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edeholl44

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hello, I am also experiencing a low oil pressure light on my '07 t1 Touareg with 125k miles. I bought the truck off an auction and currently fixing some of the simple issues until this one came up. I was excited to see my Christmas tree go away after doing my repairs but this fault stumps me. I took the car on its first road journey and after warming up a bit, I got the low oil pressure light on when I was on a incline leaning to the passenger side. I immediately pulled it into my shop and tried to hear any weird noises. The only noise I can find that may be a concern was a fairly noisy idle valve tick, but that goes away anywhere over 1000 rpm. Also when I started it to move it to my lift it immediately started surging for 30 seconds then steadied out around 500 rpm . Those two things gave me a great amount of concern due to the fact of a red flashing oil light.

I proceeded to pull the first spark plug out to test for compression and the first reading I got around 90 psi, the second test around 125-130 psi, and after that it altered in compression. I tried a wet compression test and I got a happy 150psi consistently. I also noticed a small ring of oil standing around the spark plug hole when I removed the plug. I'm too tired tonight to test all of the others but I will have to see.

I am hoping its not an oil pump because from what I have seen it is not an easy fix. I have done a water pump replacement on my '17 sportwagen which was a pain enough but I am concerned this one is much worse.

What are the chances its a sensor or some other electrical issue. If so, how would I rule that out? Are there any other issues that can cause this code to occur?

I am also thinking of adding a physical oil pressure gauge to see what my pump is generating.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I really love the look of this car and don't want to let go of it before I even really drive the thing!


Another odd thing about this situation is there is absolutely no blow by...

and for me an idle around 500-600 rpm seems low, my sportwagen idles around 900. is that normal?

What is a healthy compression reading? wet/dry?

anything would be great!
 
#2 ·
Hello and welcome to the forums.
The link below is just one of the threads on here about low oil pressure warning(s). Without knowing anything other than the year of your Treg I don't know if the thread is helpful. You could also use the "Search Community" box that is top dead center of the page and read other threads on it. Hope it helps.

Link >>> Oil pressure warning - sometimes?
 
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#4 ·
Dry... your engine is hurt.

241781


Drop the oil pan and make sure the oil pickup is not full of crud. At that milage, you most likely have worn out chain guides and all sorts of plastic shavings clogging up your pickup. You can try running thicker oil as a work around if you want to use it as a beater, but unless you refresh that engine, it sounds like it's already too damaged to be used for much longer.
 
Discussion starter · #7 ·
Thanks for all of the help, It is a 3.6 FSI (direct injection). I will pull off the oil pan tonight and inspect the pick up tube, The car previously sat for 4 years so is it possible the rings are frozen?

It also could be my tester itself, not the most quality tool. The odd part is it starts way to easy and idles really smooth to have low compression. On top of that there is absoluetly no blow by, I can take the oil fill off and it blows no air, it actually feels like it sucks air in when I take it off. when I did that the idle also dropped a bit too.

Thanks again for the help, I will update later tonight with what I find, hopefully nothing major... For what I bought the truck for and what im going to put into it, even if I have it for a year or two. I'll also post some pictures.
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
New2Tregs said:
Hello and welcome to the forums.
The link below is just one of the threads on here about low oil pressure warning(s). Without knowing anything other than the year of your Treg I don't know if the thread is helpful. You could also use the "Search Community" box that is top dead center of the page and read other threads on it. Hope it helps.

Link >>> Oil pressure warning - sometimes?
Click to expand...
I was reading that one before, good info but my issue is odd, Its very odd how it runs so smooth but as some say, they run the best before they blow up... fingers crossed that isnt whats going on.

Is there a oem part number for the oil pan gasket and seals or aftermarket only, I noticed that some parts are no longer available for that older 3.6. I'm also looking into the PCV valve and a possible vacuum leak, is there a simple diagnosis other than a hissing sound from that area?

by any chance do you know if when the oil fill cap is off should it suck in air?

Thanks again for all of your help thus far

I want my baby back :cry:
 
#10 ·
edeholl44 said:
I was reading that one before, good info but my issue is odd, Its very odd how it runs so smooth but as some say, they run the best before they blow up... fingers crossed that isnt whats going on.

Is there a oem part number for the oil pan gasket and seals or aftermarket only, I noticed that some parts are no longer available for that older 3.6. I'm also looking into the PCV valve and a possible vacuum leak, is there a simple diagnosis other than a hissing sound from that area?

by any chance do you know if when the oil fill cap is off should it suck in air?

Thanks again for all of your help thus far

I want my baby back :cry:
Click to expand...
I couldn't find anything on an oil pan gasket anywhere.. Kind of odd.
Maybe a member on here who has that engine would know, or try using the "Search Community" box top dead center of the page.
As far as vacuum when removing the oil fill cap, there shouldn't be anything substantial. If you put a piece of paper over the filler hole it should bob up and down a little. If there is significant suction or air pushing out than you probably have a problem with the PCV valve (diaphragm). I went with the RKX replacement diaphragm kit (Amazon link below) that I installed in a brand new never used valve cover I bought off a member on here at a nice price. Plan on changing it out in the future along with all the gaskets (which I have) as I see very slight signs of leaking starting from the valve cover gasket.

