Club 80-90 Forums

my 1986 2.1 Auto Sleeper is making a strange buzzing noise when driving, when you indicate it gets louder but when you put the main beam on its very loud and quite annoying. Any ideas please???

Start the camper and its fine but drive away and within a few hundred yards it starts a low buzzing from the dash/ instruments.

Help please.....any
Frank

Around 86/87 a low oil pressure warning system was fitted. The buzzer for this system is in the speedometer housing ( behind the speedo dial). The first thing you need to check is wether the buzzing is from the speedo housing (yours may not have one anyway but best to check). Ther are no other devices that I know of that buzz unless some sort of additional buzzer was fitted by a previous owner.

Since it seems to be linked to using flashers/headlights Its down to tracing the location of the sound and having a look. Does the buzzing sound happen when you are stationary and does it happen with engine off but ignition on and headlights /flashers operated?

Sounds like a wiring issue, but if it's the buzzer or doom (low oil pressure) don't drive it until you either solve it or are 200% sure it's a malfunction and not the real thing.
Check the plug on the dash head, and the earth crown by the fuse box

Hi Guys,
Thanks for the information.
When you sit at idle or rev the engine up she is fine, however if you drive off you get a low hum form the dash. That increases and decreases as the flashers go on and off. However if you put the main beam on, its very loud.??
I will have to have a drive about with the dash opened up and try and locate the sound.

This buzzer of doom, does it come on before the oil pressure light?? the van has been driven 1200 miles like it. I didn't even know it was doing it untill one of our customers told me. When its daytime you dont have any electrical load on so all you hear is a low hum . I just though its what these things do.

QUESTION:
Does the Buzzer of doom work before the oil pressure light comes on or....do they work together. My Oil pressure light goes out once you start the engine

Frank

Before 1986/87 the oil pressure LED was just ON with ignition and OFF with engine started. Does your oil pressure LED flash with ignition on or is it non flashing?

Later vans with the oil pressure Buzzer warning system have a flashing red oi pressure LED which goes out once the engine is started. The buzzer, if fitted, sounds if the oil pressure is lower than desirable at 2000 RPM or above. The buzzer is loud once triggered. The buzzer is not connected to any other circuit other than the 12v and earth connections (and Rev counter if fitted) to the dashboard.

AngeloEvs wrote:Before 1986/87 the oil pressure LED was just ON with ignition and OFF with engine started. Does your oil pressure LED flash with ignition on or is it non flashing?

Later vans with the oil pressure Buzzer warning system have a flashing red oi pressure LED which goes out once the engine is started. The buzzer, if fitted, sounds if the oil pressure is lower than desirable at 2000 RPM or above. The buzzer is loud once triggered. The buzzer is not connected to any other circuit other than the 12v and earth connections (and Rev counter if fitted) to the dashboard.

Thanks.
No it doesn't flash!. however some one has fitted a gauge pod in the dash tidy and along with it an Orange Oil Pressure light.
I haven't seen the one in the dash work.
The humming / buzzing sound only starts once you drive off. If you stop and turn the ignition of and restart...nothing. No buzzing untill you drive off again even if you rev the engine.??
Seems to be no Oil light on when driving and she has done 1200 miles with the problem up some steep Scottish mountain roads . however I'm going to get her booked into a VW garage to check the oil pressure.

what exactly does the bOD sound like. the sound i have almost sounds like a relay that has started to fail??
Thanks again,
Frank

Sunnyside wrote: what exactly does the bOD sound like. the sound i have almost sounds like a relay that has started to fail??

Like the old fashioned buzzer people sometimes fitted in their homes instead of chimes for the doorbell (more commonly used in commercial reception areas to call someone to the desk). Quite loud.

If it's not the full volume, it might be picking up a small voltage via the other equipment being energised. I'd give the earth crowns behind the glove box a clean up - might cure it and certainly won't do any harm...

the BoD sounds like a failing relay only louder .

1664 wrote:

Sunnyside wrote: what exactly does the bOD sound like. the sound i have almost sounds like a relay that has started to fail??

Like the old fashioned buzzer people sometimes fitted in their homes instead of chimes for the doorbell (more commonly used in commercial reception areas to call someone to the desk). Quite loud.

