My oil pressure gauge reads low – around 15psi at idle. Whats wrong?
There may be nothing wrong. We often see hot engines idling in the 15psi range. First, check your gauge against a mechanical gauge to determine if it is the engine or just your pressure sensor. If the mechanical gauge also reads the same low pressure then you will need to diagnose it. Make sure the basics are covered such as good oil of the correct weight and fresh filter. As you can see from THIS PIC the B6/BP oiling system is pretty simple. 1) Oil is picked up by the oil pump 2) sent to the oil filter 3) travels past the pressure sensor 4) splits between the short block and the head. 5) short block leg feeds the rod/main bearings and oil squiters 6) before entering the head it passes through a restrictor 7) head leg feeds the cam bearings If you are experiencing low oil pressure then the culprits could be a) bad oil pump b) stuck open pressure relief plunger in oil pump c) leaking pickup tube d) clogged pickup tube e) out of spec bearing tolerances (rod/main/cam) f) bad restrictor g)
