# 09 cc oil pressure question



## BORA RSI (Oct 19, 2001)

I already asked this in the tsi forum but after 2 weeks no one said anything. So I'm going to try here. Little over a week ago my oil pressure low warning started beeping at me for couple seconds and went off. I pulled over checked for leaks and the dip stick. Both were good, also no leaks. I left the car standing leveled for couple hours and checked the dipstick again. Was normal again not low at all. Drove fine and no light. On my way home It came back for seconds again than gone. I just had my oil changed at the dealer 1000 miles ago. My car is currently at 94k miles. What could it be? I had the dealer change the oil pressure sensor under the oil filter. Still coming on. Yesterday I had the dealer take off the oil pan to see if there's anything clogged. They found some aluminum metal shavings. They said it's not the pump. I changed my oil at the dealer every 5k. of course the dealer said I need a new engine. What could it be? Anyone experience this? Is there a second oil sensor? 

Thanks all


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## CC'ed (Dec 1, 2009)

Did the dealer use the correct viscosity oil??

Install an oil pressure gauge where the pressure sensor is (under the oil filter). See what the actual oil pressure is with a warm engine, at idle, and at 3000 RPM. Check if it meets the VW service manual spec limits (sorry don't know what that is). Rule of thumb : should be at least 10PSI at idle, and should be at least 30PSI at 3000 RPM. If the pressure is low, your main bearings, connecting rod bearings, camshaft bearings, or the oil-pump itself is worn. Changing the oil pump is the easiest and cheapest thing to try first.

There is only one oil pressure sensor/switch on the 2.0T


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## BORA RSI (Oct 19, 2001)

Where can I get a oil pressure gauge from? I'm guessing local auto parts store. The dealer did use the right oil. Even after they took the pan off. I called another local shop and the guy told me that the shavings could be from the timing chain. Not much tention making it hit against the cover. I'm soo confused on what it could be. I will try the gauge and see what I get


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## zb44 (May 24, 2014)

i had my oil pressure light come on for about 30 seconds. everything checked out fine. few days later the high pressure fuel pump went out, had to get it replaced along with the module. so may be a good idea to check that. hope you get everything figured out.


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## DaBz1981 (Oct 8, 2010)

what engine is this? 2.0 or 3.6?


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## 01neonrt (Nov 13, 2006)

DaBz1981 said:


> what engine is this? 2.0 or 3.6?


its a 2.0


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## BORA RSI (Oct 19, 2001)

Just did the oil pressure test. Car was warm when I did it. 

At idle it's 5psi
At 3000 rpm. It's 45psi

The psi are steady so it's not the pump. 

Anyone know the psi specs for the tsi?


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## CC'ed (Dec 1, 2009)

5 PSI at idle is not enough.....
The Service Manual does not specify a minimum oil pressure at idle. The service manual says the minimum oil pressure is 38 PSI at 2000 RPM, with 80C oil temperature. The oil pressure warning system only lights up the warning light when the RPMs exceed 2000, and the switch has tripped. The switch trips if the oil pressure is less than 20 psi, so if your warning light is ON, your oil pressure is less than 20 PSI at 2000 RPM. Sounds like you have a borderline problem. I would replace your oil pump. If that doesn't fix it, you need some new bearings somewhere (crank, connecting rod, or camshaft).


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## BORA RSI (Oct 19, 2001)

Hmmm. I kept it at 3000 rpm for a bit and the 45 stayed steady. I guess at 2000 rpm it would have been about the 38. 

It's odd tho I took 5 he car to a local shop to take a look at it tomorrow. It's 12 miles from my house. The oil pressure warning came on 31 times. Car drives fine tho. I'm still in shock of how this could have happened. How involved are the above bearings? Can I do em my self or should I have a shop do it?


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## bojcman2506 (Apr 27, 2018)

BORA RSI said:


> Hmmm. I kept it at 3000 rpm for a bit and the 45 stayed steady. I guess at 2000 rpm it would have been about the 38.
> 
> It's odd tho I took 5 he car to a local shop to take a look at it tomorrow. It's 12 miles from my house. The oil pressure warning came on 31 times. Car drives fine tho. I'm still in shock of how this could have happened. How involved are the above bearings? Can I do em my self or should I have a shop do it?


i know this is an older post, i have a 2009 vw CC with the same problem you had, did you find out what was the problem?


