flashing oil light

[Marc Swanson]

> Ummmm.... I think I may have missed a quantum leap in warning light
> technology at some point.
>
> All of my experience with oil warning lights (various makes/models) have
> been 'If it's on when the engine is running - shut the engine off NOW, and
> maybe you didn't do TOO much damage'
>
> Is it different for this engine?


well it depends on why the light is going off.  In David's case it is one of
two things:  either his oil pump is wearing out and his pressure is indeed
(slowly) dropping or the low pressure sender is opening at too high a
pressure (most likely cause).

My 4ktq does this to me now once the oil warms up (just got the car running
again finally!).  The pressure is fine (I have an autometer gauge hooked up
to verify this).  My oil pressure varies from 30psi to ~80psi when cold and
~23 to 80 psi when warm depending on engine RPM.

The light comes on once the car is warmed up but I know that ~25psi is just
fine for an idling I5 so I might try to replace the low pressure sensor and
see what happens.  For now I've just unplugged the relay.



The situation you are thinking about is when your oil pressure drops to *0*
typically because of a massive leak.  In that case you want to shut off the
engine ASAP before doing damage.

as a side note I had a 4kq which I wrecked a year or so back and just for fun
me and Huw decided to find out how long it takes for an engine running with
no oil to die (4kq engines aren't worth anything these days.. they just don't
tend to die without a little help ;-) ).  We placed a sledge on the gas pedal
to keep the revs way up.. the thing finally ground to a steaming, smoking
halt after about 20 minutes or so.  I was hoping for it to go out with a bit
more fanfare but the friction just eventually became enough to stop the motor
without any bits flying out like we were hoping for.  Next time we plan to
loosen a few con rod bolts first ;-)


-Marc-
87 4ktq
88 90q