listy Posted December 21, 2015 Share Posted December 21, 2015 (edited) Seat Leon 20v turbo One of my friends rang me today because his "low oil pressure" warning light came on. He said he had driven it about 30 miles as he was in the middle of nowhere. He ran the car and let me listen over the phone and it sounded like there was no oil in it. It sounded really bad and noisy. I sked him when he last checked the oil and he said he topped it up yesterday. I asked him what the level was like now and he said it is well obove the top fill mark on the dipstick. Am I right in thinking too much oil can cause low oil pressure because the oil can become airated with the movement of the internal engine parts, become frothy and cause the pump to not be able to operate properly as it can't suck the airated oil through? In which case, draining the oil until it is at the correct level *could* resolve the problem? Edited December 31, 2015 by listy (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 Very unlikely an overfill of say 20mm or so over the full mark would do any harm. It's not a VAG 2.0 diesel is it? if so the balance shaft / oil pump hex drive has failed. More info needed... Maybe the oil pressure switch is faulty. Few engines would run 30 miles with *NO* oil pressure without total failure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listy Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 Well, I popped over today to have a look and the level was about 75mm over the top level!!! No wonder it wasn't happy! So I drained the oil until it was at the correct level, let in run for a bit and the horrible sounds went away result. Took it for a little drive, just a mile down the road and back, and at first it was really down on power (I'm guessing it was in limp mode) but after a little while the power started to come back. I think he is a very lucky boy to have not done any major damage. Below is a picture of how much oil came out to get it to the correct level. It's a 16 litre box by the way! So must have been a good 2 litres over filled! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 The excess oil was substantial. It will have aerated, and if it had hydraulic tappets they would have partially collapsed, hence the noise that subsided once the level was corrected. Did it have hydraulic tappets? if not the noise would be very concerning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listy Posted December 22, 2015 Author Share Posted December 22, 2015 By the looks of things after a quick search yes the leons, toledos, ibizas all have hydraulic tappets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 22, 2015 Share Posted December 22, 2015 That'll be it then, very lucky indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listy Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Turns out not so lucky. We disconnected the battery overnight to reset the ecu. No more warning lights have reappeared, but still down on power. He said he could hear a whooshing noise as he accelerated. I took it down the road and he's right. Where there used to be the sound of a spooling turbo, it now sounds like air is just rushing through a straight pipe. I have a feeling (I haven't looked into it yet) that the turbo may well have seized due to the lack of oil going through the system. Is it going to do any damage driving it with a seized turbo? It's his only car, so needs it to get around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted December 31, 2015 Share Posted December 31, 2015 Sounds as if it MIGHT have blown an intercooler hose or joint. Check properly, half the cars I get in here where people have triple checked *EVERY* hose, still have hoses off that someone wanting clean hands has missed or not wrestled with adequately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
listy Posted December 31, 2015 Author Share Posted December 31, 2015 Cool I'll have him here tomorrow anyway so I'll try and have a look for him then. Thanks for the help Chris, you're a star Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now