always
transient.
I stopped immediately each time. Twice pulling over shut it
off; twice it
was off after restarting the van. It looked like I could add a
quart of
oil, so I did. The light still came on once more. The engine
always
sounded fine, never stalled or lost power. The engine did not
overheat or
even get warmer than usual. The light typically came on a few
minutes
into a drive, after a brief stop. After restart could drive 200
miles
home without light coming on. Worried a lot.
A little background: 79,000 miles, about 2,000 since
purchase.
Original oil pump, as far as I know. I used Mobil 1 (blue top
grade) from
the start, likely representing a switch from refined oil. OEM
Mann
filter. No warning lights for first 1,500 miles or so, until
half way
through this trip.
The Haynes indicates that the oil pressure sender can be
faulty
and that measuring the pressure directly is indicated as a first
step.
John Muir discusses the "oil pressure popoff valve" (clean it)
as well,
but I dont know if that is applicable to this engine. Or does
the type
(synthetic) or grade of oil make me prone to this? Does the
fact that it
is extremely transient and intermittent help in the diagnosis?
Unfortunately, this will also make it hard to determine if I
have fixed
it. Obviously, I want to exhaust all easier and less expensive
possibilities before considering an new oil pump.
Thank you in advance. If anyone would like to see this
moose, she
came to our campsite repeatedly. I will e-mail you the site
number and
youll probably see her there.
Alan.
Shrewsbury.
87 Syncro Westfalia
81 Pickup
73 914
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