Hi all, I'm new to this so hopefully can make it work.

Bit of a ramble but try to keep it breif.

I have a 1.6 glxi and the oil pressure light came on the other day, unfortunatley, when wife was driving car so obviously she drove a further 30 miles before telling me. (and blamed me for her not stopping immediately as I had previously told her to ignore the intermittant fault light on the ABS system )

Anyway, checked oil level - fine, lifted crankshaft cover off - no oil getting to top of engine. Engine still runs seemingly ok but sounding pretty horrific - maybe because hydraulic tappets need oil to work properly - as do bearings!?

Friend advised changing oil and filter and seeing what happened.

I also remembered that I had given the sump an almighty whack the day before driving into rough unmade carpark the day before - checked sump and massive dent to front - luckily missed exhaust.

So I though I would remove sump and check for damage internally whilst oil was drained out. Paint / coating on iternal of old sump was missing around area of damage - could this have been sucked into system and caused blockage?

Got replacement sump from similar model at scrappy and replaced.

No obvious damage internal - pick up ok and strainer seemed clean.

Looked for oil pump to check out but not obviously visible - seemed to not look like the chain driven pump shown in the haynes nmanual - which was fairly obvious on the car in the scrap yard which I took the sum from. so gave up, replaced sump, oil and filter, crossed fingers and restarted.

Oil pressure light still on - still no oil getting pumped up to top end.

Now what to do ?

S reg car cost £700 two years ago so not worth a lot and dont want to spend anything on it. however, i have invested a fair bit of time in it recently doing other bits and pieces and it seems too nice general condition to scrap.

Does anybody know whats going on with the oil pumps on this model - as I said does not seem to tie in with haynes manuel?

Are there any other simple things to check / fix?

Am I waisting my time? - will the car having been driven like this for 30 miles have knackered it anyway?

Im guesing that the fact that the engine did not seize indicates that the bottom end bearings must have been getting some lubrication?

Any advice or comments gratefully received

Thanks for reading

was it a big dent, maybe it measure oil but not the correct amount (due to the dent)

paint might cause a plug, depending on the ammount

did you re-use the oil that you took out, best bet is to buy 5 liters and a new filter

when oil light goes on is a difference od 2 liters or more (as far as i know) so maybe yo where leaking oil and did not notice

I'd change the oil filter, and the strainer on the sump pickup, oh and the oil itself.

I'd then spin the engine on the starter without letting it fire (disconnect the HT), and check for oil flow at the cylinder head.

Thanks for that,

I did change the oil and filter and the strainer appeared clean.

To change the strainer means dropping the sump again - anything else worth doing at same time?

What if still no oil flow at cylinder head?

Thanks in anticipation

Ok, if you've changed the oil and filter, and the strainer looked clean, disconnect the HT system to stop the engine firing, spin it on the starter and look for any signs of oil flow in the valve chest (look through the oil filler cap). If you've got an oil flow, I'd change the oil pressure switch (I've done this before when I'd the light going with a known good oil flow, because the problem is particles in the capilary to the transducer); otherwise I'm stuck, but suspect the pump!

I had hoped that the switch was faulty but definately no oil flow at top end.

I also suspect pump but not sure how to change as different from haynes manual - any ideas anyone.

Cheers

I've never seen an oil pump that wasn't chain-driven off the crank in a wet sump engine, so no.

maybe I was just being dim.

On the car in the scrap yard, once the sump was removed the pump drive chain and gear were clearly visible and obvious. - and looked like the haynes manual piccies.

On mine there was nothing like that?

The pick up and strainer were obvious but nothing else protruded into the sump. From memory there were two bolts that looked in the right place to be associated with an oil pump but I didnt want to start undoing things randomly.

thanks for your continued help.

sounds like your oil pumps failed, and if you keep driving it around your going to scrap a good engine!

maybe like said earlier the paint has caused a blockage?

other than that i would change the pump next

Are you looking at the right section in the haynes?

Maybe you're looking at the 1.3 or the 1.9d?

Would suspect the pump... would be worth checking the bits of the pump and if everything looks ok then it is more than likely a blockage!

Phil

Thanks all

Think I will have to try and check out pump next.

Yes, am looking at correct section of haynes - but was tricked initially!

Will have to go back to scrappy and hope to see something familiar,

Oil removed was very thick / black / gruesome so blockage not out of the question.

Can oil paths be cleared? Compressor onto pickup pipe??

cheers

There are specialist flushing oils. With this car, then unless you want to do a modified project car, or feel up to fitting a used short engine yourself, if a replacement pump and flushing oil don't sort the problem, getting the oilways cleaned out would be good money after bad!

Cheers ken, thats what i want to avoid.

Will try pump and flush and see what happens - if I can suss out the oil pump ! ?

If you go for flush, I suggest you drain the oil post flush, remove the sump and clean out the filters etc as the sheer amount of crud that could be an old engine can lead to problems otherwise.

ok, must have missed this thread before...

are you sure that the oil pick up is not bent? i've had problems with them being too close to the sump before too