TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:18 am

I have an intermittent problem on my '92 Fox with my oil pressure light flashing. I've replaced the oil pressure switches twice , and the light will still flash intermittently. This has been occurring since I bought the car 2 years ago. I run 10w40 oil in it, and there's plenty of it. The car only has 60k original miles on it, so I seriously doubt there is any REAL problem with the pressure. Anyone have any similar experiences?

Thu Oct 18, 2007 2:55 pm

I'd put an oil pressure test gauge in place of the one of the oil senders to verify exactly what your oil pressure is.

I've seen it where the oil pan gets dented and pushed up against the oil intake of the oil pump and blocks it off to the point where the pump starves, and when that happens you lose the oil pressure.

Thu Oct 18, 2007 8:04 pm

10w40 is kinda thin for a watercooler VW engine; try 15w40, and use only OE oil filters(Mann, Mahle or Hengst). Those engines are pretty finicky when it comes to oil & filter selection...sounds hokey, but it's true.

Fri Nov 02, 2007 6:49 am

i couldnt agree more about the filter selection. i have seen a bunch of customers that go to a quicky oil change place and get an oil change, and get a generic filter. in the original and replacement filters for these cars, there is an oil pressure spring that assists in the oil pressure. thats why the other filters almost always never work correctly

Fri Nov 02, 2007 9:16 am

Every Fox I have ever owned does the exact same thing. I usually just removed the cluster, and silenced the buzzer, disabled the lite

Clearly if there was oil pressure issues then with noise you would know it

Fri Nov 02, 2007 4:02 pm

Are you putting good switches in? I've seen cheapo switches not work right. Use a mann filter or the others as plasticman said. Try using a thicker oil and see if it stops. Definitely hook up a gauge and make sure you have good oil pressure. I've run 10W40 with no problems, but I would use a good name oil. Never any generic crap. Good luck.[/i]

Sun Nov 04, 2007 8:18 am

Thanks for the replies! The first thing i swapped out were the $5 switches I had bought from NAPA with 2 new switches from the dealer - $50 . I was PISSED when that didn't work. I'm currently using a Fram filter, but I'll swap that out too. Now that you mention the spring inside the filter, I seem to remember hearing about this years ago when I had an '83 GTI. I'll try that next. Thanks again.

Sun Nov 04, 2007 11:08 pm

vw54john wrote: I'm currently using a Fram filter

Probably should have swapped to a better filter before buying those switches; I'd bet dollars to donuts that "F-word" is the root of your problem. :wink:

Tue May 13, 2008 2:14 pm

Which pressure sensor did you change? The one in the head or the one by the filter? I changed both and the problem went away.

Thu May 15, 2008 5:47 am

I swapped out BOTH pressure sensors and switched to a Mann filter. Still the same problem. I dropped the oil and replaced it with 20w50 and the light blinks a little less often, but its still happening. I suppose it IS possible that I really do have low oil pressure, but with only 65k orig miles on the car, I'm betting not. I guess its time to find someone who can check it for me.

Thu May 15, 2008 12:18 pm

I've seen it where the oil pan got dented and blocks off the oil pickup - or the plastic baffle on the pump falls apart and pieces from it plug up the oil pickup, both leading to lower oil pressure.