Low / no oil pressure volvo penta

[Edmundo2uk]

I have a Volvo Penta 2002 BT 18 hp inboard. Recently the oil light & buzzer came on as soon as the engine was turned over. I checked oil levels and all ok, i then had the oil pressure switch tested and it was ok. I took the oil filter off and turned the engine over and was hit in the chest with oil. I put a new filter on and the oil light remained on, i then loosened the filter a bit and the oil light went off but when the filter is tightened again on came the oil light and buzzer. Anybody ever heard of this and any possible causes / solutions?

Thanks

 

[eagleswing]

oil issues..

even without a gauge reading to measure oil pressure, the low pressure alarm says you have insufficient pressure coming from your oil pump to allow safe operation of the engine. have you noticed a big increase in the amount of oil you are using ? if so that points to a possible loss of oil volume. not enough oil in the system makes the oil pump work a lot harder and NSF oil can make a perfectly good pump unable to develop enough pressure to keep the 'low oil pressure sensor' from alerting.

if you do have proper oil level as measured at the dipstick and are not losing oil externally (thru a faulty drain plug or bad line or thread on your oil filter etc ) it may be time to suspect the pump operation. without a volvo manual handy it would be hard to hazard a guess about why sufficient oil pressure isn't being developed...

not enough oil pressure can be like cardiac arrest for your engine so nothing to ignore...let us know what you find meanwhile i'll check around for a spare volvo manual..

 

[Aja]

NSF

Would anyone care to enlighten us as to " NSF oil can make a perfectly good pump unable to develop enough pressure to keep the 'low oil pressure sensor' from alerting..." what NSF oil is?

Thanks
Donald

 

[vyv_cox]

Would anyone care to enlighten us as to " NSF oil can make a perfectly good pump unable to develop enough pressure to keep the 'low oil pressure sensor' from alerting..." what NSF oil is?

Thanks
Donald

Google tells me it's 'National Science Foundation' and there seem to be several oil links. Means nothing to us in Europe, and even with that knowledge I cannot understand the point he is making.

To the OP. If the pressure switch is working correctly and connected correctly then it is indicating that you have low oil pressure. I'm not quite clear from your post whether the engine is running when the light and buzzer come on. I cannot think of any reason why the pressure at the switch would change when the filter is backed off, unless the filter is the incorrect one. Can you provide more explanation?

 

[Csail]

I had this a few months ago and solved it by using loads of engine flush then filters and oil change. Perfect now.
Edit....probably was **** in the sump pickup.

 

[VicS]

Would anyone care to enlighten us as to " NSF oil can make a perfectly good pump unable to develop enough pressure to keep the 'low oil pressure sensor' from alerting..." what NSF oil is?

Thanks
Donald

My guess NSF = insufficient

meanwhile i'll check around for a spare volvo manual..

There is usually a copy lying around at http://www.bluemoment.com/downloads.html

 

[vyv_cox]

My guess NSF = insufficient

Ah yes! I must learn to think laterally!

 

[Bilgediver]

Ah yes! I must learn to think laterally!

What puzzles me is the comment that the alarm stops if he loosens the filter ie drops the pressure.....Then the alarm returns when he retightens the filter????

Almost sounds like the alarm is triggering on higher pressure????

Time to get a pressure gauge from a scrappie and see what is going on. Should be able to screw it into the sensor hole.

 

[Heckler]

Ah yes! I must learn to think laterally!

Dont forget, the electronic box of tricks on the VP panel can go tits up and give false alarms! Quite a common fault, he needs to do the pressure gauge test to know for certain
Stu

 

[nimbusgb]

I have a Volvo Penta 2002 BT 18 hp inboard. Recently the oil light & buzzer came on as soon as the engine was turned over. I checked oil levels and all ok, i then had the oil pressure switch tested and it was ok. I took the oil filter off and turned the engine over and was hit in the chest with oil. I put a new filter on and the oil light remained on, i then loosened the filter a bit and the oil light went off but when the filter is tightened again on came the oil light and buzzer. Anybody ever heard of this and any possible causes / solutions?

Thanks

ummmm. Shouldn't the buzzer and light come on when the ignition is turned on and go off when the oil pressure gets above the minimum?

You have loosened the oil filter ( and thus killed the oil pressure ) and the light / buzzer goes off. Tighten the filter and it comes back on.

Sounds awfully like something has been connected backarsewards!

Does your oil pressure switch have 2 or 3 connections ( ie: its a changeover type ) if so have the terminals become mixed up?

If there are electronics in the system something somewhere else has got swapped around.

Sounds doubtful that you actually have no oil pressure. Look in the tappet cover oil filler. If its all covered in oil then even more unlikely.

