Ok, I have a 1998 C5 A4 with 154,000 miles on it.

I got it 5 years ago as my every day car and put 84k of those miles on it.

Since I've had It the oil pressure has been between 14-15 at idle after warmed up.

Mods
X-pipe, glass pack exhaust

Ram air intake

Installed oil catch can a few days ago

Positive history

Oil changed under every 5,000 miles either Valvoline or Mobile 1 5W-30

Runs like some kind of savage animal pulls like a freight train and starts every time I turn the key.

Some negative history.

I have and always will beat the **** out of it.

Engine sucked up some water once in a deep poodle changed oil twice no problems after. (Uhaul parking lot in Hempstead New York)

Shortly after I would be sitting at a light and oil pressure would go to 0 DIC would warn me and I would kill the engine. I would turn the engine back on and oil pressure would go back to normal. This may have happened 5 times at the most.

It stalled twice since I've owned it while idling just after start up, completely irrelevant.

This is where I think I may have found the cause of the problem. It always had a funny smell at wide open throttle. Sulfur smell maybe oil burning? Last year it started to leak oil out of the rear main seal? Maybe half a quart? between oil changes. Never seen oil drip from the bell housing area/rear oil pan area just coated with oil.

So how do I know if my oil pressure sending unit is bad/loose. If it is loose would the oil pressure be low? If it is bad would it leak?

 

anyone?

 

Rob, there have been many threads on this issue especially in the last couple months. You may get a few different answers but truth is that the car should not be doing what you said it has, as in the loss of oil pressure. Personally I feel anything under 20psi is a bit low and 15 or less would have me worried. Usually oil pressure sender units fail reading high but have known to fail reading either way. I think, like its been suggested in other threads, the best thing to do is to hook up a mechanical gauge and monitor the oil pressure under various temps and rpms. That should tell you whether its a mechanical or electrical (sender) issues. Then you can go from there.

 

edit: dang “related threads” caught me again when downscrolling to bottom of thread. my apologies. its a decent feature, but catches even the dumbest of us sometimes.

 

04 /07 2013 - delete.