Oil level light

Ndullone

Good afternoon everybody,

I’ve been following boards since a couple of years now, this is my first post.

I have a problem with my van:

VW transporter, 2.5 TDI
Year 2005
178000 Km
Serviced 21/03/2011, when I bought it from a VW dealer

Problem is oil level light. (the yellow light)

A few days ago it switched on and obviously I was a bit concerned. I bought some oil but after checking oil level, I saw it was fine…therefore I didn’t add more oil.
Funny thing is that after checking it, the oil level light switched off.
It happened again after about 100 kms. After checking oil level, light switched off.
It happened again this morning. I am worried!

I’ve read around this and other forums (but this first!) and I saw something similar, but actually no solution so far.

Do you have any ideas on how to help me?

Thank you very much everybody!

‘Ndullone

Buford T Justice

Could it be a faulty sensor, or the wiring to the sensor could be dodgey.

Ndullone

Thank you Fingers McGee for reading and replying...

I really hope it's not a serious problem as I already had to bring the van to Brady's VW centre few weeks ago because the van was not accelerating, and to realize what the problem was and change a 10 euro wire they spent 6 and half hours...(at 90 euro per hour!)

The main thing is that I'll be able to bring it to a garage not earlier than next Monday, as I'm working Sat included and I'll have to use it till then!

Again, thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it!

'Ndullone

Wheelnut

If you're sure the light is for the oil level and you found it to be OK on the dipstick, I would say it's safe to keep driving.

My daughter had a Golf that put on the oil level light and the only way to keep the light off was to keep the oil slightly above MAX. It looks like VW have a problem with level sensors!

golfbgud

Get a mechanic/garage to perform an oil pressure test (should be straight forward). If there's plenty of oil pressure then it should be safe to drive.

In the older cars (1980's) the oil pressure switches only needed about 6lbs/si to extinguish the light on the dash - this is minimal and not good for an engine.

The MKIV Golf did dhow issues with blocked oil uplift/intake which usually either blew the engine or if you were lucky, blew the switch to relieve the pressure.

Don't mess with the oil light! Get it checked/fixed!

Ndullone

Hey guys thank you so much for your help!

Yesterday after work I checked the oil level again and this time it looked pretty low…so I put some of the oil I bought and oil level light magically switched off

There must be definitely something wrong with where I was checking it before…I mean, it might be that my house parking is not completely horizontal…but to me it actually looked horizontal!

By the way, if just that was the problem, there also must be something wrong with myself!!!

I really hope I don’t have to bother you again with my oil level light problem!!

Thanks again everybody for being so helpful!

Ciao

‘Ndullone

drBill

Used to have the same prob with a VW golf and garage said it was a faulty sensor. The oil level itself was always ok, and this would only happen if I went above about 100Km/h before the engine had fully warmed up, so I think it may have been triggered by the oil being a bit thicker than usual.

Once the yellow light comes on, it stays on until you either switch off the engine or open the bonnet.

kelehen

Yellow Oil Light is also linked to Bonnet-open switch so when bonnet is opened it turns light off, presuming that you opened the Bonnet to top-up Oil level. If oil is not topped up it will soon come on again – or maybe a dirty or faulty bonnet switch or yellow oil-level switch.
Seán

biko

You're 7 years late, this thread is from 2011