Unless modified the relief starts around 50 psi. At 100 psi the lifters will
be holding the valves open enough for the engine to run poorly. Yes if you
keep revving a cold engine the pressure will climb as the relief can't
handle the volume. I have seen the relief plungers so loaded with crud that
the piston would jam. Keep in mind that light and buzzer means you aren't
holding 14 psi.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
David Beierl
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 3:01 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Oil pressure light and buzzer

At 09:49 AM 8/21/2012, Gabriel Hourtouat wrote:
>(...caused by a pressure relief valve that didn't seat properly when
>coming off of high engine rpm in hot weather?)
>
>The fix for an intermittent oil pressure alarm (buzzer plus light) on a
>1990 Westy (as described above), was to replace the spring on the oil
>pressure relief.  Can't remember where the spring resides.  I remember
>only thinking how simple the spring replacement had been.

The only time the relief valve operates is when the engine is cold and the
pressure goes above (don't know the number; somewhere 80-100 psi I would
imagine).  If the relief valve isn't seating properly then pressure will be
low throughout the operating regime.

Yours,
David