At 04:45 PM 3/21/98 -0800, MMolitoris wrote:
>Hi,
>I have a 86' vanagon Syncro, and I have a question I hope you may be able to
>help me with.
>It has to do with the oil light. Sometimes (almostly always in the winter)
>when I start it up and then start to drive, the warning light and buzzer come
>on. It stays on for a while. Sometimes it shuts off, and then comes on again.
>It seems however that after it warms up, it shuts off. Also, it seems to do
>this shortly after I change the oil (every 3000 miles religousily). It also
>does this for no apparent reason while I'm just drivin it. I always check the
>oil to make sure it's ok. Do you have any idea what could cause this? Could it
>be the oil isn't heavy enough? I use castrol 10w30 oil. I spoke with Mr.
>Schmidt at the VW warehouse about this a couple of times. He has the same
>vehicle, and he said he searches and searched on his and can't find anything
>wrong. Have you heard of anything like this before?
>If you know of anybody I could ask I would greatly appreciate it.
>Thank you
>Marty Molitoris
>
10W30 could indeed be too lightweight unless you live in a very cold
climate. What kind of oil filters are you using? Using filters other than
OEM (Mann or Mahle) can cause oil pressure problems. Try running with 20W50
oil and an OEM filter and see if that clears up your problem.

-Mark McCulley