VR6 Oil Pressure problem??

[Philip 0]

Think I may have an oil pressure problem, but I’m not completely convinced. After a short run (approx 15 miles) yesterday where everything was fine, I came to start the car a couple of hours later and engine idled for 3 – 4 seconds then cut out. I tried again and the same happened and then noticed the oil pressure light flashing.

 

I checked the oil and it seemed fine but I gave it a little oil and tried again. This time it ran fine.

 

My question is, could as little as 400ml of oil change the situation, or is it likely to be an oil pressure sensor problem or some sort of genuine oil pressure problem?

 

Cheers

 

Phil

[Crasher 3]

Was the oil pressure light flashing with the engine running?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Shame you haven't got the genuine VR6 VDO guages as you can tell instantly if you have a pressure problem or not. Pressure should be 4 bar at idle when cold and 2 bar when hot. Unless you literally had no oil in the sump, it's unlikely there is a genuine pressure problem, unless by some freak occurence, an oil way got blocked.

 

Cutting out after 3 seconds sounds suspiciously like the factory immobiliser. What age is the VR? If it's a 95 on with CP ECU, chances are you might see an "Engine start blocked by immobiliser" error in the diagnostic report. They do on occasion cut the engine for some reason, despite the apparent good health of the key and transponder.

 

If your car is >94, you can outrule that. Keep the oil at maximum at all times.

[dr_mat 0]

Where did you get those oil pressure figures from btw?

And where should that be measured from?

And I assume that's with "standard" 15w40 oil?

[NickVR6 0]

exactly what mine reads on the original gauges.

 

i had a golf vr oil pump pack up. instant light and killed it as soon as i saw it.

the light should come on before you know theres a problem, but you wont get long to kill the engine if your at speed.

 

they are easy peasy to change though, what mileage are you on??

[dr_mat 0]

Moi? 130k. Never had the oil light on at any time, but just curious. My VR is a little clattery, so wanted to get the pressure checked, just don't know the ins+outs of how to test it and what to expect.

[Guest]

I have noticed my oil light come on only in the corners when I'm giving it the beans but am worried about the oil pump not working as it should, VR6OC forum did mention that it does happen because VR6's don't have a baffled sump.

 

How do you go about checking the oil pressure?

[dr_mat 0]

Dunno mate, I asked Stealth and they tested it .. then couldn't tell me if the figure they got was normal or not, cos they don't have any docs about it!

 

I've heard about oil pressure shortages in long sweeping corners too, I think that's why you need to keep the oil level topped up to the line, mostly.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply,

 

wouldn't mind some VR6 VDO guages as kev mentioned, just so i can keep a watchful eye on the engines behaviour

[mtc R32 0]

Its a weird one this.... I spoke to a chap that knows his VR's better than he knows himself :lol: when was enquiring about getting the chains done at some point....

 

On tick over I can barely hear my Vr but is very slightly tappetty through the rev range between 2-3.5rpm... Which i wanted to eliminate...

 

Anyhow I went to see this chap and he thought I was MAD, As he tried to tell me its an engine and has to make some noise... :oops:

 

He's changed many chains for people saying there Vr's are tapetty and evern after the chains are done, they're exactly the same.... He rekons the problem lyes with worn Oil pumps on the VR's.... which the oil struggles to reach into the buckets of the tappetts....

[dr_mat 0]

Tappety noise is obviously nothing to do with the timing chains though, so I can see why changing the timing chains wouldn't fix it .. !

Anyway, you ain't MAD, if your timing chains clatter (they don't tap, they clatter), then they need fixing. Otherwise you're looking at engine rebuild when they go ..