Oil light flickering on and off

[vwsrus]

I have an 88 Westy and while going camping this weekend, the oil light suddenly came on. I pulled over and shut the engine off. Oil level was fine and no sign of any leaks. I had changed the oil before the trip and had about 50 miles on the new oil before all this started.

I started the van and the oil light went off like regular. I contuned my trip. I noticed that while on the interstate, driving at 70 mph, then coming to a traffic jam quickly, the sudden drop of RPM's and the brakes being used, the oil light would come on. I would tap the gas pedal and the oil light would go off till the next sudden stop.

This never has happened before with this van. Any thoughts?

[weinerwagen]

Depends, the later models have an issue whereas, a bad sensor will set off the oil pressure light and buzzer after warmed up. I drove (and then wrecked on the way home) an 88 Carat that the oil light would come on and buzzer sounded after a hour on the interstate, upon tapping the gas a bit, the light would stop flashing and the buzzer would go silent.

It could have been a sensor, like what you discribe. The flickering, might be a dirty connection at the switch, which is a pain to get to, or the subsequent connections might have crud that could cause a false reading.

As they always recommend, put a gauge on it, see what the actual reading is. But, logic dictates, if the engine does not get noisey, where the lifters are pumping down from lack of oil, my guess is the pressure is fine, just a bad sensor.

I had a Fox wagen that would set off the alarms, I finally just took the cluster out, and siliconed the buzzer silent......
:2gunfire:
_________________
Retired attorney--Tort King.

[Tram]

Yes, it's usually a bad sensor, most usually the one at the back of the engine that you have to remove the main pulley to extract.

[[email protected]]

2 out of 3 cases turn out to be the wire chaffed on the pushrod cover or in back of the waterpump.
_________________
'65 standard bus
'87 Vanagon Westfalia

[CinnabarVan]

Hi,
I've been battling with this problem of the flickering oil pressure light for about a year. It started last Spring when the temperature outside went up over 70. I have a 89 Syncro Westy with 92K miles. This started at about 89K Miles.
Of course I always run the recommended 20-50W oil and the Mann oil filter. I installed a new oil pressure sensor (praying that it was a bad sensor) but no such luck. I get the same reading. By the way it is the oil sensor between the pushrods not the one by the pulley/waterpump.
I also installed an oil temperature sensor and gauge along with a psi gauge.
I can just about tell when the oil pressure will poop out. It occurs when the oil temperature is hot, like 130 degrees centigrade after doing 70 or so on the freeway and when I pull off the pressure drops to 0 or near there.
I've been told by Boston Bob that this is a symptoms of the 2.1 liter engines due to weakness in the rod bearings. The rod bearings are actually out of specification and allow a drop in the oil pressure
There is nothing to do but rebuild the engine!!!!!!!!!!
You are basically living on borrowed time at this point.

I am looking to do a transplant with a more reliable engine like a Subaru.
Hope this cheers you up.
CinnabarVan - Rochester NY.

[[email protected]]

You don't have to remove the pully to do the rear sensor, have done several of them.
_________________
'65 standard bus
'87 Vanagon Westfalia