If the OP came on aat speed (as opposed to having just gotten off the
freeway), most likely a false alarm caused by either a sender glitch or a
shorted sender wire - most likely the latter.

If your oil is a ighter, thinner grade, you'd notice the light flickering
when the engine has been stressed by high load driving and then dropping to
idle, as in getting off the freeway.

Karl Wolz

|-----Original Message-----
|From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]
|On Behalf Of John Rodgers
|Sent: Friday, June 03, 2011 5:29 PM
|To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
|Subject: Spooked!
|
|  While driving my manual tranny 88GL  home this afternoon the
|oil pressure alarm sounded and the oil pressure light came on.
|I killed the ignition immediately, noted all the gages seemed
|normal, and being very close to my house just  coasted on down
|the street, around the corner, and halfway up my up-slope
|driveway and stopped. All the while I'm thinking "Omigosh!
|What now?" ( I have an important art show to participate in on
|Sat. and have to set up by 6 am -- this is not good!)
|
|After getting stopped, I sat for a moment, the turned the ignition on.
|All the lights did their normal thing. I hit the switch, the
|engine started right up, oil pressure light went out. I noted
|no strange sounds, and the oil pressure alarm did not sound. I
|drove the remaining 100 feet  up the hill to the house - all
|was normal.
|
|Today was extraordinarily hot - 100 plus degrees, driving was
|slow coming off the highway home, and even though the temp
|gauge needle was in the middle, nothing seemed wrong. I did
|note that at very slow speeds the fan kept coming on
|frequently. I was poking along about 30 mph when the alarm
|sounded and the oil pressure light came on.
|
|I opened the hatch, and noted the engine seemed really hot.
|The heat just came boiling out. I looked for oil leaking,
|coolant leaking, etc, but found nothing. Oil dip stick
|measures halfway between the marks, and the coolant level is
|up. I checked the rear oil pressure switch, and the wiring
|connector, but it was tight.
|
|I let the van sit a while with the hatch open to cool the
|engine, then started it up. After Idling a minute, I revved
|the engine up to 3000. I ran perfect. No lights, no alarms. I
|have tried several times now, but cannot reproduce the event.
|Of course the circumstances have changed as the atmosphere is
|cooling down.
|
|Anybody have any ideas? Can the engine oil get so hot under
|normal driving conditions as to cause low oil pressure. Surely
|that is not a good thing. But how can I avoid that in the
|common daily summer weather here in the South. I'm afraid this
|event might repeat itself at a tremendously inopportune time -
|as such events usually do.
|
|Thanks,
|
|John
|
|
|--
|John Rodgers
|Clayartist and Moldmaker
|88'GL VW Bus Driver
|Chelsea, AL
|Http://www.moldhaus.com
|
|-----
|No virus found in this message.
|Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
|Version: 10.0.1382 / Virus Database: 1511/3678 - Release Date:
|06/03/11