If it's not the full volume, it might be picking up a small voltage via the other equipment being energised. I'd give the earth crowns behind the glove box a clean up - might cure it and certainly won't do any harm...

Will do

Mocki wrote:the BoD sounds like a failing relay only louder .

thats exactly what it sounds like but it seems to have a volume control when you put electrical items on.

Sunnyside wrote:

Mocki wrote:the BoD sounds like a failing relay only louder .

thats exactly what it sounds like but it seems to have a volume control when you put electrical items on.

as i first said, sounds like a wiring issue , although as you appear to be the victim of a hard of thinking previous owner it could just be bad connections or plain wrong wiring .
BUT you need to be sure it is not BoD and is a error

Mocki wrote:

Sunnyside wrote:

Mocki wrote:the BoD sounds like a failing relay only louder .

thats exactly what it sounds like but it seems to have a volume control when you put electrical items on.

as i first said, sounds like a wiring issue , although as you appear to be the victim of a hard of thinking previous owner it could just be bad connections or plain wrong wiring .
BUT you need to be sure it is not BoD and is a error

It was the BOD. took the dash out and went for a drive. IMO it was ( note I say was) the BOD. It changed firm low hum to relay style vibration/oscillation. Much worse with the lights on and only when driving. Nothing whilst standing still. Once it started then it would stay on untill I switched the engine off. Restart the engine and nothing, even reving it up. I let the engine stand running for over 1/2 hour after a "Spirited Drive" which means I did 70.lol. Hot engine, no oil lights and still a low level hum from the speedo its self. So I did say note I said "was" from the BOD, well I dont have a BOD any more. Its totally disconnected and seeing I dont have a Rev Counter I cant see anything that doesn't work . The spedo is not even electronic. Took it for a test drive and...........silence.lol
However at the nearest opportunity I am going to have an oil pressure check done.
Whats the best viscosity for these old engines/??
Thanks again.

Whatever the cause of the problem is, the buzzer should not be influenced by lights/flashers, etc. It seems like the Oil Pressure warning system has been modified given that an alternative LED is fitted. The Oil pressure LED on Vans (with Oil Pressure warning system) is controlled by the same circuit that enables the buzzer and flashes ON/OFF. Early vans have the LED controlled directly by the OIL Pressure switch.

The later 'Dynamic Oil Pressure System' (DOPS) requires two Oil Pressure switches on the engine - Early vans have just one. The two oil pressure switches, the LED and the buzzer are all part of the electronic circuit that sits in the Speedo. There are many variables that can cause the buzzer to sound incorrectly - poor wiring, oil pressure switches not functioning, faulty electronic module in the speedo and fitting a dashboard designed for later vans on an early van that only has a single oil pressure switch. Your van was registered when VW were introducing the dynamic oil pressure system. Its worth noting that during this changeover, the new style Dashboards were fitted (identified has having an Horizontal Loom connector) but without the DOPS in the speedo and the LED was connected directly to the Oil pressure switch as on previous models.

Best of luck and keep us posted regards your VW garage findings, recommendations.

AngeloEvs wrote:Whatever the cause of the problem is, the buzzer should not be influenced by lights/flashers, etc. It seems like the Oil Pressure warning system has been modified given that an alternative LED is fitted. The Oil pressure LED on Vans (with Oil Pressure warning system) is controlled by the same circuit that enables the buzzer and flashes ON/OFF. Early vans have the LED controlled directly by the OIL Pressure switch.

The later 'Dynamic Oil Pressure System' (DOPS) requires two Oil Pressure switches on the engine - Early vans have just one. The two oil pressure switches, the LED and the buzzer are all part of the electronic circuit that sits in the Speedo. There are many variables that can cause the buzzer to sound incorrectly - poor wiring, oil pressure switches not functioning, faulty electronic module in the speedo and fitting a dashboard designed for later vans on an early van that only has a single oil pressure switch. Your van was registered when VW were introducing the dynamic oil pressure system. Its worth noting that during this changeover, the new style Dashboards were fitted (identified has having an Horizontal Loom connector) but without the DOPS in the speedo and the LED was connected directly to the Oil pressure switch as on previous models.

Best of luck and keep us posted regards your VW garage findings, recommendations.

will do. Thanks.

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slamdunk wrote:Fixed a dodgy earth connection - gone is the buzzer of doom.

if all else fails clean up those earth crowns....