300tdi oil light problem

i prayed to god for the answer and he sent me here .....

my 300tdi disco had 2ltrs too much engine oil in when i bought it, so got it straight home and drained it off to the proper level. it doesnt seem to be losing any oil, but i do have a small leak from the rocker cover at both the back and the front. i also know there is some oil in the intercooler but i havent had time to remove it and clean it yet so unsure how much oil or the cause/damage this has done.

when driving normally the oil light never comes on, but if i stop and idle for more than about 2 minutes the oil light comes on. if i raise the rpm from 800rpm to 1000rpm it flickers then goes out, if the revs drop back to idle it comes back on. same if im driving after ive sat idling for a few mins - under throttle the light is out, foot off the gas and oil light is on. this problem has only become apparent after maybe 300 miles of draining the excess oil out.

the car doesnt smoke excessively on start up (small amount of white plume lasts about 2 or 3 seconds then clean) and runs perfectly, no apparent loss of power or other symptoms.

any ideas whats the cause of the oil light please? i have no real mechanical knowlage when it comes to problem solving so im stuck on this.

thanks in advance, sorry for the long winded post but hope you guys have got enough info to shed some light on this.

Mark

My Disco did the same as yours, after a long run and clutch in to change gear or junction etc. oil light on, revved it. oil light off

Simple fix was a new oil pressure switch from Paddocks,

1. A very worn engine or oil pump
2. Using wrong grade of engine oil (too thin)
3. Faulty oil pressure switch

I would also go for the switch as elmer d above
So let us know how you get on

has it got the right dipstick in? if so oil pressure switch!

Old knackered oil can cause the same symptoms. If in any doubt do an oil and fill to the correct level on the 'stick.

Should be using a good quality 10w-40 semi synth oil.

I would change pressure switch, filter and oil!

That'l probably sort it!

il get a switch ordered up on tuesday and give the engine a full service, hopefully that should sort it. think my oil leak is coming through the inlet manifold, which sounds to me like trouble :doh:. when i removed the egr valve i noticed there was a bit of oil in the pipe from the top of the intercooler but it looks like there's more oil in there than i thought so soon as i can il also get the intercooler out and flush it with some petrol and give it a good clean. gotta love cars

thanks for the advice guys
Mark

just as a little update i stripped off the intercooler and inlet manifold over the weekend to clean them - there was hardly anything in the intercooler so i just flushed it through. the inside of the inlet manifold was full of old burned oil tho, i flushed out about qtr of a ltr using petrol then scraped out a load more using a screwdriver. since doing this ive not had any problems with the oil light coming on and the car is performing ALOT better.

not quite sure why cleaning the inlet manifold and intercooler would stop the oil light coming on, anybody got any ideas?

Thats a weird one, you sure the wire to the switch hasn't chaffed on something and by you fiddling round have moved it?

not sure where the switch is, but ive only been near 1 plug - the 1 that goes into the rear of the inlet manifold. as far as im aware ive not disturbed any other wires in the engine bay. only other thing ive changed is ive taken the cover off the engine, but cant see that making any difference?? the cover will be going back on tomorrow so il see what happens then. its really stumped me, surely the oil light on the dash is triggered by either a faulty switch or oil pressure??