Low on oil light???

[4G63dsm1]

I've been noticing that when my car is at idle the oil light comes on on my cluster as if i was low on oil, i did an oil change, check the oil and it seems to have a level of oil it suppose to. I also checked the altenator belt and it seems good. Could it be the lifters? is this the reason why at lot od DSM'ers change the lifter on these cars? If anybody has an idea what it is, please help. The car when it sits at idle seems fine, no high idle or nothing...i ran of ideas...not sure what else to check.

 

[hopwoodp]

It is the low oil pressure switch. That tells you that your have less than 5psi of oil pressure.

 

[4G63dsm1]

Is the engine light Oil on the cluster that turns red and sometimes it goes away...more like fading away. What should i check for?

 

[hopwoodp]

It depends on where you are idling at. But, it generally means you have low oil pressure. It could be an oil leak, or a bad oil pump. I would check your oil pressure sensor 1st. They are pretty cheap. Also, check the wiring. Sometimes the wire will break and corrode and that will cause a faulty signal or in possibly in your case no signal.

 

[4G63dsm1]

About the oil leaks..i replaced the valve cover gasket and that was the only place it was leaking a lil' bit of oil. And the car idles at 800 RPMs if i'm reading right, which should be normal..the car has been idleling there ever since i got it and the light nnever came on. Could it be the altenator belt? the reason why i'm saying that is because the lights kinda dimmed out when the car is at idle but when i hit the gas you can see the lights a lot brighter. Lifters maybe? even though i hear no loud engine noises.

 

[MrBoxx]

Lights dimming and getting brighter when you get on the gas a bit at idle is fairly normal. You can do an alternator test to be sure, though.

The oil pressure light fading on and off at idle could be indicative of two things: 1. Your oil pressure sender wire is coming loose where it clips onto the sender. It's put on with very little pressure, so it tends to come off easily, especially when it gets oil on it. 2. The oil pressure sending unit is malfunctioning. Get a new one from the dealership and install. This fixed the problem when I had it.

 

[4G63dsm1]

Just the answer i was looking for, thanks! Oh is this something you can do yourself? curious.

 

[hopwoodp]

Yeah, it pretty simple. The hayne manual has an illustration of it. The sensor is on the front of the oil filter bracket. It has a small screw attaching the wire to it.

 

[4G63dsm1]

Thanks a lot!!