Check engine oil light

My check engine oil light seems to be staying on longer on my 95 than it did on my 96. The light stays on a good 30 to 45 sec longer than all the rest of the lights. Anybody else experience this??

Thanks,

Redline

How's your oil level?

Something worth checking right away.

That's alarming. I'd put a real pressure gauge on it and see what's happening.

I have heard of this caused by a bad oil filter, something about a faulty drain-back valve. Is this light after a cold start and/or warm start?

I heard that being 1.5 qts low will trigger the check engine oil light.

Oh, I'm sorry, somehow my mind showed me 'oil pressure' light. Check Engine Oil means you are low on oil.

Either way, should be something to address right away.

on my car the light stays on every 3 out of 10 starts or so . when i say on its for about 30 to 40 sec.. oil level is good. i dont know what the problem is, im leaning towards a bad sensor.

Oil level is perfect, filter is less than 150 miles old. Whit2285 sounds like the same exact problem I have.

Mike and Redline: Oil level sensors are not expensive and if I remember right are fairly easy to reach on the Riv. It would have taken you elss time to replace it and test to see if that was the problem than it took to post a question and get a response. While you are replacing it you can look for leaks.

Not that it's bad to post, rather that a bad oil pressure sensor is an infrequent but not unusual problem.

That said, there is much you have not told us. Like how many miles on your car and do you have all the service records? Point being that teh oil level may be fine and the oil filter is new BUT if this is the first oil change the car has had in 2 years and 30,000 miles there may be other problems.

So - what else can you tell us?

Albertj

Sorry to of wasted any of anyone's time, as I am new to y'alls(texas) Riviera board I don't know what is acceptable questions.

As far as the sensor; when I removed the engine out of my 96 Riv I recall the sensor being in the rear of the engine with a metal guard covering it and at a difficult spot to reach just above the rear trans?engine mount. Which prompted me to start here to see if anyone else had experienced this problem before I spent a few hours hunting and replacing the sensor.

I do have all the service records and the original owner had the oil changed every 2000 miles (give or take 100 miles). The own directly before me let the oil change go about 5000 miles (12 months). The car only has 86,000 miles.

With that said I will replace the oil sensor and see if that fixes the problem. Thanks for everyones help. If somebody thinks of something else please let me know...

whit2285, ill keep you posted if that solves the problem....


Thanks,

Redliine

Sorry you interpreted my response as hinting that you were wasting our time - you absolutely are not and I truly apologize for the implication. Context is that without context from you (that you gave in your follow up note) my tendency is to give pretty terse comments. That said, your answer filled in a lot of blanks for me.

Based on your answer I suspect that if the oil never sludged up the oil pump is probably still OK. BUT one thing that can happen is that the screen over the pump intake can get clogged. Oddly enough one cause for that is sometimes when a person uses one of those oil flush chemicals the crud accumulates down in the sump instead of liquifying. It will partially block the intake screen and then the pump takes a while to suck enough oil to get to wroking pressure. Does not happen that much. But to fix it you have to drop the oil pan, probably but not necessarily detach that snorkel, and clean the thing wtih carb cleaner or kerosene or some such; blow it dry with compressed air and try not to make a mess... Do not be surprised if this is the case, different brands of oil have different ash content already new-in-the-can, it can happen. If you open the oil fill hole and see sludge on internal parts just bylooking in, odds are there is at least a little sludge around that intake, too.

It also may be the sensor just needs removed and cleaned. Again, a bad oil pressure sensor is an infrequent but not unusual problem. When you're down there messing with it use your careful eyes, if there is something simple down there it'll jump out at you. And hopefully someothers will comment on the likelihood of sludge up in the oil pump intake, and if dropping the oil pan is enough disasssembly to deal with it right.

Please post how it goes for you (woulda said let us know but that is silly - you joined the board so you are one of us now).


Albertj

albertj wrote:

you joined the board so you are one of us now

You will assimilate

[



It also may be the sensor just needs removed and cleaned. Again, a bad oil pressure sensor is an infrequent but not unusual problem. When you're down there messing with it use your careful eyes, if there is something simple down there it'll jump out at you. And hopefully someothers will comment on the likelihood of sludge up in the oil pump intake, and if dropping the oil pan is enough disasssembly to deal with it right.

Please post how it goes for you (woulda said let us know but that is silly - you joined the board so you are one of us now).


Albertj[/quote]

what are we talking about oil pressure light? not sure what that is ,or oil level light? or are they the same thing i dont know . My problem is the oil level light . as far as sludge on the screen nope none droped the pan last summer to replace the gasket and cleand every thing up. Does anyone now where the sensor is ? i thought it was on the front of the oil pan, could be wrong though. Im going to wait till a nice warm day , for sensor change though. also cleaned what i thought was the sensor.
there might be different warning lights for my 96 per his 95

1995 oil level sensor below A/C compressor.

1995Riv, thank you. I'll try replacing it this weekend....


Redline

I think you are going to find that it's not the oil pressure sending unit. I am pretty sure they had two different lights. If your oil pressure light goes off right at startup, then that's normal. You are looking for your oil level sending unit, which I believe is in the front side of the oil pan, just under where the dipstick tube goes into the block.

OK, I'll pull it under a shade tree and take a look this evening.... Not to rub it in but, down here it was 80 degrees.....

Sounds like we're straight now. CHECK OIL LEVEL is the oil *level* sender not the oil *pressure* sender. My fault.

Albertj

And to clarify, the CHECK OIL LEVEL lamp should be yellow (caution), and the OIL PRESSURE warning should be red (danger). Makes it easier to remember, I think.

HMMM mine has never came on..... Woot

HMMM mine has never came on..... Woot.................


I guess every crowd has to have one.....maybe it was on for so long before you bought it, it burnt out???

For the low level code I bought a replacement sensor that goes into the oil pan. You need a huge wrench to get it out. Lucky for me I had the wrench for my trailer hitch.

Redline wrote:

My check engine oil light seems to be staying on longer on my 95 than it did on my 96. The light stays on a good 30 to 45 sec longer than all the rest of the lights. Anybody else experience this??

Thanks,

Redline

I have the same issue. 96 riv, 100k, oil level is good. It usualy happens on cold starts. Check oil light will stay on for 30 secs., then go off. It will not come back on during driving, only the start up. Did you ever figure out what your issue was?

There is a sensor in the oil pan that reads oil level. If this sensor fails, it will trip the 'check oil level' lamp. It's normal for the lamp will only stay on for 30 secs, it's not normal for it to come on when you have enough oil.