Where's my oil pressure gone?

[shorty943]

This morning I jumped into the D1 (early model) TDi.
(Not driven anywhere for about a week.)
Fired up fine, but, oil pressure light flickers and won't go off, even with a few extra revs.:(
As always, pre start checks done, and oil level is fine.
Current thoughts are; blocked filter, or at worst, some kind of mechanical problem with the oil pump itself. Carbon in the pump rotor or similar?
Added problem, Disco is in the driveway, and wife's car is in the carport.
Can't get the wife's car out to go and buy new filters etc without moving the Disco.:mad:

Ermmmmmm, help?

[Judo]

How many Kms has it done?
How long since last oil change?
How does the oil look? Could it be too thin for some reason?

Also, could just be pressure switch/sensor problem. I'd check electrical connection to sender and engine earth connection. Any other electrical gremlins noticed?

[shorty943]

It's done about 300,000 total.
Last oil change was only last week but didn't change the filter like I normally do.
Checked and cleaned the sensor spade connector.
Still no good.
Only other electrical problem is that over complicated Pioneer Stereo it has, that I can't even work out how to turn on.
Rang my local bloke, he's coming over later this arvo to tow my baby to hospital,
he'll drop a pressure gauge into it for primary checks.
He's fully booked out for the next week though if it is a deeper problem than that.

And it gets worse as the day rolls along.
Wife is away in NZ with her brother till next Thursday, just realised that she took her damned car keys with her.
Going to be fun picking her up next Thursday night at Adelaide Airport if this vehicle refuses to co-operate.

Dammit, it's the Year of the Horse, my birth year, things like this are not supposed to happen this year.

[Tank]

Fit a temp. oil pressure guage and see what is really happening, your oil pressure sender unit may be cactus, that was a waste of good oil, not changing the filter, Regards Frank.

[wrinklearthur]

Use the plastic and get a new filter delivered.

I always change the filter when dropping the oil after 5,000 kilometres.

I agree that the oil pressure sender might be dodgy, new senders are not too dear so fit a new one to determine the fault.

But if that isn't the reason after fitting a new sender, there's a chance that the oil pump might be damaged, it's a slow job pulling the sump off and the front of the engine to fix, much better if the engine is out.

To check to see if the oil pump is scored, take that sender back out and fill the galley with fresh oil using a oil can, replace sender and immediately start the engine, watch to see if the oil light goes out straight away, if it does you are close to finding out what the problem is. But leave it for a couple of hours and repeat as it may have flushed some rubbish through.
.

[shorty943]

Well, it's deeper than just the sender unit unfortunately, she got towed over to the Docs yesterday morning.:(
"Doc" Sanders is our local mechanic.
So, it's back to driving the dreaded Commode Door of the wife's again for a while, and it seems the cash I was saving to buy a small fishing boat will now be spent on the Disco instead.

[Judo]

Bugger. I'm not sure your symptoms are a perfect match, but big end bearings have been known to wear at that many Kms. Let us know.

[wrinklearthur]

It sounds like the oil pump has a score in it's housing, an small bit of carbon can get picked up and gouge a piece out of the housing.

I know about this because I found this problem with a 300 TDi that I was building up for one of my projects ( 'Fred' ).

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/02/990.jpg

The front of the engines has to come apart to get in there and the sump needs to come off as well to remove the oil pickup, so if you want to do a cheap fix you can find a engine that has had head problems and was cooked, then you could have a look at this part, Cover-timing belt-inner, ERR 4664, or if you want new, you could buy from Turner Engineering.

The oil pumps in my opinion don't wear much but those alloy housings do, so take the oil pump out and have a good look at the surfaces in the housing where the side of oil pump runs against.

http://www.turnerengineering.co.uk/acatalog/ERR4664.jpg

Turner Engineering (http://www.turnerengineering.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?page=search&PR=-1&TB=A&SS=ERR+4664&ACTION=Go%21)
.

[shorty943]

The news is better than I suspected thankfully.

My quick and dirty test was faulty. (I really must sort that damned shed of mine out one of these days. It's so cluttered with "stuff" I have to back out just to change my mind.)

Doc put his workshop test pressure rig on it, and oil pressure came up right away.
Bad news is, I have to wait until Monday for the new sensor unit to arrive, and, I asked him to fit a mechanical gauge to it while he's at it.

Sooooooo, looks like in a couple of weeks I can actually buy that little old Hartley half cab with the HUGE old Merc 85 HP 6 after all.

Picture of Disco in "fishing mode" to follow in a couple of weeks.

[wrinklearthur]

(I really must sort that damned shed of mine out one of these days. It's so cluttered with "stuff" I have to back out just to change my mind.) :Rolling:


Doc put his workshop test pressure rig on it, and oil pressure came up right away. That's a relief.

The adapter to take both the sender's can be obtained from a car speed shop, just ask for the adapter for a Volkswagen engine.
.

[shorty943]

What a saga this turned out to be!
I finally got the Disco back yesterday Feb 12. At a cost of $187 :(

Couriers LOST the first new oil pressure sensor so a second one had to be dispatched.
Attempts to fit a mechanical pressure gauge have so far ended in, well, they are made of "unobtainium".
Doc, my local mechanic, is now going to fabricate an adapter for me, at a later date.

At least I now have the Disco back and all is good.
Now, if it stops drizzleing long enough I only have to fit the new left door window scissor so I can make it water tight-ish again.
That will have to wait for now though, almost time to hit the road and pick up SWMBO after her happy holiday in the land of the long white cloud tonight.

And I thought series models were quirky.:D