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Testing Posted by Ari [Email] ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Oil Light, Chad, Mon, 25 Apr 2005 06:27:09 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
If you truly don't have oil pressure, the engine would be very noisy at idle- you'd be hearing the valves very loudly due to lack of oil pressure. If you remove the valve cover, you'll see oil up there. Not all of it drains out. And if the oil pressure is low, you'll still be getting oil slung around - just not at the proper pressure.
When my oil light wouldn't go out, I didn't take a chance. I did not drive the car. I popped out the oil pressure switch, and took another car down to the autoparts store. There, with the old switch in hand, I picked up a fitting that would screw in, and bought an inexpensive mechanical oil pressure gauge and enough plumbing to hook it up. Not to run it to the dash, just right at the engine. I then checked the engine oil pressure at idle. With a cold engine, expect 25 or more psi at idle. The pressure will drop as the engine warms up, but it should stay above around 10 psi at idle. The pressure should be 40 psi at 2000 rpm.
At that point I knew that I had a bad oil pressure switch, and replaced it.
OK, why not just stick a new Oil pressure switch in and see if the light goes out? That's because I worry about oil pressure. A normal OPS trips at about 7 psi. That's to keep the light off with old, thin oil on a hot day. Great, but 7 psi is well below what is good for an engine. Just as an example, say the engine oil pressure is only 8 psi. That's not enough for engine lubrication. And maybe the old oil pressure sender got a little less sensitive, and now needs 9 psi to open and turn out the light. So the light stays on. OK, put in a fresh, new 7 psi sensor. The light goes out. But the pressure is still too low.
The probability is very high that it is just the oil pressure sender that has failed, and that your oil pressure is just fine. But I'd take the time to check it out. Yes, it requires buying some parts, but it tools, man! That's fun!
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