

| Subject: | Re: oil light and buzzer |
| From: | Chris brown |
| Date: | Thu, 14 Feb 2002 21:35:12 EST |
I had this very same disconcerting problem occur this past weekend in my '87 waterboxer (for now). No light for the first 20 minutes of operation, then a flicker and a buzz when decelerating (came on in the 2800-3000 rpm range) Pull over, check oil, wait 20 minutes or so, repeat (I did this from PA to CT, thank you very much.) Oil level was fine, oil was cheap Esso 10W30 with a gennie VW filter, three weeks and 500 miles since I changed it. I brought it to a Vanagon-friendly mechanic on Wednesday and picked it up this morning. He had checked the oil pressure and found it to be within normal range for a used engine, but found the oil to be very thin. Here is what I found to be of interest and concern: he tested the oil (he has all sorts of cool equipment) and found it to be heavily contaminated with hydrocarbons. He assumed that the oil was old and changed it, putting in another VW filter and 20w50 this time (normally, 10w30 would seem appropriate for a New England winter) Anyway, the flicker is gone, but I'm left wondering, how is gasoline getting into and thinning the oil so much and so quickly? Is the FI running too rich? Fuel getting past the rings? It passed emissions in January and has been running well, so I'm somewhat baffled by this. P.S. engine for sale much cheaper now, in light of recent developments...the heads still don't leak!
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