Help! Oil pressure warning symbol!

Jp-tqs

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Hey all,
got the dreaded oil pressure warning beeping at me today (1.8tqs). Happened a few months back too so got the engine flushed. All was fine till now! Does any one know my best options to properly cure this? Too scared to use my car now, help please! Ta
 
That link looks like the way forward mate, just havnt got the time or tools to get it done! Hmm... can smell a big repair bill! The warning only came on once, then went away for the rest of the journy home. Do you think just de-sludging will do it??
 
I would suggest removing the sump and cleaning/replacing the pick up as a minimum.

I spose filling the engine with diesel and letting it sit for a day draining and changing the oil filter etc would do no harm and may shift some crap, but if you have stuborn bits they may prevail or loosen and move around.

So for a while it may cure it, then it may come back when the loose crap finds it's way back to the pick up.

So far anyone thats done flushes has ended up having the sump off evenmtually
 
TBH, once the oil pump is bad enough to bring on the pressure light, i dont think any amount of cleaning is going to fix it properly, the pump needs replaced.
 
Makes sense, flushing is just like sweeping it under the carpet i suppose, problem hasnt gone away, just delayed! Any idea how many hours labour to change an oil pump people? Gutted coz just recently spent loads out on billy b8's and h&r springs so funds are stretched ***!
 
That is not an option lol, the link bryzan a4 put up proved the engine can stay in situ. Shall i show the garage the link!! This is not sounding good :(
 
i've been there mate. you need it drain and flush the oil out. change the strainer as it will be blocked. hopfully you won't need to change the oil pump. i had to then the oil lines to an from the turbo. i was lucky that the guys on here helped with the turbo an he knows who he is. thanks mate. hope it helps.
 
Got it booked in the garage for wednesday, its all i can realisticly do. Last oil change 10w/40 semi synthetic went in. Just done a bit of research and i think that oil choice was a mistake? Seems the 1.8t's benifit from 5w/40 fully synthetic. Got a feeling ive kinda chipped in with this problem! Stub, has your car been sound since mate?
 
10/40 semi IS acceptable, but only if its changed regularly.

Leaving semi in there for 10k+ isnt really very good for the motor.

I use 5w40 fully synth and change it every 5k.
 
Ok, when i get this problem sorted 5w/40 fully synth is the way forward! Got a mate at work with a 1.8t skoda octavia rs. Was chatting to him about the problem, has the octavia got the same engine? His oil filter is massive compared to mine, holds well over 4 litres of oil apparently and says is standard parts. Will this oil filter fit mine? Like the idea of more oil lol.
 
I got a larger oil filter from audi
part number 068 115 561b for my tqs
 
Ill look in to that griswold. Out of intrest, do you know the origins of the oil filter? Ie, what model is it from??
 
No idea was reccomended by audi for me
just to hold a bit more oil
 
B6 1.8Ts use a slightly larger filter, but i found a monster from a transporter that fits too:

http://friesian.lr90.org/gallery2/d/312-2/DSC00526.JPG

Left is the normal 75mm filter specced for B5 1.8T's
Middle is the number mentioned above, standard fit on B6 models, and usually recommended by audi for the earlier engines too
Right is the filter from the VW Transporter. You can see the WIX part number in the photo, and your local factor should be able to cross reference it with whatever brand they sell.
 
Nice work fellas, the b5 filter is pathetic really! Think the b6 filter will be sufficient. Aragorn, have you got that massive filter fitted on yours?
 
Yeh the massive one is currently on there.

It will be fitting the mid sized one at the next oil change, mainly because i forgot to bring the part number with me when i went to the factors to buy the filter, so just ordered a B6 one.
 
Garage says oil pump failure, ****! How do you diagnose an oil pump failure out of intrest, anyone know? Would it show up on fault codes?
 
Wouldnt show on fault codes, you need to put a calibrated oil pressure guage onto the engine and start it up and check the figure obtained. It will be the strainer blocked, it's very very rare for the pump to fail, it does usually work out more cost effective to change it for a new unit anyway seeing the engine is out and stripped.
 
Well ive given the go ahead to change the oil pump, which apparently comes with a new strainer/pick up. When its done its big oil filters and more frequent oil changes from now on! Just hope the turbo hasnt suffered with oil starvation with the build up to this! Got the hump with audi at the mo coz they built an engine with a big, obvious weakness. Lack of oil resulting in oil failure. Might take em to court lol!
 
If the engine was cared for and serviced on the button then it'd be fine. The problem is people use crap quality oil and leave it in there far too long.

