Technical High oil pressure

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Technical High oil pressure

1947Guy

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Hi I have a twinair Panda which has the yellow triangle on. I have had it checked out and my locol garage said it was oil puessure. They have checked the pressure and found it to be over 80psi. Any suggestions?
 
Hi I have a twinair Panda which has the yellow triangle on. I have had it checked out and my locol garage said it was oil puessure. They have checked the pressure and found it to be over 80psi. Any suggestions?


most cars have no way to measure over pressure ? Are you sure the garage is trustworthy ?


yellow triangle is normally a none serious such as missed service or faulty bulb. Normally also flashes up on the message panel ?
 
As said, car will only monitor low oil pressure via the switch, which comes on around 7-15psi. As the valves are operated using oil pressure, I think, 80psi might be normal. Not an excessive pressure once above tickover. Excess pressure might affect hydraulic valve operation, but that would show with a change in engine performance.
 
Thanks for the feed back guys. I have already changed the oil with the recomended speck 0-30 and its now had a second oil filter, this time a genuine fiat one. I do trust my garage as i have known them for years but the 80psi i spoke about was on tickover and as they picked the revs up the pressure began to clime so they turned it off. My thoughts are maybe, oil ptessure relief valve, which i think is part of the pump but i'm not sure wheather i can get at it if i take the sump down.
 
We're still missing the link between a generic warning light and the decision to check the oil pressure. Why did they do this?

Max pressure is controlled by the pressure relief valve, usually integral with the pump, and probably only accessible with the sump off, unless it is around the crank nose like on the diesels. Valve is presumably stuck. Removing it and clearing whatever stuck it may be difficult, depending on how tight it is, but more concerning is what jammed it. Any debris must have come from inside the engine, so careful examination of the tiny speck is necessary. On cold start much of the oil will by-pass the filter to avoid starvation, and often pressure relief valves are before the filter anyway, but such debris should not normally be present.

So what has happened recently? Any operational changes, faults with the engine, etc?
 
I got the car a few months ago and the yellow triangle has always been on.
I had it pluged in and they came up with the answer, oil pressure sencer. i fitted a new one but that didn' put the light out. i drove it on for a few weeks with the triangle on with no obvious faults. i got it checked again and it still said oil pressure sencer so i had a pressure check. The rest is history.
 
I got the car a few months ago and the yellow triangle has always been on.
I had it pluged in and they came up with the answer, oil pressure sencer. i fitted a new one but that didn' put the light out. i drove it on for a few weeks with the triangle on with no obvious faults. i got it checked again and it still said oil pressure sencer so i had a pressure check. The rest is history.

Ouch!

You've probably now identified the reason it was for sale.
Debris in the pressure relief valve had to come from somewhere, which is bad news. Knowing what happened shortly before the problem would be useful in diagnosing possible causes and options for repair.
If you are able to contact the previous owner, they might tell you a story, but they will probably be reluctant.

Did you buy privately or from a dealer? If from a dealer, take it back and insist they repair, or refund.
 
Oil pumps usually have an integral pressure relief valve.

Do we know where the oil pump is located on the twinair?
The FIRE has it in the sump, the 1.3 diesel has it around the crankshaft nose, so the whole front plate is the oil pump.

Edit: Looking at ePER, it appears to be around the crank nose, with the relief valve integral. Unclear as to whether this is accessible from outside, but unlikely, as valve would need to vent back into the sump, not over the road.
Looks like a sump off to get at the valve. Once inside, a check of the crank condition might be a good idea.
 
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I have checked out the pump location and it seem to fit around the crank at the front end, but obviously it must extend into the sump to pick up the oil. The question is, if i take the sump down could i get at the valve to free it?
 
The valve will be in the little stub, as marked in the attached pic.
Once the sump is off, the valve should be held in place by a pin, but you will have to hold the valve against the spring pressure to release the pin. Careful as it comes out, there might be washers that need refitting in the correct order.

Hopefully the valve will drop/pull out and you will be able to see and address the cause of it sticking. That will sort the immediate problem, but not the cause.

It is important to diagnose the cause. "Where did the debris originate, and will there be more."

I'm still puzzled as to how we got here though. Pressure switches usually only action low pressure. Unless this has a dual switch, to action excess pressure as well. If it is a simple single switch, the fault of pressure sensor would indicate low pressure at some time.

I still think we need more info.
 

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  • TwinairOilPump.jpg
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I agree with PB more info definately required.

Did garage read oil pressure from engine ecu using scan tool , if so there is an oil pressure sensor in engine somewhere in addition to the simple oil pressure switch.

If Amber warning lamp is on due to high pressure code being set then the engine must have a pressure sensor.

If garage measured oil pressure with an external manual pressure gauge then it is definitely high oil pressure

If garage didn't connect an external pressure gauge then it could be faulty sensor or wiring inside engine.

See photo of the very cheap brand new genuine fiat oil pump in link( at bottom click on pic for larger view and different angles ) showing an additional electrical component , possible pressure sensor?

https://www.fiatworkshop.co.uk/parts/500_Lubrication.shtml

P.S. does anyone know is this an "on demand" ecu controlled oil pump ???
 
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I may be wrong in thinking about possibility of on demand oil pump
 
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Twinair valve actuator oil filter

not sure if its block it would cause High pressure but easy to check plus give a Good idea of the state of the engine

post photo would be good
 
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