Red Oil Light (pressure!!)

Post by **Philws4** » Sun May 27, 2007 12:15 pm

Went down the road this morning to post a couple of letters (about 3 miles) and the red oil light came on in the DIS.
Stopped the engine instantly and waited a couple of mins and checked the oil level.
Everything is ok!! i.e normal level.

So do i have a troublesome sensor or could i have a knackered oil pump?
I don't have use of a laptop this weekend so can't run any VAG COM tests, but is there anything else that i should be checking first before i start to panic!!

I had better add that i power washed the engine bay in the week and this is the first time i have used the car since!!

Thanks for any guidance.

Post by **ZeroK66** » Sun May 27, 2007 1:58 pm

Maybe that is the problem... power wash has got water in one of the sensors. School boy there, shouldnt really be washing the engine :S - not sure where the sensor is? YOu will have to find out, take it apart, give it a clean - dry it and put it back on and go for a gentle drive.

Post by **Philws4** » Sun May 27, 2007 4:40 pm

Yeah could well be Leon but it is not the first time i have washed the engine bay and i am very carefull as to where i direct the water, but still a possibility i know.
Car is now at home in my garage (although not big enough to work on) and but for the bl**dy rain i would be out having a good look round.
But what i have found from the self study guide is the location of the oil pressure switch, so when/if it stops raining i will remove the undertray and remove and clean the connector and try again.
I guess also that the pressure relief valve could of failed, if so is this easy to replace?
Won't have use of a laptop until Tuesday so can't take any readings, but surely these are only readings given by the sensor anyway!!! so if that was at fault then i won't know until it is replaced.
Which channel/block do i view to read oil pressure anyway?
Failing that would my next step be to remove the sump in the hope that there is a piece of Sh!t stuck in the feed pipe? as i have NO visable loss of oil or contamination in the coolant bottle.
Having said that though there is plenty of oil visable when i remove the oil filler cap.

I don't know all i wanted to do was post a couple of letters and but for the GF being out i would of taken her car!! Still the car was not properly warmed up so at least i hadn't been able to give it any spuds and all this happened locally and while engine was cool.

Bl**dy Motors!!

Post by **ZeroK66** » Mon May 28, 2007 12:59 am

D'oh... hope you dont have to get into the sump... believe it is a REAL pain! Lets hope it is just electrical/wet... rain wont let up at all - its still going hard now at 1am! Maybe tomorrow is a better day. Good luck... let us know.

Post by **Philws4** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:20 am

Just in case i do have to enter the sump are there any do's or dont's?

Have rigged up a shelter and will be having a look this afternoon at the connectors. Hope to find one that is wet or damaged in some way!

Surely if the oil pump had gone i would be getting some strange noises or would of had some kind of warning.Oil has only done 5k and was due to change it in a couple of weeks anyway.

Post by **grizz** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:30 am

The oil pressure switch is on the front passenger side of the engine just above the oil filter , i would get a new switch and fit that first .

Post by **Philws4** » Mon May 28, 2007 4:30 pm

Right just come in from the garage after looking for any obvious issues with the above problem and have drawn a bit of a blank!

There are NO oil leaks on the engine,oil level is fine,as is coolant.

Everything electrical looking is dry however i can't find the oil pressure switch,maybe it is only visable with the oil filter removed!

The car starts fine(No unusuall noises) and does it's system check and all is OK.
These tests were all done in my garage i.e not been out for a spin( I daren't!!)

If i increase the revs whilst the engine is cold to 1500/2000 rpm no warning light comes on.
However once the engine (coolant) temp rises above 80 deg and i increase the revs to 1100/1200 rpm the Red oil light flashes along with the 3 bleeps.So it sounds like the oil pressure sensor does work but wheather it has lost it's 'accuracy' i don't know.

Would VAG COM tell me any more?

This does not fill me with a great deal of joy!!!

Anyone heard of this before as i don't want to get out of my depth here and feel the best thing to do is get it trailored to a specialist to be looked at further.
Obviously i would like it to go to MRC but don't know about the implications of getting it traillored there, and with QST only 30 mins away they seem to be the most practical choice.
Sorry for all the questions but this is really beginning to puzzle me.

Ta for any more comments.

Post by **grizz** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:00 pm

The switch is a pig to find , it's just to the right of the crank shaft pulley next to the a/c pump . it has a single wire on it . you will need to pull the front end to get to it . At this point i would fit a pressure gauge to check the pressure .

Post by **Philws4** » Mon May 28, 2007 6:30 pm

grizz wrote:The switch is a pig to find , it's just to the right of the crank shaft pulley next to the a/c pump . it has a single wire on it . you will need to pull the front end to get to it . At this point i would fit a pressure gauge to check the pressure .

Thanks Grizz

Ahh that explains why i couldn't see it!

Don't have the time at the moment to pull the front end off so looking at other options!

Post by **Philws4** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:01 pm

Just thinking out loud now, but i wonder if a component inside the oil filter has broken down or become blocked!

Post by **grizz** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:25 pm

It's possible , i had a faulty oil filter several years ago on a transit that i rebuilt the engine on , took a bit of work to find the fault as it a rare for them to fail . try a filter first .

Post by **Philws4** » Tue May 29, 2007 10:14 pm

Not managed to source an oil filter yet, will have one tomorrow.
However i have done a scan with VAG COM and there are NO fault codes stored at all!!!!!

WTF

Post by **westwell** » Wed May 30, 2007 11:41 am

I had exactly the same symptoms with my car 2 days after i bought it. Absolutely worried me sick. Took it to Vagtech an independent near Leighton Buzzard. Turned out to be the oil pressure sender. Phew!

Post by **tartan_rob** » Wed May 30, 2007 12:08 pm

I had this before too. I ran some serious flush through the car with thin oil, changed it at 1k odd for proper viscosity stuff and the problem never came back. I also made sure the oil thermostat was in and working (I had custom oil cooler with custom pipes and std OE take off from filter housing.

Post by **tdiquattro** » Wed May 30, 2007 12:22 pm

You can change the sender from under the car, it is difficult but not impossible, it's the size of the spanner / socket thats the problem to get in there. It's above the flat part of the sump next to the filter screw on, so you have to reach up and over.

Mine failed and leaked oil through it's centre!, oil everywhere under the car.

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Red Oil Light (pressure!!)

Red Oil Light (pressure!!)

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