vn has oil but hasnt

[vks]

hey guys

just a quick question, i have a vn 3.8 and when you drive it hard the oil lite comes on,the car becomes very slugish and the lifters start making noise, when you stop and check the oil level , the oil is on max, can anyone please help me with this situation, any comments would be much appreciated

chris

[bush_basha]

your oil pickup in the sump could be dirty and particially blocked and therefore when you hammer it it is needing more oil but cant pick up anymore.

[vpads]

might be too thin an oil so when u thrash it it froths a bit meaning it doesnt get sucked thru the pickup

[mouce]

Oil pump could be on the way out, it might be okay at idle, or crusing, but underload it could be having problems.

I'd go with a dirty pickup first though.

[Tree cutter]

Check your bolts that hold the oil pump on. They can come loose so the oil pump will suck in air instead of oil.

[pandaman]

All good suggestions, but my bet is on the pickup, as a lot of early VN's apparently had a problem with it clogging up. So yeah, basically, when the oil light comes on, it means that pressure has dropped below safe levels. If the amount of oil in the engine is correct, then the fault has to lie within the cirulation system somewhere, unlikely to be a major blockage in a gallery as that would be unlikely to occur and would probably also cause problems at all engine conditions (not ruled out but unlikely). So in terms of major components, you're left with the pump and the pickup. Either way you're going to have to at least drop the sump, a major pain in the arse. The procedure can be found on here with a bit of a search, or better yet grab yourself a gregory's manual OR pike out and get a mechanic to take a look. If the pickup is blocked it will be fairly obvious, I seem to recall seeing a picture of a blocked pickup on here somewhere. Anyway, fairly common problem, can be fixed. :-)

[CSL]

try changin the oil pressure sender, 17 bucks from bursons, that could be you rproblem

[vks]

hey guys thanx for all your replies, i appreciate it

chris vks

[vn88calais]

might just be blocked oil cooler hoses or oil hoses, have a look, but u might drain oil, get them to check or check ur self if u do ur own services...amybe the filter also?

also u said early vns had problems with clogging up, well i must be really lucky, no dramas like that for me!! *touch wood*

cheers, Todd

[jules]

has it had regular oil/filter changes?

if it's sludged up you will need to clear it up or risk breaking the engine.