Oil light paying me a visit every so often....

Bear in mind its about 1 & 1/4 litres I think, of oil between min and Max marks. You'd get a litre in there ^

 

I`m getting worried about the dog .....

 

Yes...the dog...will it need water??

Joking!! This time!

 

I thought it was 500ml of oil between min and max.

Top it up slowly when the engine is cold and the van is flat.

 

Really? Wow. I've read so much about not putting too much oil in, keeping it at about halfway between min and max on dipstick etc.... Clearly all that's rubbish? 5mm below max line when cold, that's what I'm going for if all agree...

 

Sorry Steve, the foam surround is there to stop heat transfer. It was never fitted to the beetle because of the shape of the car. A van creates a partial vacuum behind it and without the foam surround it will take in the heat from the exhaust. 20/50 is the best choice of oil and changed every 3000mls is best, however 30 grade oil is the best oil for the early single relief valve engines as they have smaller oil galleries. Oil light at tickover is very common. Oil flow is more important than pressure in an air cooled engine, change the oil pressure switch, make sure the engine is not ticking over to slow, if it still does it put a stronger spring in the rear relief valve as a weak spring there will do blead of pressure. And fill it up to the line, that is what the line is there for.

 

I've learnt a lot this Sunday evening....

 

Whereabouts in Norfolk are you? Perhaps someone would be willing to come round and show you how to do and oil change. A personal techenders if you will

 

The original flickering oil light problem can be "hidden" for a while by simply putting your foot lightly on the accelerator pedal until it goes out when the engine is in neutral. This speeds up the cooling fan without making the engine run at much higher power so it cools down quicker and lets the oil thicken up. At the same time the pressure is increased because the oil pump is driven faster.

The other thing with the VW cooling system is that it works by maintaining oil pressure. If the oil is hot it gets thinner the pressure drops and the oil flows more through the cooler than when it is thick and cold. If you put in 20W/50 oil in an effort to make the oil thicker and keep up the pressure, the engine simply gets hotter until the pressure is about the same as with a 'thinner' oil. So once you get the flickery light the problem will not really go away until the engine is sorted.

But the failure is a progressive decline towards an eventual failure rather than an immediate stop and panic. So you may well get tens of thousands of miles out of an engine with a flickery light if it only comes on after a 70mph thrash. If it is coming on at 50-60mph then the end is nearer.
I think I go anothert 10k miles from an engine which flickered its oil light when it was hot after a motorway run.


Again this is one of those annoying things that the parts that may need to be replaced may only cost a small fraction of the cost of labour needed to fit them.

 

The flickering light is also mentioned in the original handbook and the general idea is that if it goes out when you rev it then not to worry about it too much. Mine does it after a fast run 65 /70 and Ive found that if i drive and the less dizzy speed of about 60 then it doesnt. I did a 200 mile round trip the other week and it didnt flicker once..
mine also leaks like a leaky thing but keeps plodding along. I'm saving for a rebuild at some point.

 

Am in Norwich city centre.... Still gutted bout techenders but I'll be at the next one and I've got my t2 detectives course in July to help me as well!

 

That's a shame I was in Norwich at the weekend. The T2detectives course is the same as techenders except free.

In fact it is often they started their course with the idea from techenders

 

Update on the oil situation... I shamefully admit the level might be a tad low..... Hoping this is what caused the warning light to flash on a couple of times, especially as it was when we were on a slight downwards slope ...

Just above minimum when cold ... Hopefully I've not damaged my boy too much!! Clearly I need to check more regularly as only topped up above the halfway point a few weeks ago and haven't driven far in meantime ...

And as for the foam situation ... I have some

 

I doubt you've hurt anything but I bet it's bit smoother and quieter now.

 

There used to be a bloke on here from round that way who was very good with these old vans, he has since retired though and believe he has joined the yachting community

 

Make sure when you top it up you fill it to the max mark. Putting it to the middle is false economy.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

 

That air filter will have a connection underneath the same size as the breather out next to the oil filler cap. Get some pipe and join them up.

 

So I asked the garage about this before I think - well I asked them if I'm missing a pipe that goes to the outlet next to the filler cap - part of the crank case oil breathing system. I said that I thought it should connect back to the carb air filter for excess gas to be re-burnt by the engine.... Are we talking about the same thing?? Anyway, the garage said I don't need that cos I've got a pancake filter??? This is where they lost me..., can anyone explain or do I need to go back to them?

 

You were entirely correct, the garage lied to you for their own convenience. That outlet chuffs oil fumes into the source of your heating air.
Try to find another garage, it's worth travelling a bit.