About:  "I checked; my oil level's about 75% of the way between the two
marks."

I have noticed in the past that anything above the halfway point (50%) can
lead to situations that cause the oil buzzer to go off.  This has always
been on long uphill stretches when I think the 2.1 suffers the oil foaming
problem.  Similar to what Dennis wrote, when the buzzer has come on, I pull
over let it rest, and rev the engine and it goes away.

One inexpensive test would be to remove some oil, put it at or below the
50% point between the 2 marks and see if your symptoms are any different.
I keep the oil level at 50% or below.

Roland

On Tue, Apr 10, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Steven Sittser <ssittservl@aol.com> wrote:

> Thanks for the advice.
>
> Jeff Schwaia said:
> > [make] sure you do not have too much oil in your engine.  The
> > level should be between the lines, NOT AT THE TOP LINE.
> > When the wbx'er has too oil, the crankshaft will splash the oil in the
> > crankcase on every revolution.  This causes the oil to get frothy (tons
> of
> > little bubbles) and oil pressure will drop.
>
> I checked; my oil level's about 75% of the way between the two marks.
>
> David Beierl said:
> > Begin by unplugging the sender wire from the sender on the after face
> > of the engine, just left of the crank pulley.  Then run the engine
> > and see what happens.  What *should* happen is that with engine
> > stopped, key on, you'll see blinking light but no buzzer.  After you
> > start, no light or buzzer until ~2000 rpm.  Above that the light and
> > buzzer should come on.
>
> I tried this, and the the light and buzzer behaved as they are supposed to.
> Key on, engine off: blinking light
> Below ~2000 RPM: no light or buzzer
> Above ~2000 RPM: blinking light and buzzer
> Drop back below ~2000 RPM: blinking light and buzzer both remain on
>
> So, apparently the light and buzzer "latch" once on, and don't go off
> even if the RPM's drop below ~2000.
>
> I'm curious whether the buzzer and light would stay on if I had reconnected
> the sender wire at >2000 RPM (simulating "pressure is OK now").  I wasn't
> quite curious enough to stick my hand through the whirling belts o'death to
> try it, though.  I may rig up a remote switch and try again.
>
> Dennis Haynes said:
> > Once the logic board activates the buzzer it will stay on regardless of
> > engine RPM. The only way to silence it is to get the pressure switch
> > satisfied or cycle the ignition switch
>
> That fits with what I found in David's test above.  I still should probably
> check that satisfying the pressure switch will turn off my light and buzzer
> as it's supposed to, but, based on on-the-road behavior, I suspect that
> works:
> otherwise, the only way I could get the buzzer off would be to shut off
> the engine, and that's not (quite) the case.
>
> Dennis Haynes said:
> > What is most likely happening is that after a high speed run the oil is
> getting
> > to hot or there is some other pressure problem or maybe the switch is
> out of
> > tolerance. But as the RPMS drop so will the oil pressure and near the
> 2,000
> > rpm range the warning is activated and then remains on even down to idle.
> > Revving the engine above 2,000 rpm then raises the oil pressure enough to
> > satisfy the switch and the buzzer turns off.
>
> That sounds like it would explain my symptoms.  So, perhaps my buzzer and
> light aren't really, as they seemed to, coming on at less than 2000 RPM,
> but
> are coming on just above 2000 RPM, and then staying on at less than 2000
> RPM.
>
> Scott Daniel said:
> > many waterboxers will run just fine ..until oil clearances are so large
> > that oil pressure starts being an issue..
> > always when hot of course.
> > At some point it's time to retire or rebuild the engine before it just
> > blows...like rod through the block.
>
> The engine was replaced with a rebuilt one in 2006, and recently
> overhauled, so I'd like to think that's not an issue.  But you never know.
> When I had my original engine rebuilt by a supposed Volkswagen expert,
> it threw a rod through the block within a few months.  (Thus the
> replacement.  That was an adventure - the shop that did the rebuild had
> gone out of business in the interim, and the attitude of the owner was,
> "it's not my problem - it was working great when it left the shop.")
>
> Scott Daniel said:
> > I'd just check the real oil pressure .. like with a gauge.
>
