# Oil Pressure Warning Light - Potential Causes?



## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

Hi,

I just had an oil pressure incident on my '06 BPY engine, as follows:
- Current mileage is 119k km.
- Car was sitting on level ground, outside, for two days.
- At -11.0 Celcius, I started the car. It sounded a bit rough, and then the red oil pressure warning light came on. 
- I shut the engine off. Restarted, and began driving. Again it was rough and the warning light came on, so I pulled over after 100m and checked the oil. Oil level at 4/5ths on dipstick, IE lots of oil.
- I started the car again, all was fine, and I drove home 10km. 

So, I am wondering what could be the cause, and what I should investigate. So far, through searches here I have found potentially:
- failed HPFP cam follower debris blocking oil flow.
- Oil pump gone bad.
- Oil pump chain tensioner?

Is the oil pump chain tensioner a potential culprit, and if so, how do I check its operation? Did I miss any potential causes? Is oil sludge a potential fault in these engines, or is that saved for the 1.8t models? I am assuming it is not a faulty pressure sensor because the engine did sound rough, too.

Update: my HPFP cam follower looks OK. I have not experienced the issue again, after several cold and warm startups. I am wondering if this could have been the rough idle/running causing the low oil pressure, instead of the other way around. Will monitor for now.

thanks,
Paul


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

Ugh. It happened again. Similar to the last time, the car had sat for several days. It was at -7C. The car started fine but idled a bit rough. When bringing the RPMs up, in neutral, it sounded rough again. It sounds a bit like a diesel, like there is a secondary noise that is in time with the engine revolutions. After a few meters down the block the oil light came on. I stopped and let the car idle for about 2 minutes and the roughness went away. I went about my errands and the car showed no signs of trouble on several additional startups. So, I've got a noisy engine, and low oil pressure for a few minutes when the car is cold and has sat for a few days.

BTW, the noise actually sounds a lot like that in the Google video in the thread from RonJon, but I have only heard mine so far while seated in the car with the hood closed. I will poke around this N80 valve and see what I can find, but don't see how it could also cause low oil pressure at startup.

PS, I have not had a CEL through either incident. Is it worth scanning for codes nonetheless, or if there is a trouble code stored I would have seen a CEL light?

thoughts/suggestions?


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## Hkysk8r07 (Jul 9, 2005)

what type of oil are you using?
https://mobiloil.com/en/article/why...-performance/mobil-1-protects-in-cold-weather


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

I am running M1 5W-40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil. I've run this for a few years now and cold weather starts in even -25C have not been a problem. The oil is older than usual, though. I have not been driving it to work so longer elapsed time between changes. I have 1.5 years since my last full oil/filter change, but I have topped it up since with just over a litre of new oil. Previous Blackstone evaluations have shown me that I still have oil performance like this at about 11k km between changes. I am due to change it now, although I don't know that age would contribute the issues I am having.


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

Still concerned about those low oil pressure warnings, I dropped the pan to inspect the oil pickup tube. What are your thoughts on mine? I notice the photo on ECS shows the screen closer towards the flange than mine is. The diagonal line across the middle of mine appears to be a fold in the screen. It is def not foreign material. I can blow through the pipe and it spits some oil out of the screen. There is a slight amount of resistance to my breath, but not much. Is my pickup screen normal, toast?


















Update: I thought I should clean what I had and started poking around with a toothbrush, degreaser, and then tweezers. What I ended up with is a very shiny stainless mesh inside, and what is like a plastic film that came out in bits. Did I just clean it, or just ruin it?


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## EL 34 (Aug 14, 2014)

yikes. i wonder if that was a filter.

check your cam follower. i had the follower fail then the oil pump failed. for insurance i would just install a new oil pump.


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## Michael W Dane (Feb 23, 2013)

Looks to me like sludge plugged up the screen.


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

Thanks guys. I had checked my follower and all was good. 

The black material is so odd. Both my neighbour and I can't believe it would be an oil deposit, but we both can't believe it should be there either. That said, there was some varnishing high up in the oil pan that ranged from red to black, depending on its thickness. Also, in a low spot on the pan in the rear left corner there was some tarry substance that would smear between your fingers, but actually stayed in place when the pan was left upside down overnight!

















I am going to try to dissolve some of the black film from the pickup in gasoline today to see what happens. If it is a buildup, how'd the fold through the middle get there? And why only there, chemical reaction with the stainless mesh? 

If someone could tell me that a new part has only the stainless screen, and no other membrane, etc, I could sleep better and put this one back in.


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## EL 34 (Aug 14, 2014)

that stuff you scrubbed off was sludge. here's a new B8 pickup tube screen.










how long have you run the mobil 1? how many years? how many miles between oil changes?


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

The good folks at ECS Tuning also confirmed that the black was foreign material. So, the cleaned pickup went back in, and the pan back on. Finish up and add oil tomorrow.

I bought the car with 40k km on it. I presume all oil changes til then were dealer (likely Castrol). Just after purchase I switched to the M1 TDT and have done UOA. I have been doing about 10-11k km between changes, which has been twice a year. However, this past batch has been in the engine for longer (about 2yr with the addition of 1.5 litres along the way), although still only 10k km. Previous UOA have shown good metals results, and still good TBN at 10k km. I'm interested to see if its UOA will be different from my previous results. 

I'm not convinced that the black film on the pickup was just oil deposit. I've had a chunk sitting in gasoline all day, and it has not dissolved. However, the black goo in the corner of the pan, and the varnishing on the upper pan prompted me to pick up so Liqui-Moly Leichtlauf 5W-40 for the next go around.


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## Sccacorrado (Aug 30, 2015)

*Change your oil more frequently.*

The amount of driving you do warrants much more frequent oil changes. The less you drive the more frequently you need to change the oil. At a bare minimum you should be changing your oil in my opinion 3 times a year. Infrequent short trips cause a crap load of acids from combustion byproducts to build up in the oil and transform it into sludge and various other polymers. I would also suggest you ditch the diesel oil and switch to a factory recommended oil for your car.


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## DorianF1 (Sep 3, 2007)

Paul902 said:


> I am running M1 5W-40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil. I've run this for a few years now and cold weather starts in even -25C have not been a problem. The oil is older than usual, though. I have not been driving it to work so longer elapsed time between changes. I have 1.5 years since my last full oil/filter change, but I have topped it up since with just over a litre of new oil. Previous Blackstone evaluations have shown me that I still have oil performance like this at about 11k km between changes. I am due to change it now, although I don't know that age would contribute the issues I am having.


Went through this, I did the same thing and I cleaned out the pick up tube, days later the same Oil Pressure popped up, I was pissed. Took it to the dealer, the same pickup tube had clogged again so what the techs usually do is they bust out the mesh in the middle, that was 4 yrs ago and no problems. Hope your's doesnt come back but if it does now you know.


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## Paul902 (Oct 10, 2007)

Good to know, thanks. Perhaps I'll plan on dropping the oil pan again to check the pickup just to be on the safe side.


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## canuck_mr (Dec 31, 2014)

I had the low oil pressure alarm go off couple times last winter. On both occasions temperature was below -20C, and occurred right on start up. The car sounded like absolute ass both times. To avoid damaging the car I just turned it off and took public transit. Will try 0w40 this season, see if it makes a difference?


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