----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, December 03, 2000 12:52
PM
Subject: RE: TECH: 16V Oil cooler
Perhaps I'm ignorant about what you're asking (I'm
not sure what a DOPS circuit is), but I think the two senders on top of your
oil filter flange are both involved in the warning circuit. One's a
low-pressure sender, and the other is a high-pressure sender. I don't know the
details, but the circuit seems to switch to the high-pressure sender when the
low-pressure one goes out of range. If one sender is bad or sticky, the
light/buzzer may only come for brief periods of specific engine loads while
the engine is "between senders". My '87 had this problem, and when I replaced
them both, it went away. YMMV, of course. If you're lucky, your Perpetual Oil
Change system is entirely due to the o-ring...
I
can also relate to the oil spillage issue. After she did the
first oil change on our brand new Subaru, my girlfriend didn't notice
that the gasket from the old filter got stuck on the flange (to her credit, I
probably wouldn't have noticed either...). We drove for about three days
before the double-gasket suddenly blew out one morning after we backed out of
the driveway. We got about a mile down the road before the oil
hit the exhaust manifold and started smoking (flat-four: the exhaust hangs off
the bottom of the engine). It's been over a year, and the huge streak on the
road in front of our house is finally almost gone! You could follow it very
clearly down the street, out the neighborhood, down the road...getting
narrower as it ran out of oil. It took numerous attempts with Simple Green to
get the undercarriage of the car clean. Luckily, there seems to be no apparent
damage to the engine.
Neal
After running Windy (my Scirocco) with the
Perpetual Oil Changeâ system enabled for the last week or so while my spoiled ass
waited for warmer weather, the oil cooler o-ring finally decided it wasn't
happy being cold and disintegrated entirely when I started the car this
morning.
Pretty amazing how much oil came out in such a short period of
time - I started the car and drove maybe 20 feet when the oil light started
flashing (no buzzer). I looked in the mirror to check traffic behind me
and noticed a nice thick stripe following me, turned the car off just as the
buzzer came on too. About 3.95 quarts in 20 feet make a pretty ugly
adornment for pavement. Also makes it pretty easy to pinpoint the offending
vehicle :(
At any rate, I don't think I hurt the engine as I got it shut
down pretty quickly. Now I just have to drive the pickem'up until I can't
stand it or we catch a warm spell since the Cabby is disassembled in the
garage...
When I do go to tackle this, what size is the
nut under the oil filter that holds the oil cooler in place? IIRC, it is
pretty large and I don't think I have an open-end bigger than 24mm. I'd
rather have the right tools before I get started, so thanks for your
help.
Also, which sender controls the blinking light
and which triggers the buzzer, or are they both handled through the DOPS
circuit?
Thanks again.
Cheers,
Christian
87 16V