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## CC'ed (Dec 1, 2009)

It could also be the balance shaft bearings. There were a few instances/posts of people who traced their low oil pressure problem to worn (or spun) balance shaft bearings. There are some design issues with these bearings on early 2.0T EA888 engines, that VW has later updated the design. Do some forum searches on "balance shaft"......

See post #3 in the below thread:
http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9109561-09-Tiguan-Oil-Sensor


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## [email protected] (Jun 11, 2014)

CC'ed said:


> It could also be the balance shaft bearings. There were a few instances/posts of people who traced their low oil pressure problem to worn (or spun) balance shaft bearings. There are some design issues with these bearings on early 2.0T EA888 engines, that VW has later updated the design. Do some forum searches on "balance shaft"......
> 
> See post #3 in the below thread:
> http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?9109561-09-Tiguan-Oil-Sensor


Hit the nail right on the head. I had these symptoms and it was the front balance shaft that was failing on my car.

Also worth noting, I have been tracking all of the cars that we get in my shop that have this failure, and I've noticed that they're all 2009 Passats, CCs or Tiguans.
This makes sense as the engines for those models would have been built at the same facility by Audi (the TSI is an Audi designed engine, just as the FSI was designed by VW).
In addition, all of those cars are basically the same car underneath (PQ46 chassis, not PQ35 like Mk5, Wikipedia needs to be updated), so the engine production run would be the same for all of them.


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## racerCC47 (Jul 16, 2015)

I have had this issue as well, mostly in stop and go traffic after the engine is hot. I'm old school and stopped and put in a bottle of STP oil treatment the last time it happened. Its been about 2 months since I have seen it happen again. My 2010 CC has 185000 miles on it so I'm sure its probably the balance shaft issue. I plan to keep fresh thick oil in her and drive until she blows !


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## [email protected] (Jun 11, 2014)

racerCC47 said:


> I have had this issue as well, mostly in stop and go traffic after the engine is hot. I'm old school and stopped and put in a bottle of STP oil treatment the last time it happened. Its been about 2 months since I have seen it happen again. My 2010 CC has 185000 miles on it so I'm sure its probably the balance shaft issue. I plan to keep fresh thick oil in her and drive until she blows !


The balance shaft issue unfortunately cannot be fixed by thickening the oil. If anything, putting thicker oil into the car will put more stress on the balance shaft assemblies (not significantly, but heavier weight oil is heavier).
The added pressure would more than likely exacerbate the issue and cause the shafts to fail faster.
Also, in my experience, the failure seems to be related to the older balance shaft design just being bad. I say this because we have replaced the shafts on cars with mileage all over the place.
Almost all of the vehicles that have had the failures had them occur under 100k mileage though.

Putting in thicker oil or a treatment that thickens it is going to naturally increase oil pressure. Remember, oil pressure is basically just the measure of resistance to flow.
That STP oil treatment stuff is thicc (yes, with two CCs!) and will improve your compression as well. It's possible that you may have worn piston rings. Have you done a compression test with normal 5w40 oil in it?


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## racerCC47 (Jul 16, 2015)

[email protected] said:


> The balance shaft issue unfortunately cannot be fixed by thickening the oil. If anything, putting thicker oil into the car will put more stress on the balance shaft assemblies (not significantly, but heavier weight oil is heavier).
> The added pressure would more than likely exacerbate the issue and cause the shafts to fail faster.
> Also, in my experience, the failure seems to be related to the older balance shaft design just being bad. I say this because we have replaced the shafts on cars with mileage all over the place.
> Almost all of the vehicles that have had the failures had them occur under 100k mileage though.
> ...


Thanks for your input. Thoughts to ponder for sure. I'm sure there is wear all thru the engine with so many miles, but no, I have not had a compression check performed. I am a salesman and drive 35,000 miles each year. I buy clean used cars with high miles, for low dollars because I do put so many miles on them. I see no use in buying new to put that kind of mileage on. But I love this car so much, if it needs a new engine at some point, Ill give her what she needs and keep her.


