# help -> Red Oil light - certain revs/intermittent?



## RussLBUK (May 8, 2006)

Hi

Cruising home last night and just as I pull onto the motorway, red oil light flashes with 3 beeps. Obviously can't stop and the 'manual' says stop immediately/don't drive etc. Fault appears to clear itself, then comes on again a few miles later and then off/on etc. Manage to find a petrol station and top up the oil, but 200m down the road the error starts again.

After a quick restart and 10 min idle, engine is fine, no lights (and sounds fine too). No trace of oil under bonnet so nothing obvious blown. Kept it around 2500 revs all the way home (central London, so not too hard with all the traffic! :lol: ) and then blipped to 3000 revs just before I got home and oil light came on again.

Have checked this morning and oil level is now a bit high (top of dip stick, oops) and took for a quick spin (got up to temp), up to 4000 revs with no warning light at all!

Any suggestions from anyone? Car has a long list of things pending fixing and looking to trade in, so ideally don't want to knacker it by driving and also need a cheap (ish) fix...it's a 180 quattro, 03 plate with 115k on the clock.

Thanks
Russ


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## pinky (May 21, 2009)

All I know is having too much oil can be as bad as having too little oil in it.....


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## tony_rigby_uk (Nov 27, 2008)

oil pressure !!

it's usually oil pressure... could be caused by too much oil, but too muc oil will nacker seals also...oil pump may be gone starving the head of oil..

start with draining some oil out, Oil pressure sensors may have a problem, or it maybe too late and oil pressure has dropped... meaning £££'s expense


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## TT51 (Feb 28, 2009)

Yep oil pressure. As said possibly faulty sensor.

Could be oil pump or blockage in strainer or elsewhere. Don't drive it anymore and get it pressure checked before you do anything. Oh and drain out excess oil before you have it pressure checked or even start it again.


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## ViperOneZero (Sep 4, 2008)

If your oil level is correct, you can check the pressure sensors with VAGCOM/VCDS. if all is well then there is a pod fault which I have experienced with the oil pressure light coming on .. a swap of the pod rectified this....

Goes without saying that overfilling an engine with oil will cause ridiculous pressure causing possible failure .. drain it right away if you can ! obviously dont drive the car until you have determined the fault... i'd even trailer it / get it recovered to the garage !


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## Wak (May 6, 2002)

Red Oil Light = Oil Pressure
Oil between min/max = oil level fine.
Oil Sensors playing up are far less than oil pressure issues = dont kid yourself its a sensor!

Combination of the above.......... STOP DO NOT DRIVE FURTHER...... get recovered!

Get the oil pump and strainer renewed / oil pressure checked.

Warning to anyone that reads this....... its not worth the risk to drive with the chance that you will do further damage.

This doesnt happen immediately oil pressure will have degraded over time and you may have already been running the car with a degraded oil supply for some time with the chance that the turbo is at risk primarily followed by other engine componants.


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## finesse (Mar 3, 2010)

1. don't drive it
2. get a fault scan, 
3. change the oil pickup pipe, clean sump
4. change the oil pump

all above cost 140 in parts & 3 hours labour MAX

OR

Couple thousands for engine rebuild 

pick one


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## RussLBUK (May 8, 2006)

Thanks for the replies everyone, much appreciated. Car parked up, waiting for Dean @ 4rings to come and look at it. Hoping it will be a dodgy sensor (was running fine) or at worse the pipe has got a
blockage.


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## Grahamstt (Jul 22, 2008)

I presume that it's overfull because you topped it up as a precaution
As everyone has already said
Oil pressure problem needs to be checked properly and as preventative maintenance change oil strainer, filter and use good quality oil. 
If there has been an oil starvation problem caused by the strainer being blocked (not good news) your mechanic will tell by the condition of the strainer gauze. At 100+k miles the strainer could be the prob depending how importantly the previous owners have treated the oil changing schedules
Lets hope that when this is done you'll have no other problems.
If you do then its one step at a time - hopefully faulty sensor
Hope all turns out fine for you


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## jaydav2306 (Feb 17, 2010)

RussLBUK said:


> Hi
> 
> Cruising home last night and just as I pull onto the motorway, red oil light flashes with 3 beeps. Obviously can't stop and the 'manual' says stop immediately/don't drive etc. Fault appears to clear itself, then comes on again a few miles later and then off/on etc. Manage to find a petrol station and top up the oil, but 200m down the road the error starts again.
> 
> ...


PLEASE READ THIS FOR F***** S****

I HAD THESE EXACT SYMPTOMS IN MY 2001 GOLF AND LESS THAN A WEEK LATER THE ENGINE WENT BANG BECAUSE THE HEAD WAS STARVED OF OIL DUE TO THE OIL PICKUP PIPE BEING BLOCKED!!! DO NOT CONVINCE YOURSELF THAT THE PROBLEM WILL GO AWAY IT IS 100% AN OIL PRESSURE PROBLEM. MY ADVICE GET IT TOWED TO A GARAGE, GET THE FAULT CODE LOOKED OUT AND GET AN ENGINE FLUSH, PICK UP PIPE LOOKED AND AND A FRESH OIL CHANGE.

IF NOT YOUR LOOKING AT A NEW MOTOR IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.


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## RussLBUK (May 8, 2006)

@ jaydav - thanks! Car hasn't been driven since it got home on Saturday, 4rings due to see it today, fingers crossed it won't be anything too serious


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## RussLBUK (May 8, 2006)

Update for anyone else having a similar problem in the future:

Car now fixed, 4Rings to the rescue again (thanks Gary & Danny).

After a bit of testing, we established the oil pressure was a static ~4bar when idle or revved. This suggested we had oil pressure, but not quite right - apparently it should be something like 1.2 bar idle and increases with revving to about 4-5bar (don't quote me on those figures). After a bit of umming and erring, I decided to get the strainer hose replaced along with the sensor. A couple of hours later and Gary & Danny had worked their magic and the oil pressure was going up & down with the revs....

Thanks to everyone for their advice....and if you're reading this wondering what to do, call a local indie or 4Rings if you're near Dartford.

Russ


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