Oil Pressure Light/Overheating

H

hawkeye00021

Member
I've already done a google search and looked through the forums here and I found one similar problem but it doesn't match me perfect nor do I think a resolution was ever posted. :(

We are having a bit of a heat wave for this area, temps are near 100 with much higher heat indexes. I find that when I drive my car for about 30 minutes that my temp gauge moves up to about 3/4 and what that happens while I'm at a long stop the oil pressure light sometimes kicks on... I even had the engine try to die on me once.

With that said, the oil pressure light has also been flickering when there would appear to be no issue at all.... it flashes so quickly it's hard to believe it's not a faulty sensor, but I did have the one instance of the engine almost dying. I pulled into the garage after the temp gauge had made it to 3/4 yesterday and the engine fan shut off immediately as if there was no need to keep cooling. The shop I have taken it to seems to think the cooling system is working just fine, and I just had a new radiator put in as part of an insurance claim (it was overheating before that).

I'll be taking it back to the shop today or tomorrow but they have had trouble duplicating the problem. In the mean time do you guys have any ideas?

*I should add that this seems to only happen with the AC on or long trips*
 
hawkeye00021 said:
I've already done a google search and looked through the forums here and I found one similar problem but it doesn't match me perfect nor do I think a resolution was ever posted. :(

We are having a bit of a heat wave for this area, temps are near 100 with much higher heat indexes. I find that when I drive my car for about 30 minutes that my temp gauge moves up to about 3/4 and what that happens while I'm at a long stop the oil pressure light sometimes kicks on... I even had the engine try to die on me once.

With that said, the oil pressure light has also been flickering when there would appear to be no issue at all.... it flashes so quickly it's hard to believe it's not a faulty sensor, but I did have the one instance of the engine almost dying. I pulled into the garage after the temp gauge had made it to 3/4 yesterday and the engine fan shut off immediately as if there was no need to keep cooling. The shop I have taken it to seems to think the cooling system is working just fine, and I just had a new radiator put in as part of an insurance claim (it was overheating before that).

I'll be taking it back to the shop today or tomorrow but they have had trouble duplicating the problem. In the mean time do you guys have any ideas?

*I should add that this seems to only happen with the AC on or long trips*
Click to expand...

It sounds like a trip to the shop may be your best bet - they'll be able to diagnose the fault codes fairly quickly and give you a much better idea of what's going on.

I think personally I would do that sooner rather than later, overheating/low oil pressure are the sorts of things that can do long term damage so I don't think I'd fancy taking any risks :\
 
Well this is the 3rd time the shop has tried something, tested fine with them and not worked for me. It tends to want to overheat more when I am moving than sitting still. I just came home from my test drive and a few miles from the house it began overheating, I was in 6th with the air con turned on. I shut of the air and it came down a tiny bit (from 3/4ths) and pulled into the garage. Out of curiosity I left it running, and the temp needle almost immediately returned to neutral. Where it gets weird is after the temp came back down... the fan kicked on as if it thought 'now' is a good time to try to cool the engine off. On top of that my oil pressure light started flickering on and off.

I am working with a pretty good indy shop but this is driving me nuts. Anyone has a similar issue??
 
hawkeye00021 said:
Well this is the 3rd time the shop has tried something, tested fine with them and not worked for me. It tends to want to overheat more when I am moving than sitting still. I just came home from my test drive and a few miles from the house it began overheating, I was in 6th with the air con turned on. I shut of the air and it came down a tiny bit (from 3/4ths) and pulled into the garage. Out of curiosity I left it running, and the temp needle almost immediately returned to neutral. Where it gets weird is after the temp came back down... the fan kicked on as if it thought 'now' is a good time to try to cool the engine off. On top of that my oil pressure light started flickering on and off.

I am working with a pretty good indy shop but this is driving me nuts. Anyone has a similar issue??
Click to expand...

Has the garage tried putting an OBD reader onto the car and watching the temperature on that?

It sounds like the gauge is misreading, but perhaps the fan itself is kicking in at the right time. You'd expect the fan to come on after a few minutes of idling in the garage as the lack of airflow will mean the engine runs hotter. An idling car is usually the hottest.

The fact the oil pressure light is flickering definitely suggests this is electrical to my mind.

Have you had any problems with any other electrics in the car? Does anything unusual happen when you turn on lots of other high-draw electrical devices, ie: heated seats both on full, heated windscreen on, main beam on and pull the roof down and up, see what happens.

The battery connections in the boot are tight and free of corrosion etc, all the usual? Is the battery charging ok? Alternator kicking out a good charging current?

Grasping at straws really but if you can highlight any other symptoms it may help someone make a suggestion :\
 
Well I appreciate the help grasping or not. There doesn't seem to be any problem with the other electrics, and the battery is only 6 months old or so. I'm not sure if they have hooked a reader up to it since I haven't really asked, not being much of a mechanic I usually let them do their thing. I work on computers and tend to prefer people not back seat drive, but having said that... sometimes even someone that doesn't know anything can have a good idea. I'll try to get more details about their testing out of them tomorrow when I take it back. I moved from a city that had a proper BMW dealer/Amazing indy shop to a city with one indy shop and while he seems good, I have no point of reference. :(

Thanks again for the suggestions and hopefully someone with the same issue will see this eventually.
 
Does the Oil Pressure (Red oil can) light only blink at idle?

If so, are you sure your car is running on the correct grade of oil and plenty of it? If the car is running very hot, the oil will be extremely thin so you may need a thicker oil more suited for hotter climates to keep the pressure. Pretty sure i've read about this before and its often solved with a fresh oil and filter change...

Check to see if any water is at the pressure sensor shorting it out (although this should throw an error). Also make sure the oil cap is firmly on as its very near to the sensor. The sensor is only a switch so it should only be cheep cheap if faulty.

Part #12
239.png


Edit: Similar thread here - try changing the sensor switch http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?s=b9fc1a8e80936209068750751150af19&t=296384&page=2 :)
 
I am pretty sure the red oil light only blinks at idle. The oil was just changed a few hundred miles back with new filter and I guess what sucks about this region is that we go from severe heat to severe cold before oil changes are usually needed, but it's never been a problem before. Those guys weren't experiencing overheating from what I read, so I guess it is very likely that it is getting too hot and thinning out oil that would normally be think enough. It's too bad it is taking so long to figure out what is causing it to get hot, 3 trips to the shop and they see everything working normal. :(

Also, my oil level light tends to come on when I have plenty of oil... so I'd say there must be something wrong with the sensor at some level.

Thanks for your research!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom