Slightly concerned - the last time my oil light flashed on the instrument cluster I ended up with an engine rebuild!! Anyway the facts; 1 - Car has been garaged with no oil for approx 1 month. 2 - Fresh oil poured in to the correct level on the dipstick. 3 - Engine was cranked and kicked into life and everything was hunky-dory. 4 - Ran for about one minute and noticed the oil light flashing away despite the oil level on the dipstick being fine on second check. (I usually disconnect the coil for a few turns if the car has been unused for a while then re-connect once the oil has been circulated round the lump. However on this occasion with the new oil running through the engine I assumed it would enter all the orifices.) 5 - The car does have a funny stance at the moment with coilovers only installed at the front and rears being installed tomorrow, but somehow I doubt the slight incline at the rear would make the oil light flash. Any ideas dubbers - tad concerned - thanx
im pretty sure the oil warning is a buzzer not a light(can someone else confirm that) and i think it might be your water level light flashing which could be a case of knackered sensor in the expansion tank or dodgy wiring to the tank, or dodgy clocks, i had this problem and mine turned out to be the motometer clocks which i replaced with a vdo set. hth.
The oil warning system has two stages, low and high pressure. Low is for idle speeds and requires about 0.5 bar, if this is too low/faulty it will illuminate the light. For engine speeds above 2000rpm the oil pressure should be greater than 2 bar I think. Any less will make the light flash as well as setting off the nasty buzzer!
its probably because it sat with no oil for ages, the pump has drained and needs re-priming. if you're lucky you can spin the oil pump and eventually it'll prime up, ive heard peeps use an electric drill with some random bits on it to drive the oil pump shaft under the dizzy direct. take out a oil pressure switch and spin it over till oil comes out, hold a rag over it tho as it could spray out with some force if this doesn't help some have had success pouring some oil down the oil pressure switch holes on filter housing, but its not going to be easy. other option is to whip off the sump and drop the pump. fill it with oil from the top and spin it by hand with the picup in some oil to check its pumping, then block the strainer with vaseline to stop it draning and bolt it all back up.
i recon a small funnel with a long hose going down into the oil pressure switch hole should do the trick. thats how ive been planning to do it when the time comes
So basically the oil is not circulating properly... I have heard of the drill/ dizzy trick somewhere before - probably here! As long as the warning light is not a sign of impeding doom of my engine self destructing from blown bearings / lack of lubricant I can live with that. Thanx for the replies going to assess my options - keep you posted >>>>>>>> popped the dizzy off for some drill action and after 10-15 seconds I could fill the resistance increase with the oil being sucked into the pump. Roughly reset timing & started first time with no nasty oil warning light flashing happy days - thanx rubjonny.
my cars similar, oil pressure buzzer sounds, and a quick blip witht he throttle and she stops, oil getting to top of engine no problem, tho there is a blueish smoke which i figured was valve stem seals, are these 2 things related, or can i change the switch. which switch will i change, the high or low pressure?
Not having looked at the pump on a VW but on most others the way to prime the system from empty on newly rebuilt engines or new pumps was to pack the pump with vaseline, then the system will prime on startup. Worked every time for me! Stewart
could do that i spose, i like to fill pump with oil and physically turn it so i can see that it is actually pumping oil out the top. ive never bothered blockign the end with vaseline either after doing that, just fit to engine then put the sump straight on
