Well, I suppose I could try an engine old flush to make sure.  And now that you
mention it, I'll check the coolant too to make sure it's not going that way.

   - Bill

Hmmm
No leaks huh and the warning light comes on when low on oil but now even
when it is full.

Well here are my experiences with my 16V 2.0l engine in my '91 Passat.
My engine liked to be full of oil, or even overfull or while driving the
annoying buzzer and light would activate.  I thought it was a bad or broken
oil pump since the oil level was in the crosshatch area.  No damage to the
oil pan and the dipstick guide was fine BTW.

Well my cyl. head gasket was slightly leaking externally (oil and coolant)
and oil would even migrate into the cooling system.  Well I got tired of it
and popped the cylinder head off.  I cleaned up all of the drain holes to
make sure the oil returns easily to the pan.
I had cleaned up the mating surfaces & checked for straightness.  No machine
work needed.  <g>

I have not had any other problems with the oil pressure warning system or
oil in the cooling system since the head gasket and the rodding of the drain
holes.  It might have been the head gasket was blocking the return holes
too.

The story is actually much longer than this, but I am trying to indicate
that maybe the oil return holes might be a little clogged and the oil is
staying in the upper part of the cylinder head.

later,
dave
(One out of many daves)

"William J. Leary Jr." <Bill_Leary@msn.com> wrote in message

snip

Not that I can see.  I've never found any oil on the ground under it.  The only
oil I see on the engine is where I sometimes spill some filling it.

I'll have to dig out the Bently.  It's in my office here somewhere.

Oil was just changed because the valve cover gasket failed around the #2
cylinder.  Filled the spark plug well with oil.  As far as I know, they used
the same parts they've been using on the other 16V for years, but now that you
bring it up, I'll check.

This warning thing has occasionlly occurred since I got the car (late last
year) after a high speed (4000RPM+) extended (five or more miles) run.  And it
often happened when the oil was over a quart low.  It's now happening more
often, with no dramatic driving, and with the oil full.  All it actually seems
to take is for the engine to reach normal operating temperature.

   - Bill

Like Peter said...........use different weights for different temps.

You might want to check the oil pressure during different rpms of the warm
engine.
Do you have any head gasket problems or leakage?

Your engine IIRC has two oil pressure devices on it, one being a switch and
the other being a combo pressure sending unit and switch.  Been too long
since I have worked on a Scirocco!  lol
Either or both devices could be faulty.  The one I would check is probably
on the oil filter housing or should be cheap to change.
You could also have a faulty low oil pressure warning module around the
speedo.

I insist on using good quality oil filters like MANN or MAHLE and good
brands of oil.  What are you using and did you just change it?

later,
dave
(One out of many daves)

I'm getting oil warnings on one of my '87 16V Scirocco's.  The oil is full.
I've checked it on level ground and dead cold.  The warnings usually come
around 2000 RPM, generally when in gear but occasionally when the car is just
rolling along with the clutch disengaged.  This Scirocco has 117K miles on it
and is filled with 10W40.

I have another '87 16V Scirocco with 225K on it filled with 20W50.  I put 20W50
in this one to cut down on it's burning oil.  It only gives warnings when the
oil is at least a quart low and I corner hard.  I think I recall it giving more
frequent alarms when it was full of 10W40, but I may be remembering another
car, and I've run it on 20W50 for so long I'm not sure anyway.

What weight oil is supposed to be in these cars?

   - Bill