The owner's manual mentions the flickering light at idle.  Considered
normal after a hard run?
                                                        Jay '85 Westy

radish150 <radish150@earthlink.net> on 04/28/2001 12:14:28 AM

Please respond to radish150 <radish150@earthlink.net>

To:   vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
cc:    (bcc: Jay L Snyder/AE/DuPont)
Subject:  Oil pressure, bye bye vanagon?

My 85 westfoolery, that I have put so much work into lately, has developed
the classic flashing oil light at idle. I'm a bit mystified by this, I
drove that thing all over Seattle, up and
down I-5 at 75 for weeks, and it never even flickered. I get over here in
eastern wa, get the oil changed (mahle and castrol 20/50), drive around for
1.5 weeks, and all of the sudden it's
flashing in my face. I tried changing to 40 weight, thought maybe the mahle
was the problem so briefly tried a wix (fat chance), cleaned the relief
valve and streatched the spring a bit,
still got the flicker. So, while I barely suppress a primal scream, could I
get some feedback on whether or not there is any real degree of likelyhood
that it's the sender? I guess
barring a bad sender, the only realistic explanations are... that it was
cooler over in jet city several weeks ago, this could have something to do
with it. The other sort of interesting
thing, was I drove that thing for about 1500 miles with a quart of marvel
mystery oil in it (trying to loosen a tapping lifter that was later fixed
with a proper oil filter) before I
changed the oil. Could be that that stuff actually masked the problem a bit
and kept the oil from wimping out (not bloody likely), could also be that
that thin crap wore my bearings out
(even less likely).
I'm going to try it unless it is just absolutely not indicated, and unless
that works, sorry to say, it's arrevadurche to mr vanagon. If it really
does have low idle OP, I'm looking at
this being a lovely candidate for someone to do a subaru or I4 swap, I did
all the hard work already. Too bad, cuz this thing is running flawlessly.
strike up those violins,
mark...