Oil alarm but oil present

markfla

Hi, I have a 01 seat leon 1.4 petrol 104k. Just got serviced about two weeks ago but today I got a red flashing oil warning. Luckily I was just about home at the time and stopped the car and checked the oil level after an hour and shows plenty of oil present. It may be an electronic issue but I'm still very wary as oil problems I hear can be disastrous. I'm going to call garage in the morning which is about a mile up the road and was wondering would it be safe to drive it up the road? Any help would be great. Thanks.

Esel

When you say the oil light was flashing, did it just happen when turning? If so, the level may be low. Does 'plenty of oil' mean that the level was at Max? Did you remove and wipe the stick before checking the level?

Anan1

Did the light warn of low oil pressure or level? Oil pressure can be low even when the engine has plenty of oil, for example of the oil pump fails. It's most likely a sensor, but I wouldn't drive the car without being sure.

markfla

Yeah I wiped the stick, let the engine settle. I wasn't turning, driving straight home and an audible beep came on and the red oil symbol flashing red

Chet T16

The leon has a flashing orange light if the level is a bit low, a red light is meant to show something is more serious i.e. oil pressure or something.

Check the manual, the different lights are explained there, i can't remember off the top of my head what the flashing red could be

YbFocus

I wouldn't move the car, get mechanic to get good look at it at your place. Oil trouble is fatal!

Thirty seconds of no oil and your engine is gone, thats how serious it is!

markfla

yeah it's an oil pressure fault (confirmed in manual), I was able to get the car home ..approx a mile.....if it was a genuine fault would it have made it that far? I rang the garage, he didn't seem too panicked by how I was describing it....reckons it's electronic. A poster above mentioned did it come on when turning....as above I said no but remembered since that about 2 or 3 months ago it did flash on for an instant when I was coming down the M50/M4 interchange at liffey valley coming from galway direction heading south on the junction there is a tight left bend at bottom of junction......as soon as I came out of bend it cleared...topped up the oil that day just in case......cheers for the replies so far. Thanks.

lifer_sean

Don't panic (yet!). Most likely just faulty oil pressure switch. IIRC there are two on these, a low pressure one and a high pressure one. There is one on the side of the head that I've had to replace in the past. There are slightly different ones (colour-coded?), so you need to get the right one. Last one cost me 12 or so euro from main dealer.

markfla

cheers Lifer.....are they handy to change out?

lifer_sean

Dead simple, just take off the plug and screw the sensor out. Need a large-ish spanner, possibly 22mm, but memory very fuzzy! Would have to see one of those engines again to remember the details, but it's a 5 minute job.

markfla

sound thanks, dropped it up to garage around the corner to hook it up for a diagnostic and check of the switch.....just being ultra cautious...cheers again.

Heroditas

The gauze by the pick-up could be getting clogged up with carbonized oil.
If changing out the switch doesn't fix the problem, the sump may have to be dropped and the gauze can then be cleaned.