Oil Pressure Light Low and High

[ant_harvey]

I need some help to keep my 1.8 GTi Mk2 Golf '92 alive. When its warmed up >82 oil temp the low pressure oil light comes on at idle, it goes off again if the revs are above 1000. Also, if its given a bit of a thrashing - as we all know they need from time to time, the oil light and buzzer come on for a spilt second then go off again. I'm getting a bit of blue smoke and oil burn smell but its not using much. The engine sounds fine with no knocks, even tickover and maintains temperature without any probs. Its been like this since I bought it (good old ebay) , the guy I bought it from failed to mention it. I've now done 800 miles and driven it for 14 hours without any problem. Can anyone advise? I've been looking at threads and cant find anything that matches. The oil pumps are supposed to be very good, I hear. Stem seals? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Crasher]

Stem seal wear cannot affect oil pressure unless they use so much oil that the sump level drops too low.

The red flashing light at idle means that the switch on the head has CLOSED and is making a contact, the dynamic oil pressure warning (buzzer AND flashing light) triggering at about 2200 rpm indicates that the switch on the oil filter housing is OPEN.

If the oil pressure switches are in good condition and are correct then you have a problem. In the head there should be a brown (old 0.3 bar design) or blue (new 0.25 bar design) and a white (1.8 bar) on the oil filter housing. First of all you need to have a proper oil pressure test carried out. I always do this by removing the head switch as it takes account of any cam bearing issues which doing it at the oil filter switch may not show up. At an oil temperature of 80°c (as shown on the MFA display) you must have a minimum of 2 bar (approx 30psi) at 2000 rpm when using 15w/40 grade oil, I like to see 3 bar.

If the oil pressure is close to this, you could try changing the oil pump which is reasonably easy.

[ant_harvey]

Thanks - I will update this thread with the test results

[ant_harvey]

Part of this problem has now been identified - the wrong dipstick had been put on the car (by some dipstick) and meant there was too much oil in the car - I'm draining some out today and that should sort out the oil burning and high pressure switch I think.