Oil Light!!!!!

[Malustunna]

Hey last night i was driving my car pretty hard with a couple of my boys. We started just fly down the high way doing about 100 to 140.. and after we slowed down my oil light started coming on and off. This morning i check my oil level and its fine and at the correct level. I smelt some oil burning when i would come to a complete stop.Do you think i messed anything up/ I only have 63000 miles on it and i use Castrol Full Syntheitc..

[old guy]

Was it the yellow oil can symbol (Check engine oil level) or the red oil can symbol (Engine oil pressure too low)?

[B6JoeS4]

i get the red one all the time when i run it hard. i think its a bad sensor

[illaudiill]

could be

[kwimberly]

could be

I can't believe you don't have 4 rings yet.

[cdn20valve]

VW's don't really have problems with oil pressure senders being faulty.

Oil odour at idle is evidence of an oil leak. Check the engine for leaks. If possible pull one of the intercooler hoses off and see if there is excessive oil in the intercooler piping. If there is you might have blown a turbo seal.

Worst case scenario is oil sludge. But before you freak out, run some visual tests and look for oil leaks.

There are pressure tests you can do at idle and approx 3000rpm using a pressure gauge. If you have the know-how/tools.

[B6JoeS4]

VW's don't really have problems with oil pressure senders being faulty.

Oil odour at idle is evidence of an oil leak. Check the engine for leaks. If possible pull one of the intercooler hoses off and see if there is excessive oil in the intercooler piping. If there is you might have blown a turbo seal.

Worst case scenario is oil sludge. But before you freak out, run some visual tests and look for oil leaks.

There are pressure tests you can do at idle and approx 3000rpm using a pressure gauge. If you have the know-how/tools.

yo know a lot for a one ringer.

what about us 3.0 guys? 3.0s are not known to have sludge problems and there isnt much room in my engine bay to do much visual inspecting

[cdn20valve]

yo know a lot for a one ringer.

what about us 3.0 guys? 3.0s are not known to have sludge problems and there isnt much room in my engine bay to do much visual inspecting

I'd get a small mirror and check around. You could also run pressure test with the right equipment.

[old guy]

Hey last night i was driving my car pretty hard with a couple of my boys. We started just fly down the high way doing about 100 to 140.. and after we slowed down my oil light started coming on and off. This morning i check my oil level and its fine and at the correct level. I smelt some oil burning when i would come to a complete stop.Do you think i messed anything up/ I only have 63000 miles on it and i use Castrol Full Syntheitc..

There are three different oil warning lights. Two of them are yellow, both show an oil can symbol. One says "MIN" for low oil. The other says "SENSOR" indicating a problem with the oil level sensor. The third is a red oil can. That one should be of some concern especially if your oil level is OK. The red warning indicates low oil pressure. It could be the oil pressure sensor but as cdn20valve pointed out they typically do not go bad. The other possibilities are worn bearings, worn oil pump, or the infamous 1.8T sludge issue. Since you just came off a high speed run your oil temperature was probably pretty high and consequently the oil was thinned out a bit. If you are developing a problem it is going to show up when your oil is thin. I would recommend taking your car to a shop that has the ability to measure your oil pressure. You should also consider taking steps to de-sludge your engine in case your oil pick up screen is partially clogged. I recommend running a dose or two of Auto-Rx. I have had good luck with that in the past when dealing with old abused engines. Seafoam is another product that seems popular here but I have no first hand knowledge of the product.

If it was my car I would definitely take some proactive steps and not take a "wait and see if it comes back" approach to the low pressure warning light.

good luck!

[ziggituning]

X2 what old guy said. Better safe than sorry!

[KPC1.8TQuat]

I recommend running a dose or two of Auto-Rx. I have had good luck with that in the past when dealing with old abused engines.

Care to elaborate on this product?

[ziggituning]

do a search for auto-rx and/or seafoam,there are countless threads on it, they are prety much the 2 main products used by many on this forum, both clean out the engin (possible sludge). Since our cars run hot and are picky on what oil they run, it is good to do some sort of engin clean out treatment each year or two.

[old guy]

Care to elaborate on this product?

It is a product developed to dissolve build up in your motor. Their website is pretty helpful. Read through the FAQ's section. Clicky click I've used it on older engines that have seen considerable abuse before tearing them down for rebuilds and it does a pretty good job of cleaning them up.

Cheers!

Edit: Auto Rx on a 1.8T

[KPC1.8TQuat]

It is a product developed to dissolve build up in your motor. Their website is pretty helpful. Read through the FAQ's section. Clicky click I've used it on older engines that have seen considerable abuse before tearing them down for rebuilds and it does a pretty good job of cleaning them up.

Cheers!

Edit: Auto Rx on a 1.8T

Interesting read....

If my car shows no sign of sludge, is this still a good idea to run?

[old guy]

Interesting read....

If my car shows no sign of sludge, is this still a good idea to run?

Unfortunately for most, the first sign is a red "Low oil pressure" warning light. Unless you have opened up some portion of your engine (valve cover, turbo oil return line etc) you would probably be completely unaware of the issue until it bit you. On the other hand, if you know your car's complete maintenance history (5k oil and filter changes with synthetic oil only) you really don't have anything to worry about. It was the earlier 10K dino oil changes VW/Audi recommended that caused the problem.