Oil Pressure Light

[Retrospekt]

Every time I turn on my car my oil pressure light is on and stays on for about 5-7 seconds, then flickers away. Is this something I have to worry about?

[JohnGD]

That engine has problem retaining oil in the filter. However, many should still last >200K miles.

It's a design defect and I don't think you can do anything about it. The next gen of 4-cyl has bottom mounted filters that actually are right side up!

Originally Posted by Retrospekt

Every time I turn on my car my oil pressure light is on and stays on for about 5-7 seconds, then flickers away. Is this something I have to worry about?

[Jimnist]

Maybe the oil pickup is clogged a bit? Could that cause low pressure for several seconds before allowing enough pressure to be built up?

[Mike Gerber]

Karl,

If you are concerend about this have someone temporarily replace the oil sending unit with a mechanical gage and test the oil pressure at various RPM's. This will give you a true reading of the engine's oil pressure. It takes only a few minutes. Your friend who did the other work for you should be able to do this.

Mike

[Bdub215]

double check your oil and make sure you dont have any leaks.

[Retrospekt]

There is a tiny tiny oil leak between the tranny and the engine, but I haven't noticed a change on the dip stick in 3 weeks. Other than that, the engine is dry. I just had the timing belt serviced with all the seals replaced. The light turned on like this before the timing belt was serviced also.

I'll look into the gauge test. I guess my question was if I should be too worried about this. If it isn't an issue it doesn't really bother me, I was just curious.

[Mike Gerber]

"I'll look into the gauge test. I guess my question was if I should be too worried about this. If it isn't an issue it doesn't really bother me, I was just curious."

Karl,

It may be an issue or it may be nothing more than a bad oil pressure sending unit. That's why I recommended the gage test. When it's possibly low oil pressure, that may be something to be concerned about. Get the test done when you can, just to be sure.

Mike

[JohnGD]

In your test, you can check how quickly the oil pressure comes up after then engine has been sitting for a while. This is when you should see the oil light say on for several seconds.

Suppose on the second start shortly after you shut down, most of the oil pressure should still be there and the oil light should turn off much more quickly. This should help confirm the oil drain-back problem common on the 4-cyls.

And of course, the oil pressure should be in spec either at idle or at higher rpms. If it's low then your bearing clearances may be a bit on the wide side.

Originally Posted by Retrospekt

There is a tiny tiny oil leak between the tranny and the engine, but I haven't noticed a change on the dip stick in 3 weeks. Other than that, the engine is dry. I just had the timing belt serviced with all the seals replaced. The light turned on like this before the timing belt was serviced also.

I'll look into the gauge test. I guess my question was if I should be too worried about this. If it isn't an issue it doesn't really bother me, I was just curious.

[Retrospekt]

I should clarify that the 5-7 seconds I estimated was in the worst of cases. Usually it's around 2 seconds, sometimes immediate.

I'll ask about that gage test right now.

[the_professional]

mine is usually 1-2 seconds upon cold start.
under one on a warm block.

[JohnGD]

Well, sounds more and more normal again.