Have i bought the wrong oil pressure switch?

[chriscburgess]

1984 - 1.9DG

I have just replaced my oil pressure switch - the one that sits between the pushrods at the bottom of the engine. The old one was leaking a bit - turned out it had no washer but GSF only sold the whole switch so i thought i may as well replace it anyway.

The guy at GSF asked what colour it was and i laughed because i thought he was joking. So he gave me a blue one. I now read on the forum that are indeed different colours and they do different things.

But what i am not clear about is what colour switch i should have. The one i took out was black and attached to a brown wire.

[California Dreamin]

I replaced one on mine a few weeks ago, I didn't know either so bought both options and returned the one I didn't use.
ALL these are marked (stamped) with their operating pressure, so just look at your old one and match the pressure with the replacement part. Mine was the LOW pressure 0.9bar switch.

Martin

[tencentlife]

I get blue ones that have the same specs as the brown ones. As stated, check the specs that are imprinted on the metal body of the switch. Also, check that the switch has continuity at rest (put an ohmmeter between the tab and the body), it should be a Normally-Closed switch that opens at the spec pressure (the reason to check is that the hi-OP switch used on later Vanagons is a Normally-Open switch, they were grey in color).

What I find remarkable is that you apparently were considering R&R'ing the old switch just to replace a sealing washer, when these switches are well known to seep with age and eventually fail catastrophically (more than one engine has been destroyed by the sudden and total emigration of all the oil onto the nearest ground) and a brand-new one costs so very little.

[kevtherev]

Mine was the LOW pressure 0.9bar switch.

Martin

I always thought..

0.3 bar is low pressure and blue (Meyle) 028 919 081 D (between the pushrods) ... 0.9 bar is high and grey (Meyle) 068 919 081 A (Next to oil pump)

[Ian Hulley]

I find it incredible that after all the threads on duff GSF oil pressure & coolant senders that anyone on here would still actually buy one

[chriscburgess]

"What I find remarkable is that you apparently were considering R&R'ing the old switch just to replace a sealing washer, when these switches are well known to seep with age and eventually fail catastrophically (more than one engine has been destroyed by the sudden and total emigration of all the oil onto the nearest ground) and a brand-new one costs so very little."

So not everyone has the same amount of knowledge hence the need for a forum....and I could see there was oil coming from somewhere around the switch but i was not aware that they are well known to seep with age and you never know how much these things will cost until you ask - obvioulsy when i found out the price of anew switch it was a no brainer!

Also did not know that the GSF ones are supposed to be duff.

However thanks to those of you with the more helpful replies.