Oil light flash...

[Mk2Kezza]

Hi all,

Well having had a few months of no problems , i've noticed that the oil light flashes just once when the revs drop .
Basically, if i depress the clutch pedal, let the engine idle and coast along, the revs drop to about 500 or so then bounce back up to 900 ish. Its during this bounce that the light flashes. The car idles perfectly at the 900 mark, it only bounces the once while dropping .

I've checked the oil level and its spot on - it does use a little oil, but has travelled 153,000, so i'm not concerned with that.
Anyone have any ideas if this is a problem or is leading to a problem? It gets on my nerves as i can see it flash in the corner of my eye!!!

This doesn't appear to affect how the car runs as apart from the flash, she goes like mad!

[rubjonny]

the oil pressure is dropping too low because the idle goes below 900 rpm, remember the oil pump runs off the engine.  You need to sort the idle drop problem, then the oil light problem should go away

It sounds liek either the base idle or CO isn't set right, or your ISV is shot.  MK3/Passat ISVs from the 2.0 8v engines fit and work perfectly.
See my setup guide in the maintenance + info section for a complete digifant setup guide

[Mk2Kezza]

Ahh, ok that makes sense. Glad its nothing worse.
I had the car on a tuning setup about two months ago and the CO was about right, with the car ideling fine. A mechanic mate of mine, got the car running last summer after 3 years in the driveway and I assume he set the idle and CO in the manner that your supposed to(revving 3 times over 3000rpm). I'll ask him next time I see him. Also i'll get down the scrappy and see if I can borrow an ISV 
I'll go and have a look at the setup page.
Thanks RJ, i'll keep you posted on the progress.

[Steve_B]

Also, check for air leaks in your pipes and around the manifolds, and engine mounts. I had a similar problem and it turned out to be my front engine mount was shot, meaning my engine would lean forward when I slowed down causing air leaks around one of the manifolds somewhere.

Not the best fault description but hope it helps.

[Mart8V]

Another little thought for you.....

Had the same problem last summer, turned out to be a- Crap in the pick up for the oil pump, and b- small bits of plastic in the oil cooler which had fallen down the dipstick tube from the plastic guide sleeve.  Both problems a pretty simple fix and no probs since.

Just in case you are running out of things to fix!

[systemseiko]

Rubjohnny is spotty dog but i would recommend a full engine flush with Wynns engine flush and a new oil and filter to have peace of mind

[Mk2Kezza]

Thanks for all that lads. I was going to change oil anf filter anyway, so i'll do that first with the flush and see what happens. If its still the same then i'll follow RJ's Digipant tuning guide.

[keithyboy]

Coincidentally, I've just posted an answer on the Mini forum I frequent on this subject. As I've been skint all my life I've had loads of cars with intergalactic mileages where the oil light flickered at low revs due to general wear on the crank, bearings and oil pump.

In your case, if you stop the revs dropping that low it should sort it, but even if it doesn't you could do thousands more miles without problems.

My background is with Capris and Cortinas with pintos. People buy them with 100+k on them, stick in a full race cam and a 2nd hand BV head off ebay, thrash the bollocks off them, and wonder why a conrod goes through the block after 500 miles.

Treat it with respect and an engine with low oil pressure at idle will run for ages quite happily.

[Mk2Kezza]

In between showers yday, I managed to change the oil and filter. Now the oil light isn't flashing but the revs are still dropping a little low, so I will run through RJ's tuning guide to make sure base idle is correct.
 
However, things being the way thay are, the yellow plastic holder at the top of the DIP stick pipe into which you put the Dip stick, cracked this morning! I was only making sure that the oil level was correct, bloody thing.

So, my question is :-

Are they available to buy and how do they come off. Will I be able to unscrew it or something?

[Mart8V]

You can buy them, but they are available at any scrappy!  I got four of them a little while back of random passats etc- on my third now.....