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Sun May 22, 2005 7:16 pm

I just bought an 87 syncro that had been sitting for a year and a half. I drove it 800 miles home with no problems. There is one thing however, the oil pressure light comes on and buzzes after I slow down and get off the highway. For example If I am running at 3000rpm and then exit once the engine drops below 2000 it triggers the alarm. I tried replacing the sending unit, but that seems to have made it worse. Any suggestions on what I should do next?

Thanks.
Josh

Sun May 22, 2005 8:20 pm

Don't ignore it. Fix it. VW sells a replacement printed circuit for the dynamic oil pressure system. That's what you do if the two sensors and the wiring is OK. Also, make sure you have the CORRECT sensors.
If you replace the oil warning PC, put a new voltage stabiliser in while you're there....another high failure item.

Mon May 23, 2005 2:00 am

ken at van again has a repair listed in his forum , click on the community link to get to his forum. :D

Tue May 24, 2005 5:52 am

Thanks for the input. I will run through Ken's steps and get it fixed.
Chees!

Sat May 28, 2005 10:46 am

There is the good possibilliy of worn bearings way before 250 k miles.
I bought a 87 syncro three months ago with the same symptoms of the buzzer sounding around 2000 rpm when slowing down. The previous owner had the sensors changed and the printed board. None made a difference. I changed the oil to 20-50 and a Mahle filter, still no change.
Yesterday I took the engine out and dissasembled it.
All the rod bearings are worn with app. 50 % of the shiny bearing surface gone. Cam thrust bearing very worn, no bearing surface left. Main bearings look ok.
Engine has 177 k miles on it. I have the service records since new. The syncro had all the services done, oil changed every 3000 miles- yet, the bearings need replacing now.
If I had ignored the buzzer and continued drivind, one of the rods would have seized sooner or later.
As it is, I can just replace the bearings and there is no need to grind the crank or bore the case. I ordered all the parts and the total is $800 bucks, not too bad.

Neal

Sat May 28, 2005 12:34 pm

Most, but not ALL, of these problems are electrical rather than engine. The lower ends of Vanagons are fairly bulletproof. BUT, if an owner neglected it in the past, you may have problems.
Since the electrical system of the dynamic oil pressure warning system is SO prone to failure, you're losing nothing by doing that first. Even if, on a long shot, it winds up that the engine IS the problem, the dynamic system will fail eventually if not sooner anyways.
Hooking up a mechanical gauge to test actual oil pressure is a good place to start in determining where the fault actually lies.
As I said here previously, don't ignore it- fix it.

Sat May 28, 2005 3:06 pm

Yep.
First step. Change the oil and the filter.
Second step. Put a pressure gauge on it and see what you got.

I had this same problem with a subaru a few months ago and it turned out to be a bad oil filter. You have to start simple and go from there.