oil warning light & locked in 5th gear

[mk2golfer]

i drive a mk2 16v and after a hard(ish) drive the oil warning light comes on. is it something to do wit the oil pump?

also, i had a problem with getting my car out of 5th gear after reaching a high speed on the motorway (135-140 mph is what the clocks were saying, and the guy in the Astra GSI mk3 knew it was true! lol ) what could be the reason for this.

any help would be great! :-

[golfvr6]

Check your oil level, oil pressure, and your pressure switches.
As for 5th gear, it could it worn bushes on the linkage or a problem with the box itself.

[mk2golfer]

cheers for that golfvr6. do you suggest that i get the oil problem checked professionally? how do i check the oil pressure and switches anyway?

[golfvr6]

You can buy an oil pressure gauge, remove one of the oil pressure sensors and put the gauge in its place.

[mk1]

As vr6 said, check the pressure at the point that the switches are screwed in, check it hot as that is when the fault occurs. Don't check the switches, just fit new ones but be aware that there are two fitted on the engine. They are colour coded and replace like with like. Changing the oil would not do any harm  .
Steve.

[mk2golfer]

thanks for the help guys. i'll let you know of any changes after taking your advice

[vaughn]

you could also check that the oil pick up pipe is not blocked up with sludge as this sometimes happens (may have to be a garage job sorry ). this should be checked after youve checked the obvious things first.

[golfvr6]

Easy to do that, just take off the sump.

[Gozza]

Speaking of gearboxes how difficult is it to change the gearbox oil ?

[golfvr6]

Quite easy, drain it and fill it. The drain plug is by the diff, the filler plug is on the end of the box behind the left wheel. You need a 17mm hex key to do the job.