GruvenS4

So about 2 weeks ago, I was driving home from work, and my oil pressure light beeped and came on. It was the red blinking oil tin looking thing. So I pulled over right away, checked oil level. It was a tiny bit low, so I filled it. The light still stayed on. I drove it over to my mechanic's shop (which was close), and he said it could be nothing, or maybe more, so I left it there overnight, and he looked at it.

So I got it back from my mechanic, and he's not exactly sure what's happening with it. He put in a new Oil Pressure Sender and changed the oil (it was due anyway) to 20W50 Synthetic (10W30 before), but the problem is still there! He's not sure what else could be wrong, since it has more than enough oil pressure, and he thoroughly tested it.

With a new sender in place, and the light still on, I don't know where to go from here. It's driving me crazy, and I'm afraid that I'm damaging the car, even though it's been tested and has enough oil volume and pressure. Is the next step to replace the oil pump? If so, how much do those usually run for, and how hard are they to install?

Please help!! Thank you!

Matt
'00 Nogaro S4 (67k miles)

mpwolf

20W-50? It could be the oil system trying to warn you it's trying to pump oil it wasn't made for.

+pressure

My 1.8T did this recently. It's common. The pickup on the oil pump is protected by a screen that gets gunked up w/ contaminants & gummed up oil. If you don't religiously change your oil at least every 3k, this is bound to happen, regardless of the OE recommendations. I picked up 2 jugs of NAPA Motor Flush & made an appointment to get my oil changed... 2x in a few hours. The 1st change was done w/ crap conventional 15/40 fleet oil after running the motorflush at idle for 10 minutes. Then I took the car out for an hour & ran it pretty good. Came back & ran a 2nd jug of motorflush - again, for ~10 minutes. The 2nd oil change was w/ M1 5/50. All's been fine since. If it happens again, gotta' pull the pan & clean the screen.

Good luck.

S4_Cinci (I S'edTFA)

I was under warranty so I don't know how much it costs, but it is not a simple R&R. Someone else may be able to shed some light on cost and labor hours involved.