VRS TFSI Oil Pressure Issues

[alw70]

Hi all,

 

Have been having some issues with my TFSI VRS recently with the low oil pressure warning light coming up on the dash.

 

I took it into the garage to have the sump taken off, cleaned and for the oil pickup pipe to be cleaned out also. They also replaced the oil pressure switch with 06D919081B just in case and tested the pressure. It was 4 bar at 2000rpm but only 1 bar at idle (which they thought might be a bit low, although they did say that Skoda do not give a book value for the pressure at idle).

 

Since they did the work, I didn't have the oil pressure warning again until a week afterwards, when it flashed up midway through a longer drive. It stayed on until I stopped the car and ignition cycled - there was no change in the noise of the engine and there were no problems for the rest of the journey. Since then it come on once more another week later - same story, no change in engine sound, it cleared with an ignition cycle and didn't come back for the rest of the journey. Does anyone have any ideas what could be going on? I can't pinpoint any particular conditions that trigger the warning - the first time was pulling away from a set of traffic lights and the second was changing lane on a dual carriageway. 

 

I've had one idea but not sure if it's relevant or not - the cluster that is in the car is not the original cluster (it came from a 2.0 FSI and Ed coded it in for me a few years ago). Using VCDS on the measuring blocks for the oil pressure sender in the instrument cluster, it calls it a 0.9 bar switch - whereas the switch in my TFSI is actually 1.2 - 1.6 bar. Does this mean that the cluster could be giving spurious warnings thinking that the pressure is 0.9 bar or below when it in fact might be 1.6 bar? Any ideas if there's some adaptation I can do to the cluster to change the type of switch it thinks it should have?

 

Thanks,

Alex

[Sarge]

Is the car using oil or is it just the light coming on? When my light started coming on in the 1.8t Scout it was quickly followed by an increase in oil consumption. Ultimately I needed a new engine. 

[vala]

Have you replaced the oil filter?

[alw70]

Yes - oil and oil filter replaced. It's always used a bit of oil in the 30000 miles or so of my ownership (can't really say how much - just checked regularly and topped up if necessary probably every few months) but can't say that it's using more now than it has previously. 

 

Garage have raised the question mark over the oil pump - clearly it cannot have failed completely as there is still oil pressure the vast majority of the time. I cannot justify the cost of investigation (believe the stretch bolts alone are £60 + the labour to drop the sump) let alone replacement (£900 for a new module) on the off chance that 'it might be starting to go' - my thoughts on the engineers (though from my experience of working in the automotive industry - they were probably the suppliers) who designed the pump to be integral with the balance shaft module are best kept to myself.