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Re: Flickering Oil Pressure Light on 91 2.3 Turbo Posted by Ari [Email]  (#2847) [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Ari) on Thu, 11 Apr 2002 13:04:56
In Reply to: Flickering Oil Pressure Light on 91 2.3 Turbo, Mark in Ireland, Thu, 11 Apr 2002 05:57:55 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
This may not add clarification, but you've got two possiblities - a bad switch, or low oil pressure.
At low RPM (idle) and hot oil, your oil pressure is about as low as it goes. Frighteningly, this can be as low as 7 or 8 psi. The low oil pressure switch is sized to light up at lower pressure than this, just so it doesn't flicker at idle on a hot day. However, the switch is just a diaphram and a spring. If the spring gets tired, the switch could come on at higher oil pressure. So it could just be the switch. I have had this happen. Not on a 9000, but in a 900 and some VWs. Pressure switch technology is pretty much the same in most cars.
Of course, the switch could be telling the truth,and you actually have low oil pressure.
You've already done the most expensive test - you've kept driving the car. If the oil pressure really was low, you'd probably be hearing it in noisy lifters, soon followed by rod knock, then silence when the engine siezes. It's the most expensive test because if the problem is the switch, the cost is nothing; if it's low oil pressure, it's a new engine. On average, that's still pretty expensive.
What I would do is immediately get the oil pressure measured. This involves plumbing in an oil pressure gauge, something a mechanic can do pretty easily. Once you know the truth, you can go from there. But without actually measuring the oil pressure at idle when hot, any other fix you may do is pretty random, and you really won't know if it works until the next time the engine gets really hot.
posted by 140.157.4...
, Thu, 11 Apr 2002 13:04:56 <-- Viewing This Message
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