oil light comes on at stoplights

[flesh]

hey i just changed my oil in my 85 camry changed the filter as well. now when i stop at a light or something like that my oil light flickers. i put in 10w 30 oil, about 4.5 quarts. did i put in the wrong oil or am i losing pressure somehow? thanks in advance.

[bowlofturtle]

the type of oil shouldn't matter. i guess your lacking pressure somewhere..

[camlex]

after i did oil change job, did you check level(after car turned on and off).
why don't you check again.

Hope this help.

[virtualkuz]

how many miles are on this car? for an 85 i'm guessing quite a few. the car and engine are 20 years old. you cannot expect it to be within the tolerances it was when new, not even for toyota. your oil pump is probably worn and can't keep the pressure up to where it should be at idle when the oil is hot and thinned out. i wouldn't get too concerned about it, i'm sure you didn't do anything wrong. if you want a quick fix get a bottle of STP oil treatment. it thickens the oil and helps the piston rings seal better and the oil pump pump better on older cars. it is a blue container and about $2 at walmart, just pour the 8 ounces right in. it'll fix your oil pressure light problem for this oil change. for the next oil change 10w-30 is a little thin for as old of a car as that is. in the summer in north carolina you are not going to hurt anything on that engine by going even as high as 20w-50, in fact you might find it gives you some extra power. in the winter I would run 10w-40, not 30 in there. the thicker oil will leave thicker films on the engine components and help compensate for wear. Don't use any fancy synthetic oils unless you want to tear the engine down, they'll clean up the varnish and gunk that is keeping the engine running. just use regular conventional 10w40 in winter and summer, or go up to 20w50 in the summer if you feel like it, it doesn't make a huge difference.

[Mike Gerber]

The car is either low on oil pressure or the oil pressure sending unit is bad. The first problem can be quite expensive to fix. It's either a bad oil pump or worn engine bearings. The second is cheap and easy to fix. You simply replace the sending unit. Take the car to a tech who will take out the oil pressure sending unit (you remove one wire and then it unscrews) and replace it temporarily with a mechanical gage. He will read the gage and can quickly determine if this is one of the 2 serious problems I mentioned or just a defective sending unit.

Good luck.

Mike

[virtualkuz]

if the oil pressure light goes off while the car is rolling, and at a higher rpm than idle, i think the problem can be fixed indefinitely until the car dies with thicker oil, there is no need to replace parts or get diagnostics, especially if the oil treatment now, and thicker oil later keeps the light off.

[500KCamry]

Change the oil pump with the next timing belt. The oil pump drive and driven gear are not much $$, and its easy when doing the belt.

[flesh]

gosh what good advice. thank you all so much. im having a time with this car,but you cant expect much from a 500 dollar car. i think ill take your advice for right now VIRTUALKUZ. thanks a bunch