> An excellent idea, but complex enough that I think I'll try simpler
> solutions
> first.  (Unless there's an easy way to do this that I don't know about.)
>
> John Rodgers said:
> > Running with the Mann or Mahle filters which are known good - can't do
> > anything but help.
> >
> > Make sure both the switch and the connection is secure.
>
> Zoltan said:
> > It sounds like the oil pressure sensor is getting bad.
>
> The connection seems OK.  Maybe the high-pressure sensor's bad.  (The
> low-pressure sensor doesn't seem to play a role in this.)  Based on
> Dennis's theory, it could simply be erroneously signaling "low pressure"
> when the pressure isn't really too low.
>
> I think I'll try replacing the filter with Mann or Mahle at my next oil
> change, and see if that makes a difference.  It it doesn't, I'll replace
> the high-pressure sensor switch (assuming I can get to it).
>
> After that... I don't know.  Maybe some 75W200 oil or something.
>
>                            - Steven Sittser
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Sittser <ssittservl@aol.com>
> To: vanagon <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
> Sent: Wed, Apr 4, 2012 7:13 pm
> Subject: Oil pressure light and buzzer
>
> My oil pressure light and buzzer are coming on.  I know, I know, that
> happens on lots of Vanagons, but, after searching through the mailing list,
> reading the description of the system at GoWesty (
> http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=810), and looking
> elsewhere, I haven't quite found a match for my symptoms.
>
> I have an '88 Westfaila, with 20W50 oil that I put in in November, and
> some filter they had in a package deal sale at AutoZone - might have be an
> STP.  My oil level is fine.
>
> The buzzer comes on and the light starts flashing only under the following
> conditions:
> (1) It's hot outside, or at least pretty warm, and
> (2) I've been driving at highway speeds for at least
>    about 10 minutes, and
> (3) I decelerate (usually getting off the highway), and the
>    engine RPM's are below about 2000.
>
> If I raise the RPM's above about 2000, the light and buzzer go off, then
> come on again if the RPM's drop back down again.  This goes on for 5 or 10
> minutes, after which it will usually get tired of me ignoring it and the
> buzzer and light will go off.
>
> The strange part is, the GoWesty description, and other, similar
> descriptions, say that the buzzer can only come on ABOVE about 2000 RPM.
>  Mine only comes on only BELOW about 2000 RPM.
>
> It may or may not be significant that, about 8 years ago, the van was in a
> serious front-end accident.  The shop that did the repairs was less than
> thorough, and I still occasionally discover things that were mis-wired or
> installed poorly.  I've also had some major engine work done in the last
> year or so by a shop that has turned out to be less than competent (but
> what they lack in competence they make up for in high prices), so there is
> at least some possibility of miswiring (or other issues) there, too.
>
> So: any ideas what's up?
>
> I've read that many people feel that using anything other than Mann or
> Mahle filters can cause the buzzer and light, but I've read others that
> think that using them is just masking a problem that has some other cause.
>  Still, maybe I should just change the oil and try a German filter.
>
> I could try replacing the two oil pressure switches.  From what I've read
> this sounds fairly difficult (or expensive, if I have a shop do it) for
> something that may or may not be the problem, but perhaps that's the way to
> go.
>
> I'm sort of thinking (but not at all sure) that I don't have a real oil
> pressure problem, since this has been going on for a while, and the engine
> hasn't exploded yet.
>
> And in any case, there's the oddity of my light and buzzer only coming on
> below 2000 RPM, when all the literature I can find says the buzzer only
> comes on above 2000 RPM.
>
> I've had the problem occasionally in the past, but I didn't pay enough
> attention to know if the symptoms were identical.  At least once it was a
> loose wire on one of the pressure sensors, but I don't think that's the
> case this time - the behavior seems too predictable, and not random enough
> for a loose wire.  I've used mostly Fram, Mann, and Mahle filters in the
> past, but occasionally something else, usually (as far as I remember)
> without trouble.
>
> Thank you for any advice!
>
>              - Steven Sittser
>
>
>
>