Thread: Low Oil Pressure but no symptoms?

Near the end of last summer my low oil pressure light would flicker its way on at idle, but would vanish as soon as it was given some gas. replaced the oil sender and thought that fixed it, but as I recall it cooled off outside for fall at about this time.

Here it is hot out now and the flickering light returned. replaced the sender and still the light came on. The odd thing about it was that the car idled fine and my mechanic did a pressure test and said that it might be because of the fast drop in pressure going to idle.

He put in some 20w50 and the car is running fine as before with no light on at idle. It has been around 95 out for the past two weeks (day one was when the problem resurfaced) would that cause problems for the thinner oil?

Is the bottom end of my engine on its way out? It has around 90,000 miles.

the oil pump is driven by the crank, so the faster is spins the more oil is being pumped which is why it would go away when you'd rev it. you might be able to get away with running a little thicker oil. the light won't come on, but you also have to realize thicker oil doesn't circulate as well (essentially not lubing everything as well).

when it is hot outside the oil runs thinner because it's hotter. in the winter it doesn't heat up as much and essentially runs at a higher pressure. normally when you see that light you're in for some trouble, but you may have gotten lucky and caught it in time. do you have an oil pressure gauge? if not i would invest in one and watch it. my car idled at 15-17 psi running 10w-40 (over the stock recommended 10w-30). i think the oil you're running right now is too thick causing more wear than necessary.

The electrical option on this seem to fit the bill?
Auto Meter Phantom Gauges - GPGAU - PFYC.com

Or is there better for cheaper?

Get a cheap mechanical Sunpro gauge from your local Autoparts store...pretty sure they are less than 20 bucks

i had an electrical gauge and it worked fine as well. i would never run a mechanical gauge into the car, only to quickly look it up and check oil pressure down below.

Black 7 Color Oil Pressure Gauge

Originally Posted by Bio248

i had an electrical gauge and it worked fine as well. i would never run a mechanical gauge into the car, only to quickly look it up and check oil pressure down below.

I run an electrical as well...reason I suggested it was for that matter only.

my mechanic tested the pressure and decided upon 20w50. i think i will give him a call for his reasoning on why he chose 20w50 over something closer to 10w30.

because its thick and itll make the light turn off and make you go away and put money in his pocket at the same time.

I wasn't charged for it... been taking the car to him since I got it. My parents take their cars there too. The place doesn't advertise at all, not even a website (only spread by word of mouth) and they are plenty busy.

My guess is that they were out of something closer.

...or they did try it and it wasn't thick enough and they aren't telling me because they secretly want the car to die so they don't have to spend their time being frustrated at trying to fix it (they already are convinced that its cursed).