Best diagnostic tool would be a mechanical oil pressure guage. I have an old one knocking about somewhere with an adaptor pipe and tee if you are interested.

Next best would be an electronic resistive sender unit ( ebay - £10 ) with an ohm meter connected across it ( or a meter)

 

[ianat182]

Also double check that the oil filter itself is not trying to compress an old filter O ring that should have been removed last oil change,before fitting the new; though I would be looking for a possible leak in the area.
Are you using an alternative filter to the recommended one?

 

[Malish]

as above

sound like the filter has a problem - loosen off the filter and the oil will bypass the filter through the gap you create, hence pressure returns. Why this should suddenly happen and then recur after you replace the filter is an unknown to me - are you using the correct filter (not a pattern one)? are you sure there is nothing untoward with the oil - no sign of some grey emulsion for instance?

 

[VicS]

Does your oil pressure switch have 2 or 3 connections ( ie: its a changeover type ) if so have the terminals become mixed up?

I am not aware of 3 wire types being fitted, at least not shown the wiring diagrams in the 'shop manual. Normally a single wire.Two wire types fitted in installations which have an isolated negative system but even then I'm not so sure they even do that with 2000 series engines.

Also puzzled by the effect of loosening the oil filter I'd want to check that the correct filter is fitted.

I'd also feel inclined to disconnect the oil low pressure alarm sensor and check its operation with a small bulb on a couple of leads or with a meter. Normal operation of that would point the finger of suspicion at the electronic module in the control panel. A horrible forest of diodes and a transistor that is not repairable AFAIK.
The snag is of course that if there really is no oil pressure you don't want to keep running the engine to test things.

 

[Edmundo2uk]

I had this a few months ago and solved it by using loads of engine flush then filters and oil change. Perfect now.
Edit....probably was **** in the sump pickup.

This happened a few months ago and we used engine flush , oil change & filters and it worked fine until now, we just did an oil change this time though it did not work. How many flushes did you put through it?

 

[Edmundo2uk]

I am not aware of 3 wire types being fitted, at least not shown the wiring diagrams in the 'shop manual. Normally a single wire.Two wire types fitted in installations which have an isolated negative system but even then I'm not so sure they even do that with 2000 series engines.

Also puzzled by the effect of loosening the oil filter I'd want to check that the correct filter is fitted.

I'd also feel inclined to disconnect the oil low pressure alarm sensor and check its operation with a small bulb on a couple of leads or with a meter. Normal operation of that would point the finger of suspicion at the electronic module in the control panel. A horrible forest of diodes and a transistor that is not repairable AFAIK.
The snag is of course that if there really is no oil pressure you don't want to keep running the engine to test things.

Yes we thought of the filters and put Volvo penta ones on, made no difference though. If the oil pressure sensor was faulty would loosening the filter make that much of a difference to put the buzzer and light off???? I'm stumped!!!!

 

[Edmundo2uk]

as above

sound like the filter has a problem - loosen off the filter and the oil will bypass the filter through the gap you create, hence pressure returns. Why this should suddenly happen and then recur after you replace the filter is an unknown to me - are you using the correct filter (not a pattern one)? are you sure there is nothing untoward with the oil - no sign of some grey emulsion for instance?

Yes definately using the right filters, no sign of any problems with the oil

 

[Edmundo2uk]

Now when i start it the oil light and buzzer are on and when i loosen the filter it will go off, if i tighten the filter while the engine is running it will run all day. When she is shut down and left for a while (overnight) then restarted the oil light and buzzer come on again!!!!

 

[nimbusgb]

I am not aware of 3 wire types being fitted, at least not shown the wiring diagrams in the 'shop manual. Normally a single wire.Two wire types fitted in installations which have an isolated negative system but even then I'm not so sure they even do that with 2000 series engines.

.....

My Perk 4-108 has a 3 terminal sender. Centre is common and the outers are N/c and N/o. The N/C sets off the low oil pressure and the n/o used to go to the anchor winch solenoid to only allow winching with the oil pressure positive. All 3 terminals are isolated from the block ( as are all the other transducers and auxilliaries on my engine )

 

[Malish]

You really need to fit a visual pressure gauge to see what is going on.

I remember a colleague had a problem with a Volvo (not turbo) where the oil drained from the oil pump and it needed to be manually primed to get flow again (engine had quite a few hours on it), I do wonder if easing the filter removes a pressure restriction and allows a slightly tired pump to self prime at which point all is happiness again. How many hours has the engine done?

see this thread for a similar issue:
http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23098

 

[pvb]

I do wonder if easing the filter removes a pressure restriction and allows a slightly tired pump to self prime at which point all is happiness again.

This can't happen. If it's the correct VP filter, unscrewing it slightly can't remove a "pressure restriction" - unless it's unscrewed enough to let oil spew out.