Engine Warning light under heavy cornering/ braking

[Itsallicanafford]

Chaps, a little advice would be appreciated.

Last time out in our standard mk3 Megane I was getting an engine warning light flicking on under braking into the hairpin and during the long sweeping final corner before the straight at Snetterton.

My first thought was oil starvation as I assume the car does not have a baffled sump but the oil was showing full on the dipstick. Should I put a touch more in than full, although in my mind I am always wary of this with a turbo motor?

Cheers

[mmm-five]

Was the light specifically for oil level/pressure, or just a general EML?

Could still be oil starvation even if you're brimmed with oil.

It just means either the oil sensor or pickup is being starved of oil when the oil goes to the furthest corner of the sump under braking/cornering.

Options are oil pressure guage, and/or semi or fully-baffled sump, or an Accusump device.

Have a read of what an Accusump is:
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[ecain63]

Could be fuel pressure related. I know my mates Golf TCR suffered on some long corners at Silverstone.

[E-bmw]

As above, you need to know what the light is for rather than just guessing.

[QBee]

A baffled sump is not hugely expensive (mine, for a V8, was £300 and it was extended as well as baffled).
Having 9 litres of oil on board gives me a lot of peace of mind when engine rebuilds are around £3000 a time.
Otherwise hard cornering and braking do exactly what you report.

[anonymous-user]

Get the codes read, or get a Renault specific code reader like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/iCarsoft-I907-For-DACIA...

It’ll likely be a lot cheaper than potentially chasing/fixing the wrong problem.

[Itsallicanafford]

Gents,

afternoon, many thanks for all the replies, I will look a bit further into what the light is and read up on the links sent.

Thanks again

[Tommo87]

I am not overly familiar with those engines, but I would fit in an electronic oil pressure gauge sender and gauge.

You could keep the gauge out of sight in the glovebox when not on a track day and jury rig it to the steering column when you are to see if its actually a pressure drop, or just a faulty switch.

[E-bmw]

Don't do that, sorry but until he knows what is the actual fault, there is no point fixing what might not need fixing.

[FTW]

I track mk3 Megane 275 Cup-S on Cup2 tyres. I have no oil starvation issues, the car came on Cup2 tyre originally so it is designed to run them.

How much fuel did you have onboard? Is it remapped? If it's remapped and had low fuel it could be fuel pressure. Definitely start with getting the codes read.

[QBee]

Why bother paying someone to read the codes?

ODB2 code readers are available everywhere for around the £10-£30 mark. I have 3 cars between 16 and 21 years old, and the reader has paid for itself many times over. Make a note of the codes and google them, including putting your car make when you google.
Then one of the best places to search for answers is on here, in the relevant forum.

My Saab has fault code P0455 tonight - fuel evap system fault. Found out in less than 5 minutes.

I found item 373550225248 on Ebay was all I needed. Under a tenner

[anonymous-user]

That’s fine if your fault is covered by a standard OBD code, Renault (among others) use some extended Renault specific codes for a lot of functions so a generic cheap code reader may not give what’s needed.

Getting a relatively cheap marque specific reader is a good idea though, 50 quid or so should cover it and you’ll get most or all of that back when selling it on.