Oil light wont go off???

[rgdtoo]

Hello everybody,

Well this is my first post since purchasing my 85' Carrera. I wish it was a simple hello but thats not the case.

Anyway, before my purchase I had an inspection done by a shop in Fresno. Unfortunately it was done while I wasn't there so I didn't have the benefit of watching asking questions etc. The compression tests were good 5 of 6 at 150 and one at 140. Also they said they only found oil seepage in the oil lines no real oil leaks (drips to ground).

Two nights ago I noticed the oil lite flickering on once and a while or it looked like it was on real faint at times; then yesterday I noticed it came on and didn't go off. Drove home parked it. Now I noticed considerable oil leakage from a few different spots. The previous owners seemed like they never drove the car spirited at all.

I am thinking driving the car as it was intended caused the sudden oil leak problem. Does that sound plausible?


So I pulled the oil pressure sender and ran an oil pressure test via an external tester. It seems to test Ok. I don't hear any obvious noises that would tell me there is a problem. Not sure where to go from here without taking it to the shop.

Do the oil light's become faulty often.
Will oil leaks cause enough loss in pressure to cause the light to stay lit?

How or what can I do to determine if I have a serious problem or a faulty light reading and normal (ish) 911 leaks.

Any help/suggestions is appreciated.

Thanks,

Bob

Ps. Other than this issue the car is in great shape.

[cstreit]

It would be helpful if you told us what your oil pressure was at several RPM levels when up to operating temperature. (ex 1000RPM - 1.5Bar. 3000 RPM - 4 Bar). This way we can get a sense of if the pressure is good, bad, or ugly.

Good move testing with an external gauge. Did it read the same as your dash-gauge?

[rgdtoo]

Originally Posted by cstreit

It would be helpful if you told us what your oil pressure was at several RPM levels when up to operating temperature. (ex 1000RPM - 1.5Bar. 3000 RPM - 4 Bar). This way we can get a sense of if the pressure is good, bad, or ugly.

Good move testing with an external gauge. Did it read the same as your dash-gauge?

I suppose that would help wouldn't it.
Sorry not usually that slow.

Car gauge usually reads (read) higher (no details). I say read because I destroyed the gauge. My book said I would need a 22male metric fitting but it was smaller on the car. I cut the sensor off the plug and tapped it with 1/4 npt so I could test. That was dumb, an $86 mistake. Patients????

at 1000 rpm its at albout 1.8 bar
at 2k rpm it goe up to 3bars
at 3k rpm it goes to 3.5bars (approx)
at 4k rpm it went to 4 bars then fell off to 3.75bars

I didn't keep the rpm's at any level very long maybe 3-4 sec 1-3k rpm
and 2-3 sec or less at 4k rpm.

Thanks...B

[john walker's workshop]

replace the red oil light switch. they can leak profusely. remove the airflow meter to get to it. while you're in there, put a new o-ring on the thermostat. they also can leak badly. and check the breather hose where it clamps to the engine. they leak because the rubber gets rock hard and/or the clamp is loose.

[HawgRyder]

I believe the light is operated by grounding the wire at the sender.
You may have a short in the wire.
To check this...take the wire off of the sender and hang it in mid-air (not grounded).
If the light goes out...the circuit is OK, if the light stays lit, you have a short to ground in that circuit.

Bob

[Eagledriver]

As John has told you there is just a problem with the switch that runs the light. Oil leaks will not cause a pressure problem until you run out of oil. Driving hard is fine but if you do it on a cold engine you can cause oil leaks. Let the car fully warm up (5 or 10 minutes and temp guage off the bottom) before you rev it above 4k or so.

-Andy