Oil light behavior on '83 CGT

Fisher, Scott Scott_Fisher at intuit.com
Sun Oct 14 14:20:15 EDT 2001


I recently made another epic drive in the '83 CGT, or rather two of them --
a 550-mile round trip to Ashland, OR for the Shakespeare festival last
weekend, followed by a 1300-mile round trip to the Bay Area.  I checked oil
level at every gas stop, which is to say twice a day on the Bay Area trips;
consumption was negligible, though I topped up (adding less than a quart) on
the last stop.  I'm using a Genuine Audi filter, FWIW.

On the last two or three miles of the journey -- driving from the stoplight
at the last freeway exit to my house Thursday night -- I noticed that under
hard acceleration in 1st and 2nd gears, the oil light began glowing, dimly
at first but brighter as the revs climbed; it never got to the point of
sounding the alarm.  Now, at the last gas stop 300-odd miles south, I had
topped up with the car's usual brand of oil (Castrol) in its usual weight
(20W-50), and the oil pressure gauge had stayed at its usual location of 5
bar at 3000-3500 RPM and 3-4 bar at hot idle.

It only glowed at large throttle openings and if the revs stayed over, oh,
4000 or so (which is why I only observed it in 1st and 2nd -- it may do it
in 5th as well).  Constant running at 3000 RPM on the freeway all day, with
occasional drops to 3rd gear and runs to 5000 RPM, didn't cause it. 

It appears to depend on G-loads -- I have heard the alarm, but usually only
on hard braking when I am a bit low on oil.  

What possible future woes does this behavior signify?  Oil pump going out,
bearings, or is it just time to replace the engine?  Or should I just put in
a baffled oil pan and drive it for another 19 years? :-)

Thanks,

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon
  1983 CGT/1993 100CSQ/1974 Spider Veloce/1961 356B T-5




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