VinceWaldon.com

I have a 1995 Passat, 4 cylinder, automatic, gas. About 2 months ago, I had an oil leak and found it was coming from the hi-pressure sensor. So my friend, who is a certified Mercedes-Benz mechanic, replaced the hi-pressure sensor. I purchased it from Advanced Auto, matching the color to the existing one that we took off.

Since then, my car has been beeping and blinking annoyingly as soon as I go over 2000 RPM's. It will stay on even if I go below 2000 RPM's once it starts beeping. However, once everything gets hot, after about 15 minutes of driving, it will not beep again. My friend then changed the oil pan seal, cleaned the filter in the oil pan and did an oil change. The beeping/blinking is still happening, but at different intervals than before the changes. It still stops completly once everything is hot.

Would you please give me your take on this? Is it possible the sensor we replaced is simply wrong or put on incorrectly?

Thank you in advance,
Maron

Hi Maron.

There's a couple things it could be... sensor, wiring, actual low oil pressure under certain conditions. Rather than try to guess over the internet my suggestion would be to follow the troubleshooting steps line by line, as listed in the How-To. Taking a logical approach to this is probably the easiest way to get to the bottom of your buzzer symptoms and avoid throwing parts at it.

cheers,

Vince

Hi. Very impressive site. I have recently become interested in Volkswagen Diesels mainly b/c my dad owned 2 diesels in the past, one VW Rabbit which is still parked in his back yard, and b/c I want a car that gets better gas mileage. Also, I think they are fun to work on and would be fun to drive.

This weekend I am going to look at a 1985 VW Golf diesel. The guy says that it had a “leaky head gasket” when he got it and the car in not running at the moment b/c he already removed the head and changed his mind about the project. I am fairly mechanically inclined for I was successful in replacing my timing belt, water pump, and various small items on my gas Toyota 4 Runner. All w/ just the help of the Internet and a Haynes manual.

My question is what types of things should I look for and ask about the Golf so I can be sure to make a fair offer and what should I offer? And, being a student on a limited budget right now, do you think I can manage w/ out a full engine rebuild. I thought about doing the head gasket, timing belt, as many oil seals as I can w/ out removing the engine, and just small simple things here and there. The car supposedly has 130000 miles on it but I don't know when the original owner stopped driving it?

Another thing is that the guy removed the manual transmission to view the underside of the engine.

If you get this soon, I can send you all correspondence w/ the owner and you can get a better idea of what's going on. There is another part of this story that I think is interesting and I am worried about.

Thanks in advance and hope to hear from you soon.
Chris



Hi Chris:

These are fun cars to learn on... simple and forgiving for the most part. The only fly in the ointment is that, like any car, the parts bill can add up quickly and on these cars major parts like heads can be a bit tricky to find.

A compression test would be the ideal way to scope out this car you are thinking about buying, since it immediately tells you the health of all the major parts of the engine. If the head is already off you'll have to rely on a careful visual inspection...in particular...is it obvious why the head gasket failed? Does the previous owner know if the engine overheated initially? If so the head may be warped...a trip to a machinist for a checkup might be a good idea.

The good news with the head off is that you can have a look at the tops of the pistons and the sides of the cylinder walls. A bit of a wear ridge at the top of the cylinders is normal... if you can feel it with a fingernail the engine may be past the wear limit (diesel tolerances are very tight) and a re-bore with new oversized pistons may be require.

All of the above possible repairs are not rocket science and easy for someone who's mechanically inclined... the Bentley Service Manual is very detailed...you just need to budget for the odd surprise.

best of luck,

Vince

Thanks for the T/S tips for oil pressure problems on a Golf.
Like always there is so much BS on the web, but yours make sense.
Normally I drive old Land Rovers easy going technique, only one idiot light for oil pressure.
Thanks for Info
Rudi