Club 80-90 Forums

Hey everyone,

Sorry to start my first post with a cry for help but here it goes......

Meet Horace. He's a 2.1 Caravelle on a 89 G reg. I've been wanting one for at least a year, didn't bother doing any homework, spotted him for sale a few days ago and just charged in and bought him on a dark night

Problem is - he's not very well I done a good half hour test drive with him when I bought him and then done nearly two hours worth of driving home and he didn't skip a beat. The next day while doing a short journey I noticed he's temp gauge climbing above the middle position, about five minutes later the oil pressure light came on followed by the warning buzzer. I've checked the coolant level and all is fine though the engine bay does feel excessively hot with that sort of burning oil/overheating smell. There is an oil leak or two but the oil level looks good. I've checked the oil pressure switches and the wiring is shot - someone has been messing in this department and an already crappy repair is now falling apart. The wire for the sensor under the head wasn't connected and the wire for the sensor behind the pulleys was melted and stuck to the block in places. When I connect the broken wire the oil light flashes constantly with no buzzer. When I connect the wire for the switch behind pulleys all is well for a few minutes and then I get oil light with buzzer.

I know there's a good chance the oil pressure is ok and it's the shoddy wiring that's causing the problem but I'm concerned about the overheating issue too. There is no sign of coolant loss - I've got good heat coming from the dashboard vents and the engine sounds sweet with no knocking. I ran the engine today while the van was parked just to see if the electric fan would kick in - It did but the temp gauge went up to the last white line and the red warning light came on followed by the oil light followed by the oil pressure warning buzzer

The van is booked for Monday at my local garage but I guess I was just looking for some reassurance that Horace might have a chance of pulling through without a transplant of some kind.

I bought the grey oil pressure switch but the blue one was out of stock at my local shop today. I tried to get the grey one out but couldn't get to it. Looks like a pulley will need to come off but didn't have time today.

What do you think? I'd like to spend some money on this van but don't want to waste at the same time. I'll ask the garage to do an oil pressure test a compression test and a cooling system pressure test along with coolant gas check. Am I doing the right thing here? If all is good with the engine I can progress with the pressure switches and oil leaks. Do these engines ever stop leaking oil or is there always something dripping?

Sorry for the long post. Great site by the way, already been very helpful. I'm looking forward to getting Horace on his feet and meeting some like minded nutters with dodgy vans

Welcome to the club.

My temperature gauge sits just to the right of the red light. Did you fan kick in?

To give you some confidence in the oil pressure I would substitute the oil warning wiring until you can repair it. Put a wire from the battery positive to the cab, add a bulb then continue it to the pressure switch (it's on the lhs between the push rod tubes on a 1.9 petrol). The bulb should be on until you start the engine. As the pressure build the pressure switch will break the circuit causing the light to go out. If it stays on suspect low oil pressure.

I'd recommend you get to know your van and the Haynes manual. I'd change the oil, oil filter, coolant, fuel filter, air filter and spark plugs. This will give you a good maintenance baseline to work from. Doing this will help your knowledge and reduce garage costs.

Asking your garage to do the tests you mentioned certainly won't do any harm but why do you need them to be done? From what you have said, the oil warning is probably due to the duff wiring. Personally if i was paying a garage for testing I'd ask for a compression test to give an indication of the engines wear and an emissions test to indicate the efficiency.

These vans getting old, they leak a bit and smell a bit but with good TLC and research on this site you can keep your van reliable. I find that when things go wrong the T3 will give fair warning allowing you to limp home before it all goes 'orrible.

Good luck and let us know how it's all progressing.

BM

And a new auxiliary belt, dalek cap, on the shopping list too. Loads to do when buying an old van but priority has to be 'prevention rather than cure'. Ensure all components of the cooling system are operating satisfactory, this includes checking to see if the bleed ring around the hatch isn't blocked. Just by coming on here you've extended the life of the van's engine - no word of a lie

Start with a new earth strap from body to the LH head and the one at the front of the transmission, then take a good look at the earth "crowns" screwed to the A post just above the relay board and behind the dash on the LHS.
A poor earth return to the dash from the engine will trigger the buzzer and skew the gauge readings.

If the engine is overheating then the oil pressure will drop, so don't go chasing bad wiring/oil senders etc, just try & sort the overheating out

Windy, I agree that overheating can cause the oil pressure to drop however the OP has stated that the gauge went past the middle mark - he didn't state where it ended and whether the radiator fan kicked in. I agree that, if the fan kicked in, then it is overheating as the fan is an independent system. He stated that the oil pressure wiring is damaged and 'stuck to the block in places' - thus if the wiring is going to earth the oil warning light will come on giving a false indication.

OP - we need a little bit more information to help you ensure the engine is safe to start again and then if to run up to operating temperature.

Bleed it first...or
Change the thermostat(or leave it out for testing) then see if it still overheats.

Over heating will warp heads..which is another can of worms you can do without.

So cure that first.