car won't start

[Effect]

Last night a RED oil pressure warning light came on the display and the car cut out and wouldnt start again until i had locked and unlocked the car and after that it was fine drove normally and started up every time no problem.

Go to it this morning and it wont start at all and only once has the oil pressure light come on again every other time it just said ok.

Local garage have now recovered it off my drive and I am waiting to hear what they say probably tomorrow.

Is it likely to be just the oil pressure sensor ?
If so how much is one of those ?

Car is a 2001 Y reg.

Cheers
James

 

[Caesium]

i would guess the sensor is about 10-15 quid?
You sure its the sensor and not a lack of oil or the oil pump?

 

[Prawn]

you better hope its the sensor.....

oil pressure warning lights are there for a reason, loosing oil pressure is seriously bad news.... and will end up with a seized engine.

if the light comes on you really need to kill the ignition ASAP before any damage is done, a momentary flicker could be acceptable when cornering hard, but any continous display of the warning light is bad.

have you checked the oil level? what sort of condition is the oil in? black and sludgy? or clean and smooth?

when you say the car wont start at all, will it still turn over?

i managed to blow up a 205 gti 1.9 motor a few years back, which would still start and just about run at the time, but the next morning it had set itself solid, and never did turn over again.

good luck! hope its just a sensor

 

[Effect]

car cut out last night and i tried to start it it wouldnt start.

got out locked it unlocked it got back in and it ran perfectly as before. I was thrashing it a bit afterwards as well, i got in and out of it a few times and started and stopped it a few times as well, it still ran fine right up to the moment i parked it last night.

this morning first thing i did was check oil level and it was at maximum and the oil looked like 2000 mile old oil should like.

Car still turns over fine. just will not start.
which is what leads me to believe there wasnt actually a loss of oil pressure and now its just an ECU code stopping the engine from starting again.

 

[Caesium]

I think you may have hit the nail on the head there

 

[Prawn]

yea, definately sounds like some sort of electrical gremlin then! if it still turns fine and everything, it must be some sensor.......

no oil lights or engine management lights showing on the dash now?

 

[jojo]

Starting problems usually points to a dodgy coolant sensor, but you say there was a low oil pressure warning, so still not conclusive.

 

[Effect]

i have tried to start it about 8 times roughly and 7 of those times the display read OK one of the times it showed the oil pressure thingy in red again.

I should find out tomorrow what the problem is and how much it will cost
recovery+ECU read+parts+fitting

I am just hoping i can get the place i bought it from to cough up for it.

 

[colinra]

I am interested in the answer to this one as I came across an A4 diesel that did the exact same thing.

Audi assist came out and got it going again but the (lady) owner didn't have a clue what was up.

If the ECU stops the car starting with low oil pressure that is very clever.

 

[Effect]

the garage said the first thing he did was lock and unlock the car and start it up and it kicked in first time. (i had tried several times to lock and unlock the car then start it to no avail)

they also read the ecu which bought up no fault codes apart from an abs fault, the sensor is on order and should be arriving monday.

I am now concerned as to why the oil pressure warning has come up on the display and left no fault in the ecu, so i shall be replaciung the sensor at a cost of less than a tenner inc VAT direct from VAG just to rule that out if it happens again.

The opinion of 4 mechanics and myself says that this is an immobiliser fault with the car (if so any likely or common faults with the a3/s3 immobiliser system ?)

also can anyone tell me why the red oil pressure sybol came up on the display and left no fault code in the ECU ?

Thanks
James

 

[davidhodgkinson]

Could you be having a battery failure?

i've heard that most of the audi range will bring up random warnings when the battery is failing?