extremely high oil pressure

[talonkev]

I have a 92 turbo TSi, the other day I went to drive it home from work and noticed the at idle the factory oil pressure gauge was about in the middle, as soon as I pulled out and went above 1,500 RPM's the gauge pegged the whole way to max. I coasted the car home going about 10 mph. I took the oil cap off while idling and the cams aren't throwing any oil around, but when I loosened the oil feed line to the turbo from the head oil came out. So the head is getting some oil but I don't think it's near what it normally does. I hooked up my autometer oil pressure gauge to the filter housing and while idling cold it read 85psi, once it warmed up the pressure dropped to 40, but as soon as I dead revved it above 2,000 or so the pressure shot up to 100psi or more. I changed the filter and it didn't help. I then removed the oil filter housing and tore it apart; it seems to me that inside the water oil cooler, it isn't letting the oil flow very well. I filled the cooler part with water and it took a bit for it to drain out the other side. Has anyone else had this problem before, or have any other things I should check?

 

[TwoLiterLaser]

There is a large "bolt" on the sending unit that should is colored brown/gold. Take it off and make sure that the spring is still moving. This gizmo is a pressure relief doo-hickey and needs to be able to freely move.

 

[talonkev]

I checked it out and the oil cooler isn't clogged like I was hoping it was, I also took out the bolt and spring, but the piston and spring slide freely. Does anyone else have any ideas? Thansks, Kevin

 

[luv2rallye]

Bad oil pressure sender?

 

[Defiant]

Bad oil pressure sender?

Always the first, but seldom the first-checked, suspect: gauge error or failure, starting with the sender.

 

[talonkev]

Its not the sender because my stock gauge and my autometer gauge are both reading high. I ran some of that gunk engine flush through the engine, and the oil pressure went way down, but its still higher that it used to be. Im going to use some more motor flush and change the oil one more time and see if that helps. Thanks

 

[Defiant]

Checked for a seized oil pressure relief valve, in the body of the filter housing.

 

[firehawk]

Im having the same problem. I was just going to buy a new oil filter housing. I was reading, i think on RRE's website ( i could be mistaken ) but if you have your BS removed you may want to open up the oil pressure relief valve. Like make it bigger. Is that true. Or should I just get a new oil filter housing?

 

[kiknturbo17]

Im having this same problem. Except heres the thing, my motor has about 2500 miles on it now after the rebuild and up until this point the oil pressure was normal and only after the big snow storm we just had did the oil pressure gauge peg straight to the end of the gauge. I dont have balance shafts but ive never had this problem until the cold. So would it be a safe bet to say the oil pressure relief valve is malfunctioning?

 

[BISHILVR]

I also say its a sending unit problem