Dinging Noise

[mikeyb]

My problem isn’t really that big of a deal but it’s annoying enough for me to come here. In my 1990 Olds i’ll be driving along and my car suddenly begins to make a dinging noise (like a warning notification, similar to the noise it makes if i get low on gas) and it’ll do it for about 10 seconds then stop, be quiet for a couple minutes then begin to do it again. However, there are no warning lights on the dash, and all systems are working properly (plenty of gas, not overheating, good oil pressure, good charging). Another oddity is that it only does this dinging when the car has completely warmed up on a warm day. I was wondering if you guys knew of a fuse or relay that i could mess with to make the sound go away. Thanks.

Topic

[college man]

Maybe the door chime has a problem. Pull the door chime fuse.

[843de]

Had this happen years ago on a Chevrolet Lumina APV, manually push the door switches a few times, they can corrode internally and act “open” when the doors are closed.

[Walter Cheryba]

I had this same problem on a 1991 Caprice Wagon. After many hours of searching-it turned out to be a bad coolant temperature sensor (light no gauge). ECM thought the car was overheating and started the chime. Replaced sensor-no more stray chiming.

[mikeyb]

Thanks for your guys’ suggestions, but i’m pretty sure it has to do with my oil pressure gauge. The Gauge is showing 0 oil pressure, and im pretty sure that’s false because the car runs just as well as it always has and has plenty of oil. Say of the oil pressure -was- low, wouldn’t i experience loss of performance and engine failure? Let me know what you guys think.
-Mike

[Walter Cheryba]

Zero oil pressure would create a boat anchor where your engine used to be (in most cases). I guess it could be the oil pressure sending unit located on the engine. If low or zero pressure is tied to an onboard warning system then that could be the “dinging” you have been hearing. Curious though, in your initial post you said oil pressure was OK?

[mikeyb]

Indeed i did say it was okay initially, but it had been showing lower than usual, but nothing alarming. Now i see a direct link to the oil pressure gauge going to 0 and the dinging noise occurring. I think you’re right in that it’s my oil pressure sending unit, because if the gauge was bad, the computer wouldn’t be sensing low oil pressure and making the dinging noise correct?

[Walter Cheryba]

Well it is the common sense logic I would follow myself. However! We are talking about a GM product AND a computer, sooooooo in my world I’d not be surprised at anything. I wish I could help you with the sending units location and difficulty of replacement. I’m reasonably certain it is located very close to the oil filter and may not require a special socket as the “light only” sensors do. does your car have an oil pressure light as well as a gauge? I’ve seen some Olds models that had the redundant system. Wishing you success!

[mikeyb]

Tomorrow I will look into the location of the sending unit and tracking down a replacement one. Thanks again for your help!

[Walter Cheryba]

You are most welcome, I’m really glad this site exists, Eric has done a good thing for people like myself. It is really interesting how much inspiration I receive just by participating at the level that I”m able to. It’s nice that my small experiences can be of value to someone else.

[Author]

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