1.6 NA oil light at idle

Technical questions and answers concerning all models of VW diesel vehicles.

Moderator: Fatmobile

Post Reply
supersisu
Diesel Freak
Posts: 137
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:38 pm
Location: Chicago
Contact:

1.6 NA oil light at idle

Post by supersisu »

For the last few months my oil pressure light will occasionally illuminate when the engine is idling. Oil level is normal. This seems to happen in phases, it happened today (95 degrees in Chicago) but hasn't happened in a few weeks. Happens when engine is warm. The light turns off immediately with slight engine rev increase. I'm fully prepared for this to be a death symptom for the engine, I had the head off last year and the pistons were pretty worn. Any thoughts?
img_4915s.jpg
img_4902s.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
1981 Rabbit "Rosebud" (smashed-up parts car)
1980 Caddy 4 spd "Buttercup"
1983 Jetta 5 spd
sgnimj96
Turbo Charger
Posts: 259
Joined: Thu Feb 20, 2014 2:08 pm

Re: 1.6 NA oil light at idle

Post by sgnimj96 »

If you really want to know what the oil pressure is doing, get a (metric) T fitting and add a mechanical gauge. A standard 1/8 NPT autoparts gauge can be forced into the metric hole of the T with a little effort, add some teflon tape; or better yet, get a gauge with metric fitting.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VDO-T-Adaptor- ... rmvSB=true

Believe it or not, and perhaps unrelated, I was having late oil pressure at startup because my oil filter wasn't extra tight, (and it leaked a little)
Apparently somewhere in the old factory instructions it says diesels need to have the oil filter tighter than gas (really?), so I went and got a oil filter cap wrench from walmart and it did help.
81' Scirocco 1.6D (conversion)
86 Golf 1.6D
85' 300TD
Trumper
Glow Plug
Posts: 18
Joined: Tue May 30, 2017 12:19 am

Re: 1.6 NA oil light at idle

Post by Trumper »

Pitting can be caused from worn injectors which dribble between firings. Causes hot spots and erosion. Once erosion starts....erosion continues.

Oil pressure is directly related to bearing wear in the engine......front intermediate bearing integrity plays a major role.

As the front int. shaft bearing disintegrates, particles of it can and will lodge themselves around and behind the pressure relief valve in the oil pump as the valve only sees non-filtered oil. The pressure relief valve plays a full-time dynamic role in oil pressure-flow diversion. It is constantly sliding back and forth in it's horizontal bore....with each blip of the throttle and subsequent change in rpm's.

Install a gauge as he described. The solid-lifter engines don't need a whole lot of oil pressure up in the head to survive. Loss of pressure/flow will be a cumulative failure/problem. Will get worse over time. The key is to properly rebuild before you reach the point of no return on the cam and crank journals.

Depends on how valuable this engine is to you and such. If you don't care....give it 'ell. If you have a raging love for this.....start planning. Buy a higher-quality oil filter and see if the problem "disappears" as Fram and cheaper alternatives tend to contribute to oil press. problems.
Post Reply