Oil pressure issue/higher viscosity fix.

[shortyb]

Had the oil pressure light come on intermittently on the Dadwagon (2010 VW Passat 2.0l) lately. Oil is full, some oil on pressure switch connector (failed switch?) runs smooth with no noise. Cleaned up connector and has been good since. However, I've been researching and found that at my mileage (155K), wear starts to really hit the oil pressure, particularly the balance shaft bearing clearances. Need to put a pressure gauge on it to confirm, but most common is low pressure at idle. Almost every post I read, replacing the switch did nothing, but interestingly enough was the positive results with a higher visc. oil, ie; 15W-50. Some have done this and nursed their engines out to 200K before they die. Car is old, but still solid otherwise. Doesn't consume oil, but leaks a few drops. Didn't pay much and haven't had to do a lot of expensive repairs so don't want to take it to a rebuild level. Not worth it. So, after the long read, has anyone else had good luck with a higher viscosity oil mitigating an issue like this?

 

[JavierH19]

I have. I've been run thicker in my old high mileage trucks and they're happy today and have been for almost a decade once I saw the pressure go down a bit. Do a mechanical gauge check and maybe a uoa to see if metals are high. If it doesn't burn the engine is likely fine. Valvoline just released their new heavy duty full syn 15w-40. 4.3 hths and a low noack with lots of AW. Put the pds here.

Thread 'WM now shipping the new Valv HD FS & HD SB 15w-40'

Mar 4, 2025

Not a sale but Walmart began selling the heavy duty full syn 15w-40 at a reasonable $21.97 and the new heavy duty syn blend also a reasonable $14.97. Online only though but hopefully these hit shelves. The 10w-30 diesel crowd gets no love yet again unfortunately.

This is the pds for the FS and 4.3 hths and 8.4% noack are pretty good for a cheap full syn diesel oil. If xsp, t6, and extreme 15w-40 aren't on any sale I'd be choosing this...

• JavierH19
• Replies: 9
• Forum: Heavy Duty Engine Oil (HDEO) - Diesel Vehicles

• 

 

[Jetronic]

Had the oil pressure light come on intermittently on the Dadwagon (2010 VW Passat 2.0l) lately. Oil is full, some oil on pressure switch connector (failed switch?) runs smooth with no noise. Cleaned up connector and has been good since. However, I've been researching and found that at my mileage (155K), wear starts to really hit the oil pressure, particularly the balance shaft bearing clearances. Need to put a pressure gauge on it to confirm, but most common is low pressure at idle. Almost every post I read, replacing the switch did nothing, but interestingly enough was the positive results with a higher visc. oil, ie; 15W-50. Some have done this and nursed their engines out to 200K before they die. Car is old, but still solid otherwise. Doesn't consume oil, but leaks a few drops. Didn't pay much and haven't had to do a lot of expensive repairs so don't want to take it to a rebuild level. Not worth it. So, after the long read, has anyone else had good luck with a higher viscosity oil mitigating an issue like this?

What oil is run in those engine, that allowes the balance shafts to wear it's bearings? 150k to get oiling issues is not good.

 

[shortyb]

What oil is run in those engine, that allowes the balance shafts to wear it's bearings? 150k to get oiling issues is not good.

All that I've read have used proper VW 502.00 approved. Whether this is widespread issue or not with the CCTA 2.0 is unknown, but almost all the ones that were posted about with low oil pressure had this problem. I feel mine could be in this group as well since the oil changes were documented since car was new, however, they were 10K OCIs with unknown oils. Last 2 for me were with 10W-40 Maxlife blend. Looking at M1 15W-50 as a possible candidate.

 

[Dr_Dr3i]

Chevron Delo XSP 5w40 has a HTHS of 4.2 and is easily found on the cheap.

 

[crashz]

I'd get a pressure gauge on that just to verify before making any jumps. I've had a couple sensors fail that made me panic, when in reality, the oil pressure was still good.

But I've also frequently upped the viscosity on high mileage engines as a preventive thing. for instance, I stopped using a 20 weight oil in my CRV after 200k and went to 5w-30 after. No noticeable changes and not to solve anything, but in my head I felt like this was protecting a little better as the engine wore. At 320k its still kicking (somewhere, as my niece just sold it).

If the pressure is low, I think a switch to the 15w-50 will be fine. Its not incredibly thicker than the 502 spec anyway so the viscosity jump is not nearly as drastic as other manufactures. Also - and this may be a nit-picky detail, I would consider a higher flowing oil filter if possible. Theoretically a lower pass through efficiency should yield a slightly higher flow rate and lower pressure drop at the filter. This should, in theory, increase flow rate at the bottom end.

I'm curious to see what you find out.

 

[Jetronic]

I'd get a pressure gauge on that just to verify before making any jumps. I've had a couple sensors fail that made me panic, when in reality, the oil pressure was still good.

