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I had an unwelcome surprise when the oil pressure warning light on my '86 900S suddenly started flickering while pulling out of the driveway. I checked under the hood and it looked like the sending unit was leaking, so picked up a new one at NAPA and installed it, along with new oil + filter. At first it looked like this fixed the problem, but after warming up, the oil light came on again!
The engine was not showing any signs of distress, no noise aside from a valve tap that comes and goes, which is not unexpected after nearly 250,000 miles. (It's done that since the car was purchased a few years ago.) I temporarily attached a mechanical oil pressure gauge and was relieved to find a solid 45 psi pressure at idle and 65 psi at 3000 rpm, with the engine at operating temperature.
That begs the question of what is going on with the warning light. When the oil sending unit is connected the light tends to flicker, just like it might if the oil pressure was low and fluctuating. So far the light has not started coming on if the sender is left disconnected. However, I did observe one time that it remained lit for several seconds after disconnecting the sender while the engine was running. There are no other electrical problems, all other lights and controls work normally.
I'm thinking maybe a short in the electrical harness somewhere, or maybe a bad ground someplace? (The grounds near the radiator look OK, is there someplace else I should look?) Is this light controlled by the engine computer, is a relay involved, or is it just a simple circuit with a directly-wired light and pressure-actuated switch?
For the moment I'm leaving the oil pressure sender disconnected to keep the light off, but I don't much like "flying blind" this way...
posted by 209.60.99...
, Tue, 25 Dec 2007 10:29:28
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