Oil pressure problem. How screwed is my engine?

[i2etributi0n]

So I've fixed one problem and think I've come to an abrupt halt against another.

My cars been leaking coolant from the J-Plug and I've replaced it and the thermostat.

After that work was done, I started getting the low oil pressure warning. Cheapest fix I found to do was to clean the oil pickup screen, which I did.
Drove it around for about 20 minutes today with no warning or any other problem.
After parking it and letting it sit for a couple hours, I had to take another drive.

On the way home, the oil pressure warning came on again along with my check engine light. Check engine codes is Random Misfire, Misfire in Cylinder 2, and Timing over Advanced (Bank 1).
And about 2 minutes before I parked it, a horrible rattle noise started between 1000-2x00 RPM. Rattle went away about 22-2500 RPM.

Is there anything in particular this could point to?

Do I need a new engine?

Should I set it on fire?

...I'm probably being overdramatic. My wallet may disagree.

[00passat]

I would start first by verifying the actual oil pressure with a mechanical gauge.

[CyberPMG]

Check oil level to make sure you aren't loosing any. How many miles are on the car? You may want to take off the valve cover and check for signs of abnormal wear on the cam lobes (take it to a shop if not sure). I would advise not running it or driving it as it may cause more damage.

If near or over 200k, I would advise that the oil pump is starting to fail. If you're now getting additional noises, it may be that the damage is already done. A weak oil pump caused my engine to starve, cause the valves to stick, have the rods wear down the cam lobes, and have the metal shavings wear down the cylinders to cause a loss in compression in 2 out of 4 cylinders. I had to replace the whole engine.

[aysix]

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...-pressure-1-8t

Okay, just did the following method over night and so far this is a success!!! (so far)

Previous symptoms:

Valve tick
Low oil pressure warning
P0011 Cam over advanced that we narrowed down to be oil pressure related.

Drained The T6 that had 500ish miles on it.

-Put a quart of ATF in
-3+ quarts of Diesel
-Started the car for 15-20 seconds and then turned car off
-Filled up the rest of the crank case with diesel (submerging the cams and pickup screen)
-Let it sit over night
-Drained this morning around 11:00AM ET completely and put cheapo oil in.

We let the car idle for a while. The engine immediately was quiter and had no valvetrain noise. After about 10 minutes of idling we drove around for a bit, no pressure warning. So then we beat the shit out of the car (frankenturbo car so its a little fun) with NO issue and the motor seems to be smoother. P0011 does not show up anymore, it would show up after a couple minutes of driving consistently. About 30 mins of beating the shit out of the car the code has no shown up and no warnings. This may have done the trick.

Going to put in good oil probably tomorrow and report back if there are low pressure warnings/p0011 show up.

[jonan]

you may want to try an auto-rx treatment and flush as well...

[Teknic111]

I just resolved a similar problem on my car. To fix it I had to replace the oil pickup tube and camshaft tensioner/chain. The horrible rattle you hear is the camshaft tensioner.

[Seerlah]

Diagnose your car properly to fix it correctly. I would start by popping the valve cover and inspecting your cct. After that, check your oil pressure. And of course, check your oil level before anything. Go from there.

[walky_talky20]

Not sure what he'd see by just looking at the CCT. They always look just fine, even when they are broken and clanky sounding. And if the oil pressure is low, that explains the chain noise anyway, no need to remove the valve cover.

Start with this:
- Check oil level
- Check oil pressure with mechanical gauge.

When checking oil pressure, first check at cold idle, then (if pressure is adequate and safe) warm up engine and check oil pressure again when at full operating temp. Hot idle pressure should be 15psi or better. If that's good, get more readings: 1500 RPM (this one is important!), 2000, 2500, 3k, 4k, 5k. Obviously if pressure is way down or engine doesn't sound good, don't rev it out to get these. Be safe out there.