But I've also frequently upped the viscosity on high mileage engines as a preventive thing. for instance, I stopped using a 20 weight oil in my CRV after 200k and went to 5w-30 after. No noticeable changes and not to solve anything, but in my head I felt like this was protecting a little better as the engine wore. At 320k its still kicking (somewhere, as my niece just sold it).

If the pressure is low, I think a switch to the 15w-50 will be fine. Its not incredibly thicker than the 502 spec anyway so the viscosity jump is not nearly as drastic as other manufactures. Also - and this may be a nit-picky detail, I would consider a higher flowing oil filter if possible. Theoretically a lower pass through efficiency should yield a slightly higher flow rate and lower pressure drop at the filter. This should, in theory, increase flow rate at the bottom end.

I'm curious to see what you find out.

I don't think it matters if the oil pressure is still good or not if the balance shaft bearings are prone to failure. The balance shafts are out of balance so makes sense they load the bearings harder. Higher viscosity before damage is critical will do a lot more than band-aiding after the fact.

 

[shortyb]

I don't think it matters if the oil pressure is still good or not if the balance shaft bearings are prone to failure. The balance shafts are out of balance so makes sense they load the bearings harder. Higher viscosity before damage is critical will do a lot more than band-aiding after the fact.

I have to do some more reading on why the shafts wear, is it bearing clearances, out of balance/poor maching etc.? Dunno. Of course I will get a gauge on it before doing anything, especially buying parts (switch) that won't effect the solution. But, if the higher visc. has shown to "band-aid" the situation until I can get another vehicle, I might just go for it. In other words, I'm not going to sink a bunch of money into it if the returns are not worth it. $28 worth of oil? Sure, why not. $4K on a rebuild for a 15 year old car that will keep developing other fun things to deal with? I get bored sometimes, but not THAT bored .

 

[Jetronic]

balance shafts are by design out of balance, they throw a weight opposite of where the block wants to go (due to crank and pistons).

I suggest going thicker sooner, before the wear gets to the point it actually causes low pressure. Thicker is better. I's the equivalent of picking yourself up before the fall,rather than band-aiding a knee after....

 

[Andyd95]

Yeah it probably is bad balance shafts.

Had some come through the shop and tried 15W50 M1 and it didn’t make enough of a difference - we’d still get oil pressure warnings and low pressure (verified on manual gauge) at hot idle

 

[Donald]

Had the oil pressure light come on intermittently on the Dadwagon (2010 VW Passat 2.0l) lately. Oil is full, some oil on pressure switch connector (failed switch?) runs smooth with no noise. Cleaned up connector and has been good since. However, I've been researching and found that at my mileage (155K), wear starts to really hit the oil pressure, particularly the balance shaft bearing clearances. Need to put a pressure gauge on it to confirm, but most common is low pressure at idle. Almost every post I read, replacing the switch did nothing, but interestingly enough was the positive results with a higher visc. oil, ie; 15W-50. Some have done this and nursed their engines out to 200K before they die. Car is old, but still solid otherwise. Doesn't consume oil, but leaks a few drops. Didn't pay much and haven't had to do a lot of expensive repairs so don't want to take it to a rebuild level. Not worth it. So, after the long read, has anyone else had good luck with a higher viscosity oil mitigating an issue like this?

Check with mechanical gauge.

 

[shortyb]

Update: Put a gauge on the oil pressure galley and it was right on target. Hot idle calls for 17-20psi, 3K rpms 45-50 psi. Mine were 20 and 50 with 5W-40 VW 502.00. Switch was leaking oil around the metal ring and inner plastic insulator. New switch and cleaned up the connector again. No light. Found a small coolant leak though .

 

[Exhaustgases]

Update: Put a gauge on the oil pressure galley and it

Galley is a kitchen on a plane or ship.
Gallery is a passage way or large long room etc.
The dictionary is your friend.

A technical website like this should try to get things like this correct. And no not picking on anyone just trying to get the nomenclature correct. This one always gets me because nowadays even businesses and so called experts can't get it correct.
At least most all shop manuals still do though.

 

[shortyb]

Galley is a kitchen on a plane or ship.
Gallery is a passage way or large long room etc.
The dictionary is your friend.

A technical website like this should try to get things like this correct. And no not picking on anyone just trying to get the nomenclature correct. This one always gets me because nowadays even businesses and so called experts can't get it correct.
At least most all shop manuals still do though.

Thanks for the lesson and correction. FWIW, the oil filter housing has passages cast and machined in it to direct oil to various places. One of these places is to the oil pressure switch, ergo, my calling the pathway to the switch a galley. Which by the definition you gave is a passage way. As I've stated in other threads, I ain't a smart man Jenny.