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## [email protected] (Jun 11, 2014)

racerCC47 said:


> Thanks for your input. Thoughts to ponder for sure. I'm sure there is wear all thru the engine with so many miles, but no, I have not had a compression check performed. I am a salesman and drive 35,000 miles each year. I buy clean used cars with high miles, for low dollars because I do put so many miles on them. I see no use in buying new to put that kind of mileage on. But I love this car so much, if it needs a new engine at some point, Ill give her what she needs and keep her.


I hear ya. The CC is definitely one of those cars that once you own one for a little while, it's very easy to get attached.

The Gen 1 TSI engine isn't horrible when it's running right and everything has been updated, but they can definitely be a bit temperamental at times.
I just wish VW would have made them a bit more reliable out of the box.


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## der58sc (Feb 4, 2010)

so my 2013 CC is doing this same issue. Oil pressure light comes on and then goes away. I just changed the oil and filter 500 miles ago. It was coming on with 2500 miles left on the oil that was in there so I changed the oil and filter thinking the old oil and crappy oil filter I put on was the issue. I put a good filter and the correct oil in it only to have it come on twice today. 

So is this an oil pump issue or sensor? I would hate to spend all the time to change the pump only to find out that it isn't it.


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## Pappyhouse (8 mo ago)

I know this is a an older thread but my daughter has a 2010 CC with 172k miles. The oil pressure light would come on intermittently. I put a Guage on it and it held a steady 25 psi at idle and 42 psi at 2000 rpm. The light STILL came on a and the sensor wasn't even on the car. Any thoughts?


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## OEMplusCC (Jan 27, 2013)

Pappyhouse said:


> I know this is a an older thread but my daughter has a 2010 CC with 172k miles. The oil pressure light would come on intermittently. I put a Guage on it and it held a steady 25 psi at idle and 42 psi at 2000 rpm. The light STILL came on a and the sensor wasn't even on the car. Any thoughts?


I am not sure but the oil light does not only show up for oil pressure. Could be because your sensor was unplugged as well. I would scan the car and see what codes you have in there

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk


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## redwolf1173 (6 mo ago)

Just to add some more to this already old thread...

I'm having oil pressure issues on a 2010 GTI. Shop couldn't determine the cause and did not want to take it in due to labor shortages. In my garage, it's currently sitting without the oil pan, baffle, oil pump, and other components on lower end of engine. These are my observations:

Car struggles to start but when it does it's a rough idle. 
Oil pressure warning light turns on shortly after and stays on.
Normal oil levels and good, clean oil and filter.
Oil pressure switch good.
Normal operating temp.
Normal fuel consumption.
Nothing broken in oil pan. No metal shavings, no plastic bits of any kind. 
Did find shimmering bits floating in the oil that resembled the bits in metallic paint.
Oil pump looks mint.
Pickup tube screen had some debris from a ****ty decarb job my cousin did (couple of walnut shell bits) but nothing metallic.
Problem started immediately following the decarb job.
I'm wondering if I have one or both balance shafts going bad? The rough idle makes me think I do. I've also read about worn main bearings causing low oil pressure, but are there other symptoms for bad bearings? Could it also be the oil pump and how does one test the pump?


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## DannyDigital (Nov 22, 2004)

Did you find a solution? Did walnut shavings get into the head?


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## CC'ed (Dec 1, 2009)

When the decarb job was done, was the oil filter not installed at the time (when the intake manifold was removed). If so, the walnut shell blasting media may have gotten into the open oil filter housing, clogging internal passages. Unless the oil fill cap was also removed at the time of blasting, the oil filter housing would be the only other way that walnut shells got into the oil pan.


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## redwolf1173 (6 mo ago)

CC'ed said:


> When the decarb job was done, was the oil filter not installed at the time (when the intake manifold was removed). If so, the walnut shell blasting media may have gotten into the open oil filter housing, clogging internal passages. Unless the oil fill cap was also removed at the time of blasting, the oil filter housing would be the only other way that walnut shells got into the oil pan.


That is, in fact, what happened. The oil filter was not in place during the decarb. My cousin assured me he had the opening closed with shop rags but evidently whatever he had in there did not prevent walnut medium from getting in. I guess the question now is, does the engine need to come off in order to clear out all the passages? And what would be the best method to ensure all contaminants are out of the lubrication system before putting everything back together?


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