I guess you might say Audi is partly to blame for only specifying a semi-synthetic oil, with an 8k change interval, but all they're interested in is getting the engine thru the warranty period, and making it look nice and cheap for prospective buyers.

They changed to "long-life" servicing in around 2000, which specifies fully synth oil, but at the same time it also allows it to stay in there nearly twice as long.
 
B6 1.8Ts use a slightly larger filter, but i found a monster from a transporter that fits too:

http://friesian.lr90.org/gallery2/d/312-2/DSC00526.JPG

Left is the normal 75mm filter specced for B5 1.8T's
Middle is the number mentioned above, standard fit on B6 models, and usually recommended by audi for the earlier engines too
Right is the filter from the VW Transporter. You can see the WIX part number in the photo, and your local factor should be able to cross reference it with whatever brand they sell.
Hi, Does anyone know if teh big filter will fit mine ? i'm changing the oil tommorow.
 
Well, new oil pump is fitted at great expence!! Engine is almost silent now compared to the tractor like noise it made before! My old pump/strainer and sump was a state, no amount of flushing would have cured the problem i reakon! So all 1.8t owners, if possible get your sump off!!
 
95,000 miles mate. It was one owner and Full service history when i got it. But as mentioned, cheap oil is no doubt to blame!
 
out of interest, was it on long life servicing?

And if so, were they running semi-synth oil on long life intervals?
 
HI all i have been reading the thread when this morning my 1.8t Audi TT had the dreaded 3 beeps and the red oil warning light appear. You can tell there is no oil going round the engine as it wounds very tappy. (tractor like).
My local garage have said it is the oil pump but have only qouted me £250 to replace it.
This sounds very cheap to me and i am wondering if the engine has to come out or if it can be done in the car. I can only assume from the quote that it can be done with the engine in.
thanks
 
£250 sounds acceptable to me.

TT has a different layout to the B5, so its quite possible that it can be easily removed in situ, i've never looked at an 06x block up close though so i cant say for sure.
 
The sump is accessible directly from under the car without removing anything else, will take aound an hour to drop the sump and change the pump and whack a new one it.

Oil and filter too, job done
 
ah thank god for that, I think thats a fair quote.
I am worried i may have f**ked the turbo as i had to drive the car about 7 miles to the garage. I did not exceed 30mph nor did i hear/see any smoke...
Can i assume the only way i am going to know is when i get it back?
thanks in advance all
 
id go as far as to say the new pump is likely to be overkill when its only likely to want the strainer cleaned
 
Not always matt, the pump gears themselves wear out, espeically on higher mileage engines, and oil starvation from a blocked strainer will accellerate the wear.

Our old 1.8T never flashed an oil warning, but the pressure was waay down on Audis spec. It'd drop to about half a bar at idle, and at 3k would only manage around 3 bar, rather than the specified 5+ bar, but then it was a 200k engine.

The pumps arent particularly expensive, and when your paying for labour, its a false economy imo just to clean the strainer, because theres no way of knowing until its back together if thats fixed it, and if it hasnt you've got another labour bill on top to do the whole job again. I guess you could get the garage to measure the pump gears, but by the time you've spend the money on them removing and dismantling the pump and checked the clearances, your even closer to the cost of just fitting a new pump.
 
> likely to be overkill

because its unlikely that the engine is on 200k+ miles!

im doing a bit of work on a 2.8 this weekend... had a look in the oil filler to see what im dealing with. looks like the oil hasnt been changed for 40k miles :( completely coated everything in gum

id hate to see what the sump looks like in that thing
 
i opened the filler, blinked, looked again because i didnt beleive what i saw, then thought of your diesel flush thread :(

cosmetically its a lovely car but the previous owner admitted they didnt like the running costs.

i dont understand the mind set of a nutter thats too tight and grudged to change the oil though
 
ye, but i guess it depends on how sensible you are.

You or i would realise that the servicing costs can be minimised by simply doing an oil change every 10k and ignoring everything else. Probably wouldnt cost much more than 20 or 30quid. Most people will goto a garage and ask for "a service" which invariably ends up costing a few hundred quid for a big car, then think oh no i cant afford that, and ignore it with their head in the sand.
 
Yeh the massive one is currently on there.

It will be fitting the mid sized one at the next oil change, mainly because i forgot to bring the part number with me when i went to the factors to buy the filter, so just ordered a B6 one.
Middle one is a standard 1.9 tdi passat AFN engine code and the big one is for a transporter t4 2.5 tdi ACV/AJT engine 88/102Bhp...i have fitted loads of them on petrol cars with no ill effects.
 
so what do you gain other than a couple hundred CC extra oil capacity?
 

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