# Oil Light Flashing



## vwgtivr696 (Oct 14, 2011)

I have a 96 GTI VR6 and my oil light keeps flashing.. I have proper oil and amount in there but it wont go off.... Please help!


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## rdezsofi (Sep 21, 2010)

....and what is your oil pressure reading when warmed up????


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## dubbin8516v (Dec 31, 2008)

Wow the odd thing is that I am having the same problem....my oil light blinks only above 1100-1200 rpm and wont go off unless its at idol. I have changed the oil and pulled the pan and checked to see if the screen is clogged and that is about it. I am going to replace the sensors this week and see if that changes anything. If it doesn't change anything then I have a spare pump i will be putting in.

How long has this been going on for you?


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## F.Simon (Mar 6, 2011)

I have seen alot of lights come on like and in my experience if you have higher mileage on your car and have no idea if the oil pump has been changed, most likely your fix will be changing the oil pump. Is there any top end noise? if so that could be an indication as well. Also you could check oil pressure with a mechanical gauge. good luck


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## Anony00GT (Mar 6, 2002)

You need to get a mechanical oil pressure gauge on the engine and check your oil pressure. If your pressure is within specs, you've got a bad sensor.


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

*Oil light 1.8T I feel your pain!*

I'm currently having the same nightmare. I changed my oil pump last week. Now the dam light is coming on again. The oil pump I took out was clean. I could not see any defects. I changed it out anyway.
I would like to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge and have the idiot light sensor as well. anyone have any idea what threads adapters I will need?

Let me know how you make out


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## Anony00GT (Mar 6, 2002)

spike17128 said:


> I'm currently having the same nightmare. I changed my oil pump last week. Now the dam light is coming on again. The oil pump I took out was clean. I could not see any defects. I changed it out anyway.
> I would like to install a mechanical oil pressure gauge and have the idiot light sensor as well. anyone have any idea what threads adapters I will need?
> 
> Let me know how you make out


You must like to skip the simple and easy stuff, and jump right to the hard stuff 

I don't know the thread offhand, but it's not too hard to get the sensors out. Pull the sensors out, take them to a parts store and match up the fittings with an appropriate gauge.


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

Anony00GT said:


> You must like to skip the simple and easy stuff, and jump right to the hard stuff
> 
> I don't know the thread offhand, but it's not too hard to get the sensors out. Pull the sensors out, take them to a parts store and match up the fittings with an appropriate gauge.


I'm an idiot for not checking further. I already had problems with sludge and it was the same symptoms. I figured the problem was back again. 

Sensor is on order. I will put some sort of "T" adapter this weekend. 

I did find find a VW Technical bulletin Group 17 number 04-02. "Low engine oil pressure light is on." It mentions a clog PCV as a possible cause for low oil pressure. Anyone experience this?


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

*What can I do to bring the pressure up?*

I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge on a "T" Fitting.
The oil pressure with a hot engine is:
10PSI at idle
20 PSI at 1500 RPM
25 PSI at 2000 RPM

I believe the threshold for the idiot light is 23 PSI.

I have inspected the cam journals, They look fine. There is no abnormal noise and the oil pressure dose reach 45 PSI at the higher RPMS

What can I do to bring the pressure up?


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## gmikel (Nov 10, 2010)

*journal clearance*



spike17128 said:


> I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge on a "T" Fitting.
> The oil pressure with a hot engine is:
> 10PSI at idle
> 20 PSI at 1500 RPM
> ...


you could have excessive clearance on the rod or main journals. short of rebuilding your motor you could try a heavier wt oil.


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

Is it possible to change out crank bearings without removing the crank?


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## gmikel (Nov 10, 2010)

*no*



spike17128 said:


> Is it possible to change out crank bearings without removing the crank?


you need to disasemble the motor.


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## myboxyfox (Nov 27, 2011)

Try half a pint of Lucas. Worked for me!


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

I replaced the connecting rod bearings. Originals rod bearings were fine. I didn't bother with the crank bearings since there was nothing I can do about it anyway. 
Oil pressure was still low.

Mobil one 20- 50 did the trick. It's going to be a rough winter...


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## KubotaPowered (Jan 27, 2005)

Had a similar issue, twice, on a VR6 turbo. Both times I replaced the high and low oil pressure switches and the buzz and light haven't come on since. Pull a cam bearing and look at the bearing surface as well as the cam to look for unusual wear, also check the lobes on the cam.


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

Cams okay Cam bearings okay. New oil pump and rod bearings. Oil sending unit replaced.
Mechanical oil pressure gauge confirms low oil pressure. The only thing left are the crankshaft bearings. taking out the engine is not in my future. The heavy oil has bought the pressure back up. I plan to run it this way till it dies. 
So far everything seems fine. I have put on 2k miles with no problems. The engine does turn slow when the temp. is below 20. 
I can live with that.


