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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / May 2005Oil light on startup
If the oil pressure light consistently stays on for 2 or 3 seconds after an engine is started, but does not indicate any other problem (ie, doesn't come on again) is this an indication of any problem? Thanks > If the oil pressure light consistently stays on for 2 or 3 seconds after an > engine is started, but does not indicate any other problem (ie, doesn't come > on again) is this an indication of any problem? > > Thanks Let me guess... the oil filter on this engine is mounted "upside down" and it's a Fram? nate  Signaturereplace "fly" with "com" to reply. http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel > If the oil pressure light consistently stays on for 2 or 3 seconds after an > engine is started, but does not indicate any other problem (ie, doesn't come > on again) is this an indication of any problem? I'd be thinking "check the oil level", but not worrying about it a whole lot unless this is "new" behavior from that particular vehicle. Most of them seem to have a 1-3 second lag before the oil pump puts enough pressure on the system to keep the light turned off. Another, related, thought is an oil filter that's leaking to dead empty while the engine is off - It's gonna take a second or three to fill up (and therefore delay the pressure hitting the sensor) after a start. Although it's not a particularly *GOOD* thing, I'd hardly think of it as an emergency situation unless it started staying on for more than a few seconds at a time. SignatureDon Bruder - dakidd@sonic.net - New Email policy in effect as of Feb. 21, 2004. Short form: I'm trashing EVERY E-mail that doesn't contain a password in the subject unless it comes from a "whitelisted" (pre-approved by me) address. See <http://www.sonic.net/~dakidd/main/contact.html> for full details. Need more info to give a knowledgeable answer! It would be nice to know the make, model & the year? As well as the type oil and the filter used & also the weight of the oil? If it's VW Bug is common for the oil pressure light to stay on for a short period after the engine has been started! SignatureThere are no words that can be heard unless someone listens.... Remove *flaps* to reply > If the oil pressure light consistently stays on for 2 or 3 seconds after an > engine is started, but does not indicate any other problem (ie, doesn't come > on again) is this an indication of any problem? > > Thanks His only other post under this name is an 89' Camry and he thinks there that he threw a rod at 205K KM. That's not real high mileage, but enough to damage things if the oil level is not maintained. He probably won't post back what happened. I took it apart today, it looks fine inside. I was making one hell of a noise though. The oil level has been fine, at least since I bought it 25k km ago. It started with a small clanking noise and a flashing oil light. I drove home because the light stayed off after a few 1 to 3 second flashes. When I parked it was sounding really bad (didn't hear it at speed). In my original question I was wondering if it was ok for an oil light to stay on a few seconds in any car. I took off the oil filter today, it was fill of oil as designed, but the middle is wide open. I might have started noticing the light after the last oil and filter change (maybe I'll spend a dollar more on a better filter next time!!) . > His only other post under this name is an 89' Camry and he thinks there > that he threw a rod at 205K KM. That's not real high mileage, but > enough to damage things if the oil level is not maintained. He probably > won't post back what happened. > I took it apart today, it looks fine inside. I was making one hell of a > noise though. [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > enough to damage things if the oil level is not maintained. He probably > > won't post back what happened. Sounds like oil starvation at start up. That's not a good thing even for a few seconds. I hope the new filter solved the problem. Your terminology is misleading. All you "took apart" was the oil filter. Big deal. I thought you meant tearing into the engine since your other post said you thought you broke a rod or something. If your engine is still making the clanking "really bad" at idle after driving it then maybe you do have very low oil pressure. It could be just the oil pump or more like main bearings. You better get the oil pressure checked with a gauge before driving it. I did get into the engine, took the oil pan off but everything looks normal from the bottom end. I'm not driving it now, until I can determine it is not causing further damage. Anyway, if it is something related to one cylinder, it seems I should be able to identify which one by cutting off fuel or ignition to that cylinder. Of course, if it's bad enough that it has low oil pressure, I'll need a different idea... When the sound got really loud, the pressure was ok (at least the light was off), even though it could have woken up the neighbourhood. > I did get into the engine, took the oil pan off but everything looks > normal from the bottom end. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > (at least the light was off), even though it could have woken up the > neighbourhood. You're in deep sushi there Max. Let us know what happens, but a noise that loud in the bowels of an engine spells di$a$ter. Turns out it's the oil pump drive gear, missing a huge chunk. Don't know why it made so much noise, but there's a lot of ground up metal under the timing cover. The oil pump was turning while the gear disintegrated, so hopefully the engine didn't suffer to much with no oil pressure... > You're in deep sushi there Max. Let us know what happens, but a noise > that loud in the bowels of an engine spells di$a$ter. > Turns out it's the oil pump drive gear, missing a huge chunk. Don't know > why it made so much noise, but there's a lot of ground up metal under the > timing cover. The oil pump was turning while the gear disintegrated, so > hopefully the engine didn't suffer to much with no oil pressure... I hate to sound pessimistic, but if any of that ground up metal made it into the bearings before the oil pump failed completely... I would definitely try to rig something up to flush the engine before trying to start it again, and pull a couple bearing caps to see if you're throwing good money after bad. good luck, nate The pump didn't fail, just the pulley on the outside. Replaced it and now it runs fine. Change the oil filter too, now the oil light goes out as soon as it starts up. >> Turns out it's the oil pump drive gear, missing a huge chunk. Don't > know [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > nate |
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