The oil pressure light keeps going off whenever my rpms go lower (breaking, coasting etc.) and it’s extremely annoying. Took it to multiple dealers who changed the sensor but it keeps recurring - they tested the oil system itself and found that there is in fact no problem with the pressure. Told it might be a problem with the wiring or something else in the electrical circuit.
It sounds like it is time to seek an independent VW specialist’s shop. There appear to be a LOT of those indy VW places, most likely because of the very high level of dissatisfaction with the service departments at VW dealerships.
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Thanks so much for the advice. I’ll have to check this out - any thoughts about evaluating the general quality of the mechanic?
I looked up shops on Yelp and google, went through lots of the reviews, and picked one that had good, knowledgeable reviews, which eliminated some positive (‘great coffee in the waiting room’) and negative (‘they didn’t answer the phone quickly’) reviews.
As for your Jetta, I seem to remember my '83 GTI did this, it had two oil pressure sensors. Also can be an issue with the grounding wire (from the engine to the body) losing contact.
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We have a guy with 2 VWs down the street. He was cheesed off with the cost, arrogance, and poor service of the dealer and turned his garage into a workshop. He only visits the dealers only to buy genuine VW parts.
We have several VW dealers in our city and they are equally substandard.
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When Consumer Reports has published articles on customer satisfaction with dealerships, VW dealerships consistently ranked at the bottom.
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Thanks so much to all for the help - I’ll look around to try and find a good independent mechanic who can help get this sorted out.
Sadly, I’m rather amused at some of the commentary on VW dealer service here. I do field service work (piano tuner/technician) and I’ve asked a lot of people from all walks of life how they like their cars, and a couple decades of these conversations have caused me to never buy a VW car. I get the vibe that they are temperamental, and often have ridiculous problems that are very expensive to fix long before they should be having such problems.
Remember that people post here b/c they have a problem w/their car. Most VW owners must like them. If every owner felt the way you are suggesting, VW’s would be impossible to sell. I owned a late-70’s Rabbit and found it to be pretty reliable in the first 10 years/160K miles. Besides normal maintenance, the only serious problems I had were fixed by a VW dealership gratis, both under recalls. I did experience one serious problem from a dealership shop’s service quality however.
Where the Rabbit veered repair-wise , and in not a good way, from my current Corolla was after 10 years. Personally comparing the Rabbit to the Corolla, in my experience the Corolla definitely has a more bullet proof design, but it didn’t really show up for me anyway until after the 10 year mark.
How do they know? Did they test while idling or while re-creating the situation? A pressure test while idling is meaningless. By the way, when was the last time the oil and filter was changed?