Oil light goes on and off

[cnorth5863]

Does anyone have any guidance on the following issue I am having on an 03 pt cruiser. Periodically the oil light goes on. It Sarted this week and only seemed to happen every once in a while when coming to a stop. But today it happened while driving the car this morning within the first 20 min of driving. It stayed on till I arived at work….enine seems to be running as it should no knocking, etc. i left work today and no oil light. So my question is, is it a sensor or could it be the oil pump? If it was the pump would or could it be intermittent or is it the case when the pump goes it goes. I have scanned it and it isn’t throwing any codes. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

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[Matt Brandsema]

How many miles are on the car? In worn out engines the oil passages and clearances are bigger than if the engine was new and consequently the pressure drops. Replacing an oil pump will NOT fix this issue. Your best bet is to check the oil pressure sending unit to see if it is operating properly. My guess is that this is what is happening assuming your engine doesnt have a lot of miles. (And assuming you checked to see if your oil level is correct.)

[cnorth5863]

Quoted From Xyius:

How many miles are on the car? In worn out engines the oil passages and clearances are bigger than if the engine was new and consequently the pressure drops. Replacing an oil pump will NOT fix this issue. Your best bet is to check the oil pressure sending unit to see if it is operating properly. My guess is that this is what is happening assuming your engine doesnt have a lot of miles. (And assuming you checked to see if your oil level is correct.)

It just rolled over to 100,000 miles and the oil condition and level is normal. How can you test the oil pressure sending unit?

[ssd16]

The problem is most likely the oil pressure sending unit. To test your unit (or rather to test to see if you have proper oil pressure), your unit would be removed from the car and an oil pressure measuring unit temporarily put in its place, and the engine started to read the oil pressure. This takes special tools you probably don’t have which would require you to bring the car into a shop, and pay the diagnostic labor. Given the fact that the oil pressure sending unit itself is around 20 bucks, I would just whip in a new one and see if the problem goes away, its cheaper and less hassle than checking the serviceability of your current unit. If the problem persists, then its time to bring the car in.

[cnorth5863]

Quoted From ssd16:

The problem is most likely the oil pressure sending unit. To test your unit (or rather to test to see if you have proper oil pressure), your unit would be removed from the car and an oil pressure measuring unit temporarily put in its place, and the engine started to read the oil pressure. This takes special tools you probably don’t have which would require you to bring the car into a shop, and pay the diagnostic labor. Given the fact that the oil pressure sending unit itself is around 20 bucks, I would just whip in a new one and see if the problem goes away, its cheaper and less hassle than checking the serviceability of your current unit. If the problem persists, then its time to bring the car in.

Thanks I will do it this weekend. I’ll keep ya posted

[dreamer2355]

Some auto parts stores loan out a mechanical oil pressure gage you can use to verify actual engine oil pressure.

I would be be checking your oil level first and making sure you are using the correct viscosity oil

I would also look at the integrity of the wiring going to the oil sender. Most are 1 wire senders.

Keep us posted.

[Trcustoms719]

Check the wire going to it first like dreamer said, it might just have a bad connection.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Step 1 check the oil level, if the oil level is good (also make sure you are using the correct oil for your engine which should be listed on the oil cap or in the owners manual) then the next step is to put an analog gage on the engine and check the actual oil pressure, if the oil pressure reflects a loss of pressure then you may have an internal engine problem if not then it’s likely to be the sending unit or it’s wiring, connector, or something in the gage itself, the point is to know what the actual oil pressure is before you draw any conclusions. You can often rent an oil pressure gage from your local auto parts store OR you can purchase one as they really aren’t that expensive in my experience. Here’s a video on how oil pressure works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f2fcbTh5yw

[cnorth5863]

Just a quick update. It has now been 5 days since I changed the oil pressure sensor an so far so good. No lights. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a 15.00 part. Thank for the help guys.

[dreamer2355]

Thanks for the update!

Dont forget to change the traffic light to green if the issue is resolved as it will help others who use and search our database C8-)

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