Oil Pressure Dropping ....

[Hoover33]

After fitting new battery today ... went for a blatt around.....and noticed yellow light on dash kept coming on.....quickly worked ut that the oil pressure guage was dropping to zero each time light came on....

is this more likely to be a dogy sender unit rather then something major ?????????

[spend]

If you have to ask this question, I would advise you have the car transported to service centre without driving it.

Just make sure its not lacking oil, may be simply a broken/blocked pickup if you're lucky. Generally if the yellow light comes on just stop - its Russian Roulette time - not worth risking.

Dave

[scoule]

The siwtch causing the yellow pressure warning light is normally correct (compared to innacurate gauges) ... don't run the engine - it cuts in at something like 5 or 7psi!

[GreenV8S]

It's a potentially serious fault which could lead to catastrophic damage, I suggest you sort it before you drive the car again. I assume you checked the oil level straight away, was it within the right range?

[Hoover33]

Source of the problem was lack of oil....

leads to another problem......

how much oil does a Griff consume...... 2 litres in 700 miles seems high to me

[Hoover33]

Car has done 37k miles

No oil leaks

No clouds of blue smoke...

However since having sports exhaust conversion and timing knocked back the car is covered in black sooty powder

High oil consumption could be because the car is driven a lot at high revs/low gears in short hard bursts.

Had a chat with Paul at Austec this morning whilst I was down there, he tells me that basically the 4.3 overfuel and top and bottom ends with not enough fuel in mid range. So car needs a combination of new injectors and a re-map to get rid of sooty rear, at the same time re-setting all the timing etc...

[Hoover33]

I've had the car for the last 1000 miles....

Last servised by TVR Power......

For the first month I checked the oil reguluarly.... and it did not appear to be using any...

so I thought check every 1000 miles.... how wrong I was to take that choice.....

Oil being using is Castrol Magnatec 5w/40...

I have every confidence is all at Austec in getting to the source of the problem after our chat this morning.

Left car with them for this week .... for some minor cosmetics. They will have a quick squint at it whilst it is in to make sure nothing detramental... so we can then discuss the problems properly and the various solutions

[stesrg]

Hmm oil consumption on mine well I used 2 litres of oil to le manns and back which was probably just over 1000 miles, mind you we were giving the griffs a good old thrash However their is no exhaust valve seals on mine (by chose though) Err as the pre cat griffs had stupid rubber washers as an excuse as a valve seal I never converted mine the modern push on seals as the valve stems were not worn, It is always best to burn a little oil top end lubrication .
Ste..

[Podie]

Hoover33 said:

Source of the problem was lack of oil.... leads to another problem...... how much oil does a Griff consume...... 2 litres in 700 miles seems high to me

Sounds very high to me. I'd expect no more than 1 litre per 1000 miles to be honest. Then again if it's been low on oil it wont help the situation.

A lot may come down to how you drive it... if you are pushing hard then it may well drink a bit more than normal. Must admit I check my oil (and water) every two days, after a hard run, or a long journey.

[griffdude]

Hoover33 said:

Oil being using is Castrol Magnatec 5w/40...

IMHO this oil is too thin. I use synthetic 15w/50 in my pre-cat griff, which seems to stay in the engine longer(engine's done 12k).

[2 Smokin Barrels]

I had a car with wrong rings. Burnt oil at the rate of 3 litres per 1000 miles. No smoke! Apparently synthetics like Mobil 1 don't smoke much when they burn.

As already said, 1000 miles per litre is the norm.