91 S2 all of my dash warning lights are on

[mhr]

Currently the !, oil level, oil pressure warning light, break wear, ABS and break fluid lights are on. Gas gauge seems to be fine. Not sure if the temp is working because I never run it for more then 30 seconds so no heat gets into it.

The oil pressure gauge reads 1bar from the moment I turn the key. I hesitate to rev the engine but I did a little yesterday and there was no movement from 1 bar.

Volts are fine while running is at about 13v which is normal for my car

It is a US 1991 S2 Cab.

Thanks
Mark

[ibtisam.jawad]

Check your oil level.

Oil pressure should be between 4-5 bars at idle when engine is cold. When warm it should drop between 2.5-3.5.

Check your oil pump?

(!) light comes on any time another light comes on.

All Brake lights being on may be related. Perhaps an ABS fault? I think in the S2's it has to be diagnosed and fixed by the dealer or the Bosch hammer tool.

Check the brake fluid level.

Try shorting the brake pad wear sensors and see if the lights go off.

[Jfrahm]

Your oil pickup might have fallen off. If you had mistimed balance shafts or no balance belt (at some point) this is not uncommon. I would not immediately worry about all the idiot lights but instead verify the oil pressure situation. I have not tried this but I figured one could easily tap an oil filter for an oil pressure gauge for testing. Easier than messing around with the sender. You can get a cheap dial tire pressure gauge at most auto parts stores that comes apart to reveal an NPT thread under the valve step adapter, that can be screwed onto some scrap hose and you can get a nipple to put in the oil filter with some JB weld and/or punch the filter and tap the pushed-in metal. If you do not want to mess with the gauge you can see if it'll pump a lot of oil out into a container.

You can squirt oil into the cylinders (aim for the high side) to prevent wear when cranking but the cam bearings gall first usually and I know of no easy way to feed them.

Only the 1991 S2 needs a diagnostic tool to clear airbag codes, we can deal with that later if need be. You can check the cluster connectors if you like but if the engine sounds bad you may have an oiling problem. I suppose there is no harm in looking into the cluster issue to see if you can clear some of these warnings with the key on, engine off.

-Joel.

[mhr]

Mine is a 91 s2. I have a durametric cable and can reset whatever I need although there are no faults to reset at the moment.

While I have owned it the balance shafts have always been properly timed although when I got it the motor mounts were toast and it was shaking quite a bit.

I am loving the creativity here. Assuming I just put a hose on my oil filter, when you say alot of oil could you quantify that a bit. If it is normal should I expect like a quart within seconds or ...? And should I start the engine or just crank it? I could disconnect the cable from the coil to distributor.

But based on the noise coming from the engine when started I am betting that there is an oil pressure problem and not an electrical problem at this point. I am thinking as someone else suggested earlier that the brake related lights are on because of a short or something with my cluster and the lights that are supposed to be on in a low oil pressur situation.

I think my next move is to take off the starter and use a hex hey to lock the flywheel (don't have a proper flywheel lock) and re-torque the crank bolt. Hopefully I am lucky and it has somehow loosened.

If that doesn't solve it I guess I will have to drop the oil pan and see what is going on in there. Don't have a motor hoist so I will have to figure out a way to support the motor so I can take out the crossmember.

thanks for any comments/suggestions

Mark

[Jfrahm]

I recall turning a motor over that had the oil cooler removed and it puked a fair bit of oil. If you get something like an 1/2 to 1 ounce per crank revolution maybe that is about right. I would expect about nothing if you have an oil pressure problem.

If you have a spring clutch disk you can probably check your crank bolt in gear with the brakes on but be careful not to roll the car on top of yourself. If you have the rubber center clutch you will feel it wind up and risk a major whack in the bean from the breaker bar. I would not attempt to torque the bolt in this manner with the rubber center clutch disk, and you probably cannot get it tight enough with either clutch disk but you might be able to tell if it's loose. Because it'll turn.

-Joel.

[mhr]

So I re-torqued the crank bolt and changed the pressure sender last weekend.

Problem not solved.

Next I am going to try to prime the oil pump as per Clark's and if that does not do anything guess I will have to pull the oil pan.

Mark

[mhr]

I decided to disconnect the leads from the oil pressure sender altogether to see how the dash would react. It didn't do as I would have expected.

When the car is started the oil pressure low idiot light is now off and the oil pressure still sits at 1 bar motor off or started. And all of the other lights on the dash are now off.

From what I understood disconnecting the leads should have pegged the gauge at 5 and turned on the low pressure idiot light. Am I right about this?

So I am thinking there is a problem in my cluster.

BUT THEN

So I decided to take the oil filter off and the filter is completely empty not a single drip came off it when I took it off so whatever may be wrong with my cluster there is definitely no oil pressure. Looks like no oil has passed through it since my oil change. So we are not talking low oil presser as much as NO oil pressure.

