Advice Please - Low oil pressure light

My dash flashed at me today saying something like "low oil pressure - stop engine".

The car is a European 2010 B6 Passat with engine code CBAB (16valve 140hp)

I put the car in 2nd gear drove about 50meters back to my driveway with the engine at idle and then I turned off the ignition. I went back a bit later to start the car to see if the fault had gone - I revved in neutral to 2k rpm and the light came on again. At this point, I lifted my foot off the throttle and the engine cut out by itself. I started it again to see if it would idle, and it did idle but it felt like it wanted to cut out so I turned off the ignition. This is how I've left it.

As a side note, the turbo actuator has been blowing its 10 amp fuse every couple of days for the last couple of months and I have been replacing it every time. Except, about a week ago the fuse stopped blowing but the turbo whistle became louder... I don't know if any of this is related to my fuel pressure though!?

I'm on a tight budget and I'm not afraid of getting my hands a little bit dirty. What should I look at doing first to get it fixed?

Well running an engine with a low oil pressure light is not advised.

Start with the basics, how is your oil level?

After that need to get an oil pressure gauge on it.


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Oil level is three-quarters of the way up the marked area on the dipstick.

I'm a bit worried about running it again to get an oil pressure reading because my turbo started to sound louder and the engine had slight trouble idling the last time I tried starting it. I'm worried it been starved of oil already. Do you think it's still worth trying to get an oil pressure reading anyway?

I'm tempted to just replace the hexagonal oil pump drive shaft that is prone to wear. Then I can see what the old one looks like and see if I still have a working turbo and/or engine. What do you think?

If it all seems to be ok after doing that, I think I've got three options for a more permanent fix:

a - replace the hexagonal drive shaft and the balance shaft that it is driven from (sounds fiddly)
b - install a balance shaft delete kit (also sounds difficult and more expensive)
c - install a completely new balance shaft module (also sounds difficult and a lot more expensive)

What do you think?

If this was the situation with my car, I would change the oil filter and thoroughly inspect the one currently in place. Dropping the oil reservoir and physically inspecting the oil pump might not be a bad idea as well.

yeah i'm going to take the sump off, change the oil and change the filter. If I find even the tiniest speck of metal in the oil, I will flush out the oil cooler too and clean the oil channels I can easily access.

kdawg89 said:

need to get an oil pressure gauge on it.

Click to expand...

FWIW, I concur.

Could be there's an actual oil pressure issue, could be a oil pressure sensor suddenly over sensitive.

T'were my car I'd probably confirm *before* any teardown starts, so that I know what I'm looking for. At this point another 10 seconds of running is not going to make much difference I wouldn't think?

That said, it does sound like the classic worn oil pump drive issue... but 10 seconds with a gauge will tell the tale.

I once owned a 1962 Chrysler V8 convertible where the oil light came on. I went through all the trouble of removing and inspecting the oil pump, only to finally conclude that the oil filter was so fouled that it would not allow oil through, and that was the actual cause of the oil light going on. As you can imagine, I felt quite stupid for overlooking the simplest of things.

Ok, I've ordered an oil pressure gauge. The filters are cheap enough so I'll just swap that before testing for the pressure.

ok, I can't find the oil pressure switch.

...I'm under the impression (according to ElsaWin) that it's on the body of the oil filter housing but it seems that there is no way to reach it without removing a lot of stuff.

Does anyone know any different? The engine code is CBAB

CBAB engines have the shorter hex drive key for the oil pump which goes into the balance module, they are prone to failure. I would say that is your problem and that the turbo is damaged due to this.