Hello all, I haven't been driving my car much with current situation and having to self isolate etc...

 

Full service took place about 5 days before the lockdown. Yesterday I get into drive and the oil warning light comes on. I park back up and check levels and it is over the upper limit. No strange noises, no funny smells. Possible that the garage has over filled but certainly seems unlikely with the guys I use normally. Any other suggestions? Anyone know of skoda garages open in Cornwall for key workers?

 

Thanks in advance. 

The oil level might be a little high, but you check it at normal operating temperature stopped for a few minutes on the flat.

The cold / un-started level is not the correct level.  

Neither is starting the car and stopping it and checking that level of cold oil not even warm.

Look in the owners manual on 'Checking oil'.

 

What quantity oil were you charged for on the Service Invoice?

 

Check the level again when cold and see just where it is on the dipstick.

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

Thank you for your response. I shall check the manual and try the oil again.

 

I have looked through the service report but there isn't a quantity noted. They charged £35.72 pre VAT and it looks like possibly 4.7 in "parts" Possible that could mean 4.7 ltrs

They also replaced the Sump plug which i don't know if that is included with the usual service. 

The Sump Plug should always be replaced even if the oil is sucked out.

4.7 will be the litres.

?

Was it a Yellow Oil Can light for low oil & not a Red Oil can for low oil pressure?

 

Check the level cold, then try starting again.

 

I do not think the Oil Lights comes on before firing the car but just doing the Check Lights check.  Some other owners of them can maybe comment.

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

1 hour ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

The Sump Plug should always be replaced even if the oil is sucked out.

 

 

Why?

 

Defeats the object of using a suction pump if you then have to remove the undertray to replace the sump plug.

Because that is the VW Groups trained technicians instructions to carry out even with the removal of oil by sucking out.  Still replace the sump plug.

The Plug is charged for.

Plenty might just suck out the oil and then defraud the customer and the VAT / HMRC by charging a couple of quid for a sump plug.

Do that 1,000 times a year in a busy workshop, it pays for the Christmas Party.

 

DIY'ers can do what they like.

Maybe with a new to them used car just replace it once haven checked it is not glued in or the likes, then after that vacuum out the oil and never need to remove any undertray or sump plug.

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

That makes complete sense, well to VAG at least, maybe not to a bemused, defrauded customer, un pigeon as they would be called here.

 

All this nonsense started way back with the utter lies that the 20mm steel thread  stretches beyond the elastic limit when tightened into the alloy thread and therefore must be replaced each time, a masterstroke worthy of someone named Cummings which brought in far more revenue than a copper washer.

 

People believed it, it became repeated enough to be accepted as fact and has been further exploited so that every customer is now paying for an undertray to (not) be removed and the sump plug (not) removed and (not) replaced with a new one.

 

I am surprised that amongst the pigeons one person has not marked the sump plug with an UV marker or similar and asked for the old parts to be returned and/or used an inspection mirror to show that the original is still in place.

 

Edited 14 April, 20206 yr by J.R.

3 hours ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

The Sump Plug should always be replaced even if the oil is sucked out.

4.7 will be the litres.

?

Was it a Yellow Oil Can light for low oil & not a Red Oil can for low oil pressure?

 

Check the level cold, then try starting again.

 

I do not think the Oil Lights comes on before firing the car but just doing the Check Lights check.  Some other owners of them can maybe comment.

I have checked cold. Oil still above the upper dipstick level. 
 

oil light only comes on when running and it is red.

 

 

Not good.

That is an Oil Pressure light.    You need to contact the garage when open.  Email now though.

?

Do you have Breakdown Cover, RAC / AA / Greenflag ?    Any friendly mechanic.  

 

Someone will be along with advice hopefully.    If overfilled i would be taking out oil.   But you want to know if a sensor fault.

@Scoutuser

How many miles has the car done since the service was carried out?

Yeah that was my worry. I’ve managed to find a garage offering emergency work for key workers so I’m taking it to them in the morning. It’s only 5 minutes down the road so I’m going to have to try and drive it

It has to be close to 100 perhaps. It’s not usual for me just post lockdown I’ve been off work etc so it’s sat still for almost 3 weeks with one journey

How did you get on?

 

Overfilling is more common than we'd like to think, and it is possible if they've put in too much oil then the car thinks there is an oil pressure issue...