Link >>> https://www.amazon.com/RKX-Engine-Valve-Diaphragm-membrane/dp/B01LVX8J6L
 
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#11 ·
edeholl44 said:
I was reading that one before, good info but my issue is odd, Its very odd how it runs so smooth but as some say, they run the best before they blow up... fingers crossed that isnt whats going on.

Is there a oem part number for the oil pan gasket and seals or aftermarket only, I noticed that some parts are no longer available for that older 3.6. I'm also looking into the PCV valve and a possible vacuum leak, is there a simple diagnosis other than a hissing sound from that area?

by any chance do you know if when the oil fill cap is off should it suck in air?

Thanks again for all of your help thus far

I want my baby back :cry:
Click to expand...
A tdi should definitely NOT be producing vacuum in the crankcase! If anything there should be a small amount of positive blow-by resulting in pressure not vacuum
 
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Discussion starter · #12 ·
Ok great thanks for the info, I just did another compression test on all 6, what I concluded, cylinders 5 and 6 were much lower, around 100 psi, cylinders 1-4 all between 125 and 130 psi. Also to be noted in cylinders 2 and 3 there was substantial oil sitting over the plugs. Maybe bad valve cover gasket.

On top of the low compression on that cylinder I noticed a large amount of build up on the coil, my conclusion that the head gasket is burned between cylinders 5 and 6.

Drained the oil, no metal flakes, typical used engine oil nothing special. HOWEVER...

there is a huge amount of sludge built up on the bottom of the pan. In the process of removing it as we speak. Attached I will post pics of all of the coil packs.

thanks,

Elliott
 
#16 ·
TurboABA said:
You do realize that he's got coils, spark plugs, 3.6L displacement............

Lay off the eggnog son!
Click to expand...
No I didn't see that part my bad. Still shouldn't be a vacuum in his crankcase, should be a small amount of positive pressure
 
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Discussion starter · #17 ·
Update:

I re tried a compression test on cylinders 5 and 6 with one plug in the opposite and the overall compression went up by roughly 5 psi.

I took some time to remove the intake manifold and the valve cover and I discovered that it is surprisingly clean, no sludge whatsoever. when removing the valve cover I noticed oil dripping out of the pcv valve, so this may contribute to the problem. Also upon further inspection I noticed a very suspicious wet spot following basically around the whole head... very suspicious. I will add some pics below. On top of that, trying to remove that pcv is nearly impossible I feel like I am going to break the valve cover I removed all of the screws and it is still stuck.

looking over the cams and lifters, they look impeccable, no signs of significant wear.

My next step is going to be removing the oil pan, I cant find any tips or tricks with removing it, there is a cross member that sits directly under the oil pan and I don't think it will clear.

Overall it is suspiciously clean, the timing chain looks to be fairly new, and the guides are still yellowish white not the black oily color. for 125000 miles i would expect to see at least some yellowing, It seems as if it was replaced at some point in time, and was gone through. maybe... all the gaskets seem original, very brittle and crunchy.

Thanks again for all the help, really loving the site...

~Elliott
 
#19 · (Edited)
I haven’t read all the info here. Try this: check the pcv rubber diaphragm if you haven’t done that yet. It’a inside the valve cover. If you have the fault when going down an incline which means letting go off the throttle it might be the pcv is torn.
You don’t need to replace the whole cover. There is a company selling the rubber diaphragm alone.
And you might have lots of other vacuum issues on that 3.6. Try the pcv first and then we go from there.


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Discussion starter · #20 ·
Thank you guys for all your help along this journey.

Tonight I finally had the chance to put my oil pressure tester on the pump and I got surprising results! At 1500 rpm, I saw 45 PSI of oil pressure consistently, and at 2000 RPM a steady 55 PSI of oil pressure. I had the nerve to test it at 3000 and 4000 RPM, and it was at a happy 85-90 PSI. Thank god I don't have an oil pump issue, when I took off the oil pressure switch I noticed oil sitting on the terminals of the plug, and previous rtv covering the whole face of the sensor, definitely not normal or factory...

I also narrowed down the compression issue to my tester itself, I was getting inconsistent readings with the cheap kit off amazon. I used a buddy of mines Snap on tester and consistent 140 psi across the board. Again not perfect, but still has life in it. I also replaced the valve over gasket and all of the overhead gaskets and vacuum lines and replenished the tank with good gas, and the engine runs a lot smoother. Up until this point I have found no new issues other than the one bad wheel bearing but that was pretty straight forward.

The only other concern I have is when I disconnected the battery for service I noticed when I started driving, a whole shlew of lights were on, and don't seem to want to go away again. Would it be a terrible idea to clear all the codes and see if they come back? I don't have a vagcom scanner but I have an OBD ELEVEN that I use on my golf.

Thanks again for all the help and Info I received from the forum.

Take Care and hope and pray 2021 will be a step forward from 2020!

~ Elliott
 
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TurboABA
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