# low oil warning light



## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

my wife has a 2002 passat wagon glx 4motion with 119k miles. we have dealer maintained this car since purchasing new, unfortunately the last year has really started to accumulated maintenance cost. my main concern was a low oil pressure warning light that came on a trip across the mountains. dealership says the engine checks out just fine and the oil condition was just fine. the dealer solution was to "monitor" engine light. any suggestions out there? we love this car and it is awesome in the snow.


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

*additional info*



snoski said:


> my wife has a 2002 passat wagon glx 4motion with 119k miles. we have dealer maintained this car since purchasing new, unfortunately the last year has really started to accumulated maintenance cost. my main concern was a low oil pressure warning light that came on a trip across the mountains. dealership says the engine checks out just fine and the oil condition was just fine. the dealer solution was to "monitor" engine light. any suggestions out there? we love this car and it is awesome in the snow.


 just some additional information on some research that i have already done on this low oil pressure warning light for this enginge. since this engine does not have the same oil sludge buildup problem that the 1.8L enginge has and that we have religiously done oil changes since new using castrol syntecblend 5w-30 with a vw filter the following maintenance has been suggested. 
1) check cam belt timing 
2) check oil pressure using a mechanical guage 
3) oil pickup tube screen needs cleaning or replacing.


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## O_o (Nov 12, 2009)

So, you brought it to the $tealer$hip, told them the oil pressure light came on, and they never actually checked the oil pressure, just its "condition"? How much did they charge for that? 

Anyway, I'm guessing, since it still runs, that it's either the sender that failed, or the pickup ran dry on a steep hill. I wouldn't worry unless the light comes on again.


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

actually i battled this problem on and off all the way to idaho and back to western washington. the low pressure warning light would come on and i would pull over and shut down the engine while i checked under the hood. i hate idiot lights and wish the insturement cluster had a actual oil pressure read out. anyway, the car would sit for about 5-10 minutes while i checked oil level and looked for leaks. the engine ran perfect and no overheating or bad noises so i kept going...call me lucky but i had a cannot miss appointment in idaho. the car ran great for 200-300 miles at a time without missing a beat until the low oil pressure light would come on again...again call me lucky but we made it back to washington and dropped the car off at dealership. this all took place on a sunday speed run to idaho sub-zero temps. the dealership ran diagnostics (not sure if they put a mechanical oil pressure guage on the engine) but all checked out fine. their answer was to "monitor" the warning light...whatever! so i am going to do an engine flush before heading over the mountains again. so far local driving the car has ran perfect. no expense has been spared on the previous maintenance of this car. hopefully not an oil pump going out$$$


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## tryin2vw (Dec 30, 2006)

How is the enigne oil level? The 2.8 does burn a bit of oil and if it is close to the OCI, you may be down a quart or two. If so, the load of going over the mountains may thin the oil enough. Is 0-40 oil being used? 30 burns too fast.


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

since purchasing new i have only ran castrol syntecblend 5w-30 in and only vw filters. yes, the engine does use a little oil but never below the add oil mark on dip stick, this is usually not a concern since i regularly change oil at approx. 5k. 

and "no" the service dept at our dealership did not charge us for the diagnostic. this particular dealership has been nothing but fantastic to my wife and the maintenance of this car. i would and probably will purchase another car from them in the near future. 

ok, has anybody delt with this problem and a possible cam belt timing issue causing a low oil pressure warning light to come on? i find it hard to believe that i may have a clogged oil pickup tube screen when being so diligent on oil changes. i know castrol syntec had ashing problems earlier on but i thought they had fixed that.


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## O_o (Nov 12, 2009)

The only other thing I can think of would be a sticking check-valve. But without knowing what the actual oil pressure is, it's all speculation.


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

ok, thanks for the input. i think it is time for another talk with service manager at our dealership. this car is heading to montana next month and i need to make sure the problem is fixed and i don't feel good about it yet. my wife has been commuting locally with the car and no problems with warning lights. still contemplating an enginge flush to rule out any contamination or build up on oil screen. happy holidays:snowcool:


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## Slimjimmn (Apr 8, 2006)

I recommend changing the oil pressure switch. Its a common issue on vw's and the part is roughly 20.00 at the dealership (I wouldnt get aftermarket china crap at napa they all leak)


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## 02GLXWag6stk (May 23, 2008)

Slimjimmn said:


> I recommend changing the oil pressure switch. Its a common issue on vw's and the part is roughly 20.00 at the dealership (I wouldnt get aftermarket china crap at napa they all leak)


AND after you do what slimjmmn says you might consider this peace of mind addition:

New South Oil Pressure Gauge (matching Indigo lighting!) on steering column and you'll need the 42 Designs Relocation Kit to facilitate the install on a V6. All in all ~ $200 in parts cost: well spent $ vs repeating issues.

I had it installed since I put on a Thor Skid Plate and wanted to save the hassle of wondering vs idiot light since Actual Oil Pressure Readings while you're driving eliminates GUESSWORK!

I have the same year just without the 4MO and the FWD even without snows is
phenomenal: true acid test two winters ago at 5,000 ft with many accidents witnessed.

Making sure your PCV system has been thoroughly overhauled removes a lot of
potentially costly jobs on the P I [email protected] 

Best investment for your car: Vag.com! to diagnose it like the stealership but without the costly run arounds! I run a test every month to see how she's doing!

I've been problem free fortunately.

GL and Happy Holidays,


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

Thanks for all the great advice. We are just getting through the holdiay rush now and I can refocus on the car again. So far during the holidays we have driven the car on several 100+ mile trips without any problems. It is such a fun car to drive and even for a 2002 it drives great still tight like off the showroom. The V6 is running smooth as ever and not showing any signs of oil consumption since the last oil change about 1K miles ago. I like the idea of switching to 5w-40 and installing new pressure swithch and actual oil pressure readout guage vs. idiot light. Time to prepare for the trip to Montana and 3 mountain passes in January.


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## snoski (Dec 12, 2010)

Well, after a holdiday ski trip to mountains and more low oil pressure warning problems when the engine was under load going up to the ski area and another trip to the dealership and yet another very long talk with the service manager I ended up driving away with a used 07 Passat wagon 4motion...this time with a dealer warranty and a purchased extended warranty$$$$ Hopefully, I picked an 07 that was built with a good batch of oil pump bracket bolts (the only real problem I could find on the 3.6 engine).

The diagnosis on our 02 was a bad oil pump. Being my wife's primary mode of transportation she did not want any more money being dumped into repairs. She loves the Passat wagon and we wanted to stay with the 4motion for our weekend trips to the mountains. I hope that nobody else runs into the maintenance cost that started to added up quickly after 100k miles on the 02. 

Thanks for all the good advice and helping me diagnosing the engine problems.

Happy New Year


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