 

 

Edited 15 April, 20206 yr by silver1011

The dipstick on the bmm of engine is a bast**d to read well. I suspect that the engine has been overfilled with oil

 

Tsm

Yeah sadly it seems this is the case. Garage took a little out and warning has gone. They have also found a coolant leak! Joys. But that isn’t essential apparently so will have to wait until after the lock down. 
 

thanks for the thoughts 

Hopefully the discount they offered you for the potential damage they could have caused to your engine by messing up one of the most common and basic servicing jobs will go a long way to covering the bulk of the coolant leak fix 😉

Oh if only I could speak to my usual garage! I couldn’t take it to them as they have closed and stopped taking calls until all this is sorted

Get a bill from the garage you used to diagnose/remove the excess oil and when you return to your normal garage explain the problem and show them the bill.  They should offer to refund you the cost or give you services to the value, so that way you can get the coolant leak sorted.

How does overfilling create a low oil pressure or low oil level warning light?

 

Not disputing that this was the case but would like to understand.

Edited 16 April, 20206 yr by J.R.

I got this from a quick Google search. As with anything on the internet take it with a pinch of salt...

 

"...overfilling can cause all sorts of potentially costly problems if the oil level is high enough to reach the crank. The oil light illuminates when the oil pressure is low and this is not only caused by low oil level.  Other factors can cause a drop in oil pressure such as a partially blocked oil strainer to the oil pump or a problem with the oil pump drive."

 

https://www.theaa.com/cars/news/ask-edmund/oil-light-overfilled

 

Excess oil causing frothing of the oil leading to air bubbles getting into the pump/oilways thus triggering the oil pressure warning light seems a bit far fetched, but it does appear to be relatively common.

'Low Oil Level warning'.   That is Low Oil.

 

'Oil pressure warning'   That is an oil pressure warning. 

 It was not a 'Low Oil Pressure warning'.   It can be Low oil Pressure.  It could be a high oil pressure.

 

High pressure causes seal leaks / failures.

 

 

Old threads on just Briskoda will show issues with Oil Filters collapsing, and Oil Pressure Warnings, 

so rubbish filters, wrong filters, over tightened filters, and filters with the old seal left on and a new one as well.

Edited 16 April, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

What was the warning light that the OP had, level or pressure?

 

Do you think that the oil pressure switch on his engine registers both (too) low and (too) high pressure or is it perhaps a sender?

 

As I said before I would just like to understand.

Red warning is generally low pressure, never heard of a red oil light meaning anything else; a read of the Owner's Manual would help.   @Scoutuser how far above max was the level?

 

Frothing due to crank contact is a possibility, as silver says; suddenly the oil is compressible, so harder to pump efficiently, and pressure will drop.

 

Not aware of the oil level sensor/system having a warning for 'level too high' but I suppose it's possible. Owner's Manual might yield something I suppose.

 

Never heard of an oil pressure switch in a car being used for 'pressure too high'. Possible confusion sometimes when there's more than one pressure switch and one is referred to as the low pressure warning switch, and the other tends to get called the high pressure switch.  Generally it's really a 'higher threshold low pressure switch'.  My old mk2 Golf had this, one was for monitoring pressure at low revs and idle, the higher threshold one only got monitored above 2k rpm. Still both low-pressure warning switches.

 

Knowledge of the OP's engine code would help if anyone did want to dig deeper. Dunno if any run of the mill VW group cars have an actual pressure sensor for oil as opposed to a threshold switch, but some recent ones are super complicated with up to three pressure switches and an electrically operated pressure control valve in/on the pump. Don't think this'll be one of those but year and engine code would help to investigate.

 

1 hour ago, Wino said:

Red warning is generally low pressure, never heard of a red oil light meaning anything else; a read of the Owner's Manual would help.   @Scoutuser how far above max was the level?

 

 

 

I would have to guess at about 1 inch. However it is difficult to pull the dipstick out without dragging it on the side of the tube meaning I couldn't be certain. 

 

In terms of warning light, manual suggests only one warning light relating to oil pressure being too low. It just so happens that the oil warning light is often due to lack of oil. It is definitely related to pressure issues, regardless of volume. You can still have a low pressure warning with increased oil volume. 

31 minutes ago, Scoutuser said:

I would have to guess at about 1 inch.

 

Christ, sounds like they accidentally refilled it twice. no wonder the crank was churning it.

 

Oil warning light is yellow when it means low level. 

Oh ok. Interesting. All sorted now anyway "apparently" Car problems with a lock down are a pain in the A**