I bought this car about a year ago and have nothing but problems with it. Now I think I have a serious problem. The car has 171000 miles on it. I was out joy riding with a friend, hot rodding around some corners, then shortly after got a "No Oil Pressure - Stop Immediately" light...being only a few blocks from home, I drove it very carefully back home and turned the engine off. Checked the oil, full dipstick, but noticed air bubbles. After reading a few forums to identify the problem, the most common fix for air bubbles, no oil pressure light and knocking was to replace all the orings in the oil pan and clean the pick-up tube. Okay, these were fairly easy to replace, I cleaned the oil pan spotless with degreaser and soaked and cleaned the pick up tube, replaced all o-rings, new oil filter and oil...10w-30 full synthetic. Started the car up, and noticed the engine was idling very loud, almost like a diesel, the "No Oil pressure" light came back on and with slight acceleration of the gas pedal, there is a very noticeable KNOCKING, almost like it's a con rod bearing going bad. I immediately turned off the engine, checked the oil again, still full. Called a friend who works on foreign cars, and he immediately tells me the engine might be shot. I told him the car ran maybe just a few minutes after the "No oil pressure" light came on. He said well maybe I just need a new oil pump or con rod bearings. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? I am fairly mechanically inclined, and can do the job either way. Just wanted to know if anyone else had this problem and what they did to correct it. Thanks!

 

I would post over at Swedespeed Forums There are more T5 owners .. GL

 

Pull the pan again and check the connecting rods. See if any are discolored from heat. Sounds like you spun a rod bearing . Mine did it on Number 5

 

I checked the connecting rods when I had the pan off the first time, and noticed the number 5 was pretty loose and it was alot darker, almost black in color. You could be right on track. Did you just replace the bearings and everything was ok? Did you have to pull the engine to replace them? How was your oil pump?

 

why, oh why for the love of god why does the story always have this in it!!!???... "...being only a few blocks from home, I drove it very carefully back home and turned the engine off."

and then this part?? "Started the car up, and noticed the engine was idling very loud, almost like a diesel, the "No Oil pressure" light came back on and with slight acceleration of the gas pedal, there is a very noticeable KNOCKING, almost like it's a con rod bearing going bad."

people and oil I don't get it, they must not like the stuff or for some reason think one the car shouts at you saying "No Oil Pressure - Stop Immediately" what it's really trying to say is, ah keep driving, give it a little more gas too you can't kill me!!!

check your oil pump, make sure its functioning and not clogged. chances are you haven't checked your PCV system ever and a chunk of crap broke loose and clogged it.
and next time your car screams in pain, pull over and shut it off

sorry if I sound rude, I just don't get why there are so many oil related issues.

 

Yeah rude wasn't exactly the word I was thinking...but anyways...don't you need to start and run the car to check the oil pump and pressure? Also, I was literally less than 30 secs from home when the problem occured. I'm pretty certain the oil pump went bad then from lack of oil spun a con rod bearing. Getting a 2nd opinion this weekend from a local mechanic.

 

If the rod spun the bearing the engine will need to come out and have the crankshaft checked. Mine was cracked so I bought an engine from a salvage yard for $1000.00 then spent about another grand rebuilding that engine so I would know what I had. The o-rings on the oil pickup harden and let the oil pump draw air. I think the Number 5 spins because it's farthest from the oil pump.