Oil light on at idle

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Bigmd

New member
Ok guys this happend 2x before . First time was catastrophic failure with a spun bearing. Second time was with new used engine bad pressure sender. This time came on at idle when I was almost home . Went off at rpm . Got her home , no strange noises or anything. I let her cool and checked the oil. Turned out she was a little more than 2qts low. I take full blame as I have had a cracked valve cover and what i thought was a small oil drip. I wasn't driving it much plus was at my buddy's shop for two weeks getting fixed. I haven't checked the oil in weeks. Anyway after I put oil in I let it idle and light was off. I should be ok? Definately don't want to do another motor ,thanks.
 
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Being that low for the drive, I would keep an eye on it as I drove it around. That would make me nervous if you were 2 quarts down. Essentially the engine only had 2/3rds of the required oil (appox.). Does the engine have a ticking sound more than the 'normal' Toyota tick? I use this as a predecessor when monitoring my oil & Fuel / Air mixtures. Some say I'm just paranoid but I can hear when my dad's Toyota that has a leak is low at a quart, so can he cause it ticks a lot more than filled. Just my opinion. Also if you can invest in a Scanguage II. It's extremely helpful in monitoring engine, cause if my Oil Temp on my gauge goes into a non standard area I can instantly address it, just like the Transmission and Engine Cooling.

Hope this helps.
 
No. Engine sounds the same . I'm gonna drive it later . But I think it should be ok. Crossing fingers
 
Pretty sure it was my vc leak. I let it go thinking it was only a drip. Didn't keep up on oil checks. It's fixed now but sure that's what it was.
 
Bigmd said:
Pretty sure it was my vc leak. I let it go thinking it was only a drip. Didn't keep up on oil checks. It's fixed now but sure that's what it was.
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The biggest leak for the "puppy hauler" was the old shrunk gasket on the oil fill cap. If you never done anything to the oil fill cap it's very worth doing.


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Probably fine as long as it's not on anymore. Find the leak tho. If your worried do a compression test.


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Ok well I let her idle for a long time today. Light came on again after about 20 mins . The engine doesn't sound any different than normal. Would a rod knock be totally obvious sounding? I'll admit I'm a little nervous
 
Yes oil level is fine. Took a shade over two qts. That was yesterday. Check again this morning level is good. Light came on yesterday few miles from hous at red lights. Let her idle for 15-20 and it flickered and stayed on. Hard to tell if engine making any different noise because of typical Toyota tapping. I'm hoping the pressure sensor crapped out and that's all. I googled some rod knock vids and I don't hear anything like the vids. Someone comfort me lol
 
Bigmd said:
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I googled some rod knock vids and I don't hear anything like the vids. Someone comfort me lol
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2 qts low out of 5.5 won't cause rod damage. Rod damage sounds like someone hitting solid metal with a hammer repeatedly, it's loud and can be heard easily over engine sounds a few houses away. You'll know something is terribly wrong when you hear this sound.

Just keep running full synthetic to help clean out carbon out of the internals. Luck. :cowboy:
 
Well that made feel a little better. You think the sensor coincidentally took a dump ? I went under the car and listened at oil pan. I hear noise but nothing loud like a knock.
 
I don't read much about oil pressure sensors going out on here.

I thought I read on your first post that when the oil pressure light came on at idle, it would go away when you gave it some throttle? If so, then sensor is probably working and simply registering low pressure at idle (when it it lowest on all engines).
 
Yeah I was planning on light going away when properly filled. It did happen once before on this motor. Everything checked out though. Oil changed along with sensor.
 
Did you connect a pressure gauge to the block to get pressure at warmed up idle?

+1 in changing out the gasket under the filler cap but it would not cause the light to come on....
 
Dads old '87 chevy truck with the corvette engine, had that problem. at idle the gauge would bob up and down. Mechanic said it was oil pump and needed to be changed. would have to pull the engine. very expensive. He ran it like that for several years before he sold it.
 
Ricktuk said:
I would also agree about a scangauge. See what the actual pressure is at different RPM
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I see an Engine Oil Temp sensor but not an oil pressure sensor (Torque Pro) - I would love to see oil pressure readings.

I have seen the oil pressure idiot light come on while driving with low oil (defective oil filter seal leak) but I've never seen it come on at idle but not while driving

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Fluctuating oil pressure at idle could be a few things: bearing clearance issue, sludge, bad oil pump, bad sensor.

How many miles on the engine in question ?

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