Club 80-90 Forums

1.9 wbx water cooled petrol
Heading north with my oil leak which got worse. AA came out and identified oil pressure switch leaking and fixed it.
Got under way but oil warning light came on and buzzer. Continued but saw smoke. Have stopped and found oil dripping from air filter. Opened up and a cupful of oil in filter box. And a soggy filter.
May have overfilled last night but all ran OK when AA man with us.

Have I damaged engine and oil coming up past pistons and working way out from somewhere into air filter.

In that air filter is oiled up will that be causing an issue so should I leave out and run with no air filter.

Any thoughts would be very much appreciated
Thanks
J

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Engine out and pull the heads. Head gasket (o rings) my guess. Too much oil.


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What in the lay by [FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY]

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Not sure that should have been tears of joy. Can I run with no air filter?

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Yes you can

Waiting for AA wondering whether wrong switch has been fitted which my explain buzzer. AA fitted LOPS035
This is the old one which looks grey. Can't see colour of new one.


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Colour of new one is black

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Thanks for all advice. Switch changed. Oil filter replaced. Oil level reset and back on the road. Or more correctly sitting in a field with a glass of wine as sun begins to set.
Time will tell whether engine has survived the mistreatment.

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Hi Jonathan,

there are 2 OP switches on these so not sure which one you are referring to, but if you want to research what the colours mean (there are 4 options ) and which one you need have a read of this over on the Brickwerks site https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/brickwerks ... -switches/

Ref oil in the air filter, the only way I can think that would happen is if crankcase pressure was blowing oil back up the breather tube into the air filter.....

Maybe due to overfill, but can probably tell by starting engine and taking oil filler cap of, you always get a bit of blow/air pressure but if it is blowing hard then that would indicate worn rings/excessive crankcase pressure.

Struggling to think what else would cause that problem.....

Cheers,

MM

On my 2.1 WBX I seem to remember noticing a bit of well patina'd and what looks like standard factory fitted plumbing connected into the intake system which I surmised at the time to draw air from the crank case. If this was the case and is the same or similar on the 1.9 WBX then in the case of overfilling this would surely enable splashed oil rather than just oil mist into the induction system as I think was described. If this was the case and everything seems good now then no mystery and push on tentatively until the little worry niggle fades away from your mind. Incidentally if I fill my WBX up to the top of the marked range it seems to drop to the middle fairly quickly and the go on for months and months hardly going down at all.
Thinks: Must spend more time on the Bentley's Manual. Maybe I should keep it in the Throne Room.
CS

Reset oil level at cold to correct.

Fit correct pressure switch from Brickwerks (NOT GSF or Ebay cr@p)

Run engine to clear overfilled oil through carb.

It's a common mistake to check the oil when hot and find there's next to none there ... when it's been running the oil hides in the corners of the engine. I have been guilty of falling for this one about 10 years ago when the oil pressure switch lead had fallen off.

Ian

What he says ^^^

if you overfill it foams up past oil breather into air filter

need to check the oil buzzer though before driving

Thanks MM and CS I read brickwerks and other articles while waiting for second AA man. Fortunately the second switch cured the buzzer. Although colour was brown not blue, black or grey. I was lucky they could source not one but 2. It was the front switch just under water pump pulley. Apparently they used to be a frequent failure on other VWs so I'm adding it to my spares box. Even though the wrong one was fitted initially it at least stopped the leak. The oil comes out from where the plastic is joined to metal thread. The oil pools in the little trough on the mounting bracket so if you see a little puddle of oil there it's likely to be the switch leaking.

I clearly have to confess that I did overfill in my motorway panic. Misread the dipstick in the dark or underestimated time for hot oil to settle in sump. Not sue what route it took but out into air filter via pipe and also back through engine via carbon intake. Hence smoke. I'm sure mechanics can work out route. It might have been my clogged air filter that caused lumpy running.
Thankfully all sorted and covered 200 miles today and reached our intended destination of Northumberland.

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