Winters suck - Oil light now

[myfirstlincoln]

So I've had some starting issues recently and replaced the battery and (knock on wood) it's been fine since. Unfortunately, this morning I went out to start her up. She started fine but for the first time ever, the oil light came on and stayed on. It was running fine but I turned it off, checked the oil and all appeared to be fine. I turned it back on and the oil light was off. I drove for about 30 miles (to work) and the light never came on and the car drove fine. I got to work, turned it off, but had to move my car about 10 minutes later and the light came on for about 1 second and then went off. I worked my 8 hour shift, came out, started her up, and no light at all. Drove home and all was fine.

So far, this winter has been tough on the Linc. haha I'm just wondering if this is something I should be more concerned about or just chalk it up to the cold weather?
I have a 2003 V8 with about 95,000 miles. Since I've owned it (60,000 miles) I've always replaced the oil with a Wix filter and mobil 1 5w20 whenever the car tells me to (I know it's probably more often than needed but oh well).

 

[joegr]

The correct thing to do is to diagnose it to determine if your oil pressure sender is faulty, the wiring to it is shorting out, or if your oil pressure is really low.

Since it is most important to know if the pressure is low, I would start by temporarily replacing the oil pressure sender with a mechanical test gauge.

If the pressure is really low, then I would drop the oil pan (easy to do on the V8) and have a look. From there you can decide on repair or replacement of the engine.

If the pressure is okay, then check the wiring and install and new sender.

I wouldn't drive until I knew if the pressure was really low.

 

[myfirstlincoln]

Thanks joe...I've been on this site a while and you certainly seem like the go-to guy with any issues so greatly appreciate your input. Unfortunately I can't afford not to drive it and I called 3-4 dealers and the earliest I can get in is on Wednesday so I plan to take it then but unless I can borrow a car from my parents (unlikely) I think I'll have to drive it to and from work for a couple days.

Are there any other symptoms I should look out for? Like I said, it runs fine...I don't hear any knocking or anything. The light seems pretty random and doesn't come on every time I start it, but sometimes when I start it it'll come on but go off immediately (less than a second and I probably wouldn't even notice it except not I'm now purposely looking for it every time I start it up).

Would the CEL come on too?

 

[FASTLLS]

Mine does that every time I start my ranger.. shows no pressure until its been running for like 10 minutes.. defiantly the sender but I'm too lazy to do it.. and its really easy to do on the ranger too.. fml.. lol

 

[scjmc]

Mine does that every time I start my ranger.. shows no pressure until its been running for like 10 minutes.. defiantly the sender but I'm too lazy to do it.. and its really easy to do on the ranger too.. fml.. lol

The Ranger deserves better than that! Aren't you a mechanic?? Just giving you a hard time....

 

[FASTLLS]

Well I could share my near death experience with you because of it.. :trolleys:

 

[scjmc]

Near death experience? I had one of those in a Toyota Hilux.....

 

[BlackLS06]

If you think about it a car is really just a slow moving 4000 pound missile with no explosive.

 

[FASTLLS]

Near death experience?

I was being a Smarta$$ and gave it a little too much gas, a$$ end swung around to the point I couldn't recover it, and I ended up missing a utility pole by inches and the guy wire by like a foot.. And slammed into a 8 foot ice bank.. Chopped it down to 2 feet..

Damn my Ranger is a beast! Didn't even do anything to it!!

 

[oddball]

OP: Watch out, because if your oil pressure is actually low, then the engine will run just fine until the oil film breaks down on one of the bearings. Then it will very quickly stop running just fine. For these engines, it's usually more economical to swap in a junkyard replacement, but your still talking quite a bit of money.

 

[FASTLLS]

I wasn't saying don't get it checked out.. get it checked but most likely, its the sender..

 

[lsscott]

The oil pressure light is designed to come on evrytime you start the car to chow that the system has been checked. the light is suppose to go off within 5 seconds but if it does not try revving the motor up a thousands rpms for just a second and see if it goes away. if the light goes off that usually indicates one of two things 1. low oil (just below the pickup tube) 2. oil pump is failing at low rpms. if that is the case it is about 17 hours of labor to replace that pump not to mention you have to remove the timing chain to get to it. no fun at all. a little bit thicker oil on an older motor wouldnt hurt either. my car runs on 10-30 royal purple and has for the last 60k miles. i am now at 151k and no real issues. you can always look at the wires on the sending unit and see if they are loose. the sender is located (looking at the front of the car) just above and to the left of the oil filter which is just in front of the lower oil pan gasket. dont be surprised if the sender or the lower oil pan gasket is leaking a little bit. if you have any more questions just ask. im a tech at an independent shop and see a lot of these for normal maint.