flickering oil light...

[Emma&Al]

My van has done this 3 times in total.

I drove for near on an hour the other day and about 10 mins before I arrived at my destination, I noticed the oil light flickering (not consistently).
About 5 minutes more and it started to flash and didnt really go off.
The van was then stationary for the next 5 days ( I was at a festival).
When I started my van up, it was fine - no sign of the light until around about 45mins into the journey - then the same thing happened.

It happened about a year ago, when I mistakenly thought my oil LEVEL was low and kept topping up the entire journey. I took the van to the garage because the exhaust appeared to be smoking badly. The smoke was actually from the oil landing on the very hot exhaust and it wasn't coming actually out of the exhaust. The garage said I had an oil leak and that they had to drain at least a few pints of oil out and changed a few rubber pipes. The oil light didnt come on again (that was a year ago)until a few days ago.

So I did a search here and read some posts saying that it could be the oil pressure switch...or it could be that I need to get the oil pressure tested. I'm not sure what to do now.

[mbcamper]

I've been through this recently! So what engine to you have?

When the oil light flickers, is this when you are driving under load, or when the engine is at idle?

When I spoke to Brickwerks about this, they recommended getting an oil pressure test done to be sure. However be confident you are using a quality pressure gauge. I got a cheap one from ebay which showed low readings when it was actually fine. Caused me all sorts of trouble until I worked out the gauge was faulty!

I'm assuming you've checked the oil level is correct.

[Emma&Al]

Hi Mbcamper - thanks for your reply. I have a 2.1 fuel injected petrol. It started flickering when I was driving under load, but then stopped. Then started again when I was sitting at traffic lights. Then again, under load.
Weirdly (and pretty stupidly) I've not checked the oil level! Mainly because I've been parked on a hill for the past 2 days but also that I was told that it wasn't to do with the oil level..but the oil pressure? But I have to be honest, Im confused about it all as I've had conflicting advise.

So first thing - check oil level.
Id like to check the oil pressure - how much was your gauge? I don't know what to look for and what may be good or bad.

Thanks for your help

[mbcamper]

So yes definitely check oil level on the flat at you correctly say. If your oil level is badly low, this could be the cause; but let's hope this isn't the case!

As for an oil pressure gauge I got one from here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Engine-Oil-Pr ... Sw~OVWyMuh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So this is NOT a recommendation, the pressure gauge was useless and caused me lots of hassle!

Getting at the oil pressure switch is a bit fiddly. You need to remove the push rod guard from the left hand side of the engine. This involves releasing a couple of the exhaust retaining nuts which can be fun. The sensor is between the pushrods and you'll need a long reach 24mm socket to remove it. Insert a pressure gauge and you hope for the best! If it's fine you can replace the oil pressure switch which will cost you about £5.

Oil pressure should be 2 bar at 2000rpm when the engine is up to temperature.

[Emma&Al]

Thanks for that info, thats really helpful for me.
Ill check the level first thing tomorrow morning. I have to drive an hour and half round trip tomorrow.

[itchyfeet]

I have a similar cheap oil pressure gauge and it's fine.
If you buy one I suggest checking it against something else, this is a car tyre rigged up to a easybleed kit to check the gauge reads right.

this looks like the one I have but no guarantees either.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BERGEN-12pc-O ... OSwuYVWp48~" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[itchyfeet]

one more thing
A late van should have a buzzer which should sound above 2000 rpm is pressure is low.
check it works by disconnecting the high pressure switch and revving over 2000 rpm

its possible is has been knobled by grounding the wire to the dash, this sometimes gets done when it false alarms and somebody could not be bothered to fix it

[Emma&Al]

Ah thanks itchy feet, i keep hearing people talk about a buzzer and wondered why I didnt have one.
So I took the van out today for a 2 hour round trip - no sign of the light, not even a flicker. It was running slightly odd at the end of the journey though, the revs were dropping and coming back again when it was idling (could this be connected or not remotely?!) It was a much cooler day today than last week too.
Oil level seems to be OK.

What next?

[itchyfeet]

what next, you havent done what's been suggested yet

[kevtherev]

Indeed, first things first!

[mbcamper]

So it's good you have oil in your engine, but you need to answer the question about why that light was flickering.

Low oil pressure is bad, so you should find out why the light was flickering. The only way to be sure is to measure it with a gauge. A garage will do this for you if you don't want to get a pressure gauge; although the pressure gauge will cost you less than the labour costs!

Whilst you are looking around you should find out what oil pressure switches are on your van. As it's a fuel injection model (a later van), I think it should have 2 sensors. One which check for pressure over 0.3bar which is between the pushrod covers as I described above. The other is a 0.9bar (sometimes higher) sensor which makes the buzzer go off when the pressure is less than 0.9bar and over 2000rpm. Both switches have brown wires from the engine, and they go to a 2 way plug. The 0.9bar switch has a yellow wire and the 0.3bar switch goes to a blue/black wire. Check that the 0.9bar sensor (yellow wire) hasn't been earthed as this is a sign of a bodge to hide low oil pressure! This could have happened in the engine bay, or at the instrument panel.

You can find out more by reading this: https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/brickwerks ... -switches/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; the article contains good advice; i.e. check your oil pressure.

[silverbullet]

Back to basics. The oil switches (and the engine temperature sender too) rely on good earth return to work correctly.
So if you have a rotten earth braid (two should be fitted: front end of transmission and left hand cylinder head to body) this wont help.
Next is the earth wire for the oil pressure switches. Its brown (all earth wires are brown to VW/DIN standards) and has two legs, one to each switch and a small white male/female plug which lays on top of the left side of the engine. The terminals frequently go green and cause high resistance.
The leg of the earth wire for the switch between the pushrods has to pass close to the #3 exhaust (by the thermostat housing) and can get melted if its been fitted carelessly, causing a short to earth. This can set off the buzzer, so it may have been interefered with by a.n.other.

Sent by Morse code from the bunker