Club 80-90 Forums

recently bought my syncro and on the way home 10 miles or so oil warning light came on and also sounded a buzzer. van has now been serviced and again buzzer went of only for a split second,anyone any ideas, dont want to cause any serious damage if this is an oil pressure problem.

Can be down to any one of or combinations of quality/quantity of oil, oil filter, oil pressure, pressure sensors, buzzer circuits and wiring faults including the pcb in the speedo pod.

Make sure you have the right quality oil and a decent oil filter for starters; then get the pressure checked; after that your into sensors and electrickery...

What engine? What miles?

What oil has been used?

Could be any number of none critical things, but could also be very critical..

Mine does that on Telegraph Hill near Exeter (anyone in the SW should know it) everytime. Never goes off anywhere else, only when bus is working hard a motorway speeds & is then presented with a good hard slog to climb. I have put slightly thicker (high milage) oil in but it still does it.

I also have the more sensitive (1.7 bar...?) oil sender in.

It can't be electrical as I can pretty well predict what speed & hill is enough to set it off. I was thinking it must be the oil pump is slightly worn as when the oil is really hot (thin) it must allow some to creep back.

If I dip the clutch & rev it the buzzer will stop.

How does that sound? What do you think?

Karl... IT WILL end in tears.... (what normally happens is the oil pressure drops and the rod bearings nip and throws the rod out the case, making a very large mess and making the engine unrecoverable..)

The pump is prob not that worn.. its a combination of high oil temp and a pi$$ poor oil system design.. I have a mod that will be incorporated into any engine I build to improve it and they will have extra oil coolers..

Its taken a while to learn about some of the silly things that go on in a wbx... but I am about there...
use a 15w50 or 20w50, or if you can get it (and afford it) castrol edge 10w60 (the only oil approved for latest BMW M series)
dont push it so hard either... oh and now the colder weather is here, is it still doing it?

The oil warmer on the 2.1's isnt very good at getting rid of the heat.. I have seen 128deg on the oil filter and thats in a 78bhp DG syncro...

Hmmmm. I can't afford anymore tears.

Are you saying I should be fitting a extra oil cooler?

How do you go about that? Are there kits available?

Its a good engine (so-far) with v good compression readings & would hate to lose it over not fitting something simple. Why do you doubt its the pump?

Well.. I cant say for sure the pump isnt at fault, but they are pretty good.. reliable etc..

Yes an extra oil cooler would be a good move... I think Brickwerks has one for the wbx, but I can also source one (sourcing in prep for some engines I am building!!)
PM'd yer..

toomanytoys wrote: Yes an extra oil cooler would be a good move... I think Brickwerks has one for the wbx, but I can also source one (sourcing in prep for some engines I am building!!)
PM'd yer..

I have them for proper engines, Diesels, not them crappy WBX things.

this buzzer problem sometimes happens on mine too, only after coming off a motorway, usually on the slip road. hasn't done it for a while now though. seemed to do it more if i'd recently topped the oil up.

Simon Baxter wrote:

toomanytoys wrote: Yes an extra oil cooler would be a good move... I think Brickwerks has one for the wbx, but I can also source one (sourcing in prep for some engines I am building!!)
PM'd yer..

I have them for proper engines, Diesels, not them crappy WBX things.

get back int shed and fix those dweezels you muppet....

Propper engine ........

Had mine come on the M4 near Newbury, Pulled over stopped engine restart no buzzer, until you hit 2500RPM. Put up with it all the way to the forest of Dean

Turned out to be the spade connector had come of the pressure switch and was going down to earth on the engine casing. the wire was also melted which was making a connection to earth. Now replaced with high temp wire. This could cause intermittent fault?

As for the wife driving the syncro imagine my face when I here from her mobile "I've just had it up to ninety" The horror!!! [Wife "Yes, because I wanted to get home to see him"]

Iwould like to thank everyone for their usefull information its given me plenty to think about and try,fingers crossed will let you know which one works.

this buzzer problem sometimes happens on mine too, only after coming off a motorway, usually on the slip road. hasn't done it for a while now though. seemed to do it more if i'd recently topped the oil up.

That's about par for the course for WBX's - its probably not so much the pump waering as tolerances building up a round the journal bearings throughout the engine... and yes, it can go on for ages with no problem until the bottom end gets a bit fed up with it... I'd not rule out 20-50 in summer or an oil cooler... but first make sure the heat-exchanger/cooler is gettinga good supply of water.

Read this re: the DOPWS...

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... l_pressure
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... ure_survey

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Pe ... wing_a_rod

I have the same problem with my diesel engine. I road tested the van before I bought it & everything was good.

When I went to pick it up, after a few minutes the oil light came on & started buzzing. The owner said it was probably the switch & earthed the wire to stop it making a noise.

I just bought both new oil senders from GSF & fitted them. Great, no problem. I have a working oil light & no buzzing noise.

I went out on a drive & after 5 minutes the damn buzzer has and oil light have come on again! I am fairly sure it is an electrical fault as it drives fine & water temp is below half way.

Are the GSF switches to blame? It's the one on the oil pump that feeds the buzzer. It was a light grey one, now is a beige colour.

My head is still buzzing too after an hour of that!!!

Pete Nice wrote:My head is still buzzing too after an hour of that!!!

Oh the joys!