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## JohnStamos (Feb 3, 2010)

spike17128 said:


> I installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge on a "T" Fitting.
> The oil pressure with a hot engine is:
> 10PSI at idle
> 20 PSI at 1500 RPM
> ...




That is plenty of pressure. You do not need, nor want anymore.

10psi per 1krpm is a generic baseline to go by that holds true to most engines. Any more, and you are sacrificing oil flow for pressure. Oil flow is JUST as important as pressure, and also directly effects oil temp, which intern drops oil pressure. So then you are left with imsuffecient flow, and moderate pressure, a recipe for wear.

Get that garbage 20w out of your engine. You went from not having an issue, to causing wear and future issues from trying to incorrectly "fix" a problem that was never actually there.


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## spike17128 (Nov 29, 2011)

JohnStamos said:


> That is plenty of pressure. You do not need, nor want anymore.
> 
> 10psi per 1krpm is a generic baseline to go by that holds true to most engines. Any more, and you are sacrificing oil flow for pressure. Oil flow is JUST as important as pressure, and also directly effects oil temp, which intern drops oil pressure. So then you are left with imsuffecient flow, and moderate pressure, a recipe for wear.
> 
> Get that garbage 20w out of your engine. You went from not having an issue, to causing wear and future issues from trying to incorrectly "fix" a problem that was never actually there.


I agree with you. The oil pressure with the lower viscosity should be sufficient. Unfortunately VW disagrees with us. The warning light is calibrated to come on at 23psi at 1500 rpm. I barely get 20PSI at 1600 rpm. 

Cam shaft journals are in spec. The rod bearing were just replaced. Note the original rod bearings were still good. 

I'm open to suggestions, recommendations?


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## vwbeaner (Jun 4, 2007)

I had this happen to me, turns out I spun the thrust bearing. had to have the motor rebuilt. One of the sensors turns on or off if grounded so there could be a break in a wire or something.


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## GLIsLAMED (Jul 10, 2011)

get a oil pressure gauge for sure. more then likely sensor is bad. if not then u have a guage way better then that damn sensor for the future. i have seen pumps with a sluge problem. when u increase your rpm ur pump might be starving the motor. not saying this is ur problems but i have seen it before. i have also seen crankcase pressure bein off causeing oil asending units to act funny. again not saying thats what it is but seen it happen at work.


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## hakershermarkt (Oct 31, 2009)

I'll apologize in advance for a lengthy post that may cover what has already been said: 

My oil light just started flashing 2 days ago. I live in Canada, and of course the winter temperatures combined with my mk3 2.0l 8v 1999 golf's high mileage usually means yellow/white mayonaise around the oil cap, PCV valve and all of that stuff. I should mention: I'm using Mobil 1 extended mileage 10W40 oil. 

The oil light started to flash on my way home from work after having reached full temperature. It was strange, because it didn't do this on the way into work. Anyhow, it just started to blink as I pulled into my driveway (at idle speed). 

When I fired up the engine the next day, there was no issue. I figured the cold oil must have been thick enough to keep the oil pressure up. On the way into work on this day, it started to blink as I pulled into my parking spot at work (while idling). Then, on the way home, it started to blink while idling at a light about half-way home. The light would go out if I'd bring the RPMs up from about ~800 to 1100 or so. As I got closer and closer to home, I'd have to rev the engine higher and higher to get the light to turn out. 

It has really started to freak me out, and so I've left it parked for the day. I'm not a super Vortex/VW guru who has worked on VWs since the Mk1 era. I'm a 25 year old college grad who has a moderate level of understanding about these things. 

I figured that what is going on could be caused by a few things: 

1.) The mayonaise/condensation goop could have clogged the low pressure sensor/switch. 
2.) The mayonaise has become so abundant that it has changed the viscosity of the oil and reduced the oil pressure. 
3.) The head-gasket has blown. 
4.) There is some other compression/oil pump related issue. 

Reading above about the PCV valve being clogged with goop as a possible cause gives me some hope for when I take a crack at this issue tomorrow. I'm a bit weary of how quickly the circumstances were changing from one day to the next though. On the first day, just a bit of reving would make it go away, and then the next day it was a different story. 

I'm going to do a fresh oil change, and put in a new low pressure sensor. The last oil change I did was in November, 2011. 

Any help/suggestions/comments would be really appreciated. 

EDIT: 

I changed both the low pressure sensor and the high pressure sensor and the problem has dissapeared (so far)...


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