Oil Pressure

[duke 2 1]

At idle when the car is up to temperature the oil pressure guage is sitting very near the red warning light. The light itself has never come on but from what i gather by doing a search on here this is not right.

 

The car is a bog standard 1991 1.6 GTi

 

Can anyone clarify for me that this is indeed wrong and what is the possible cause/fix

Edited February 20, 2009 by duke 2

[AndyJ 1]

Whats the pressure like when its cold, and does the pressure come up when you are driving? My (Mi16) will slowly work its way towards the "uh oh" end as it warms up, until it comes off idle and the pressure goes back up. Ive seen other cars which do the same, so i think its a pretty normal thing.

[James_R 3]

First I'd try a new pressure sendor as they're old by now and read oddly, or get hold of a nice mechnical gauge to be truely accurate form th elikes of PugRacing, or Demon Theives etc...

 

only need to go to 100psi gauge wise

[duke 2 1]

Whats the pressure like when its cold, and does the pressure come up when you are driving? My (Mi16) will slowly work its way towards the "uh oh" end as it warms up, until it comes off idle and the pressure goes back up. Ive seen other cars which do the same, so i think its a pretty normal thing.

 

The pressure looks great when cold sits nicely just above halfway. It only really plummets to very near the warning light when its warm AND idling in rush hour traffic (it also seems to get really rather warm )

 

When driving normally the pressure seems to be ok, the guage varies on throttle opening which is correct and shows that the guage is operating ok. The car drives well, it pulls strongly and drops off nowhere in the rev range, it also has not a jot of mayo.

 

Strange

Edited February 20, 2009 by duke 2

[James_R 3]

increasethe idlea littlebit then;)

[duke 2 1]

increasethe idlea littlebit then;)

 

Thats an idea! I thought it was idling low to start with (about 900 revs) but didnt put 2 & 2 together

[pee vee 1]

bad earth to the engine can cause funny gauge readings too!!

[Guest Cap]

Mine sits near the red warning light when warm on idle, only need to worry when the light comes on so I have been told by people on here, increases to about half way on the gauge when driving and has been like this for as far as i can remember. Also mine is a standard 1.9, I wouldn't worry

Edited February 20, 2009 by Cap

[jengis 0]

I bet an oil change will improve things a little, but its normal for the engine to have different readings depending upon load and temperature, like you describe. I have seen the benefit of quality oils giving notably better oil pressure when hot - try it.

[Roman 0]

I bet an oil change will improve things a little, but its normal for the engine to have different readings depending upon load and temperature, like you describe. I have seen the benefit of quality oils giving notably better oil pressure when hot - try it.

another bet on oil...

[duke 2 1]

Thanks for all the help everyone i have raised the idle which seems to have made the idling oil pressure good and it starts even better now!

 

....the other thing is that the fan seems very eager to kick in and the water temperature sits quite high - again its never come very close to the warning light and it drives fine so im gonna forget about it and just enjoy it. Im only slightly concerned for the summer months commuting in rush hour traffic in hot weather as it seems to run hot now!

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Try flushing the coolant system and re filling it. Never used water wetter myself but heard some ok things about it like it helps, might be worth adding that into the new mix and see if it helps!

[rubyna 4 1 Cars]

Ive used Water Wetter in mine and definatly helped. Regards, Luke