Jump to content

Oil light flickering


zigtech

Recommended Posts

I went to park my car in the driveway and I noticed that my old light was flickering then I put it in park it stayed on wierd. I turned off the car checked the oil and it's right on the full line. Turn my car park on and it didn't come back on. Maybe a sign of the oil pump going out or maybe a sensor?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I went to park my car in the driveway and I noticed that my old light was flickering then I put it in park it stayed on wierd.

 

I turned off the car checked the oil and it's right on the full line. Turn my car park on and it didn't come back on. Maybe a sign of the oil pump going out or maybe a sensor?

Define "stayed on wierd".

 

There's a dozen things that could cause this--contaminated oil, defective pressure sensor, defective oil filter, plugged oil pump pickup screen...and the list goes on.

 

Put a known-good oil pressure gauge on the engine, see what the pressure really is.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I mean wierd because it was randomly flickering there was no pattern to it. I took it for a quick drive yesterday and the light never came back on. I just changed the only 3 weeks ago. I'm not to sure. The only difference between driving yesterday was right before I got home I when stuck in traffic going between 3 and 7 mph and that lasted about 15 min. Then when I got home I notice the oil light flickering. And how would I test the oil pressure?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have aldl system in my car. I know someone that has a reader for it. With how old the system is would it show oil pressure or would it be better to buy a mechanical one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All computerized vehicles have an interface whether it be pre OBD1, OBD1 or OBD2, but a scanner will not let you know what the engines oil pressure is, that capability is not there,

 

you would need to purchase a mech gauge and plumb it into the engine block.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When my CS gets hot my oil pressure gauge will sometimes go crazy and eventually read 0 at idle. Ive changed the switch and put an actual gauge to it only to find the correct psi. I suspect an issue in the wiring but haven't put a meter on it to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As mentioned above, check it with a mechanical gauge. To answer your question: You do that by removing the pressure sender (sensor) and replacing it with a mechanical gauge. You can often rent those from parts stores. You can actually put it anywhere with high pressure oil, but that spot just usually works out to be the most convenient spot. You then run the engine until fully warmed up (longer than just the temp gauge going to the middle) to see the pressure when the oil gets up to temp.

 

The fact that it came on after a long sit in traffic kind of points towards worse things than better. Traffic = hotter engine = hotter oil = thinner oil/lower viscosity = naturally lower pressure. If the engine is worn enough for that naturally lower pressure to be low enough to set off the dummy light (~5psi), then you have problems. Also, oil level and oil pressure are totally different. As long as you have the minimum oil level to cover the pickup then the pressure is unaffected. 

 

Also, what engine is this again?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...