Several people have mentioned that if the OPRV goes in without resistance it is unlikely that oil cooler alignment it the problem. Is it worth purchasing the tool to eliminate this as my problem. Every time I order something it ends out costing me $40 in shipping so a $55 tool costs me $100.

I am thinking I am at the point of pulling the oil pan. Any opinions from the experts?

Thanks
Mark

[Gawernator]

The tool is definitely worth it IMO

[mhr]

So things are not going well

I tried another OPRV that is known to be good and that did not change anything. The oil filter was still bone dry after idling the car for a minute or so. There is absolutely no resistance when putting the OPRV in so looked like it was time to pull the pan.

Pulled the pan today AND EVERYTHING LOOKS FINE. Crap I was hoping to find a bad pickup and end this saga.

The pickup holds water and looks good. The pan had some scummy sludgy oil in the bottom of it but it wasn't terrible. The return looks good as well and although I have not fished around too much I have not seen any debris in the pan.

So:
Not the OPRV
Not the pickup
Not the filter since I have tried 3 at this point

Where do I go from here?

[nzporsche944s2]

Originally Posted by J1NX3D

do you have the diagram/ pics of the grounds behind the dash? 9(ate 944)

Under the dash, far left corner. There are two ground points, two lugs on each point

[princej]

sorry to hear about your continued troubles. was hoping to catch you while you did the oil pan. so i can see how to do it on mine.

if your sure your oil pump is good.

you can try the pressurized oil cap trick. people seem to have success with it.

[princej]

is there oil coming out of the hole with the OPRV removed?

from clarks garage " turned the engine over to verify that oil comes out the hole for the relief. If oil comes out of the relief hole, this indicates a problem with the relief. If no oil or very little oil comes out, this normally indicates a problem with the pump itself. If a problem with the pump is indicated, check for proper tension on the crankshaft pulley bolt. The crankshaft bolt applies force to a spacer which in turn tensions a gear that drives the oil pump. If the crankshaft bolt is loose the gear will not turn the oil pump. Low or no oil pressure can also be caused by a broken oil pump pickup tube. This is normally caused by excessive vibration when the motor mounts are bad. The oil pan must be removed to replace the tube. "

[mhr]

Prince

Have not put the pan back on and would love to have a hand when I do it so for sure I will let u know.

I am not sure my oil pump is good and starting to think that is the last thing to look at.

I was thinking about trying to make sure there was nothing clogging the passageways somehow and if I looks clean taking off the oil pump if no other suggestion come up.

[princej]

oil pump failure is rare, at least thats what I have been told.

you didnt notice if there was oil coming out of the oprv hole?

my pleasure to lend a hand. let me know when.

[mhr]

Originally Posted by princej

oil pump failure is rare, at least thats what I have been told.

you didnt notice if there was oil coming out of the oprv hole?

Unfortunately didn't do that test.

[princej]

thats too bad, could have helped with the diagnosis.

[princej]

its possible the oil pump needs to be changed.

unlikely but possible.

[VirginiaF1]

Originally Posted by mhr

Unfortunately didn't do that test.

Good luck working on your repairs tmw..
Fill us in on progress, ya?

[mhr]

no work on it this weekend. With my son at a swim meet in Toronto. Will jump on it again next weekend.

[mhr]

Still have not resolved the issue. The problem has somewhat evolved but still have the problem.

So the reason all of the lights on the dash go on seems to be a problem with the cluster. Looks like when the low oil pressure light turns on it also lights up most of the other idiot lights on the cluster. Not something I am worrying about at the moment.

The problem was and still is Low/No oil pressure. Except now it only seems to be a problem for the first 5 - 15 seconds after I start the car if it has been sitting for any period of time.

So I have done the following in trying to fix this problem.

Oil pan off pickup is good. Changed the seal for the oil pickup and oil return
New rod bearings
New pan gasket
Oil pump removed cleaned inspected, Sealed with Loctite 571 according to clarks diagram (I have done this twice and tried 2 pumps since I was convinced this was the problem)
new oil pump drive
new oil pressure sensor
new O ring on crank for pump drive
new main seal
new water pump (mine was leaking)
new belts
new valve cover gasket and all rubber
New gasket and o rings on oil filter console
Reinstalled console and aligned with OPRV tool
New O rings on OPVR checked it and rechecked it and the valve seems to be good
New plugs
New plug wires
New Mahle filter (have tried 3 new ones to be exact)
Castrol 20W50 oil

Crank bolt is definitely torqued to 155

I have connected a mechanical oil pressure gauge using the lindsay racing adapter and the mechanical gauge behaves the same at the dash gauge so its not the gauge.

Anyone? Allegedly spring is coming and I want to drive it.

Mark

P.S. if you have seen my thread on Rennlist sorry for the repetition hoping some fresh eyes can help.