Forum:
Hi All
Well for a change I thought I'd ask a dumb question and just see if any one had a different idea to me.
My Wife took the Anjou out the other day and when she came back she said that the oil pressure light kept coming on and off intermitently. I checked to Oil, fine, no leaks, no smoke and no oil light. She was adament that it had been on so I took it for a drive and , no oil light and the car runs fine. I thought I'd give it a good test and took it for a longer run today. I laboured the engine in 5th, and then took her up to 70mph rapid, well as rapid as a Sporty will and youv'e guessed it, no oil light. The car is serviced by me every 6K miles or 12 months and is less than half way through the 6K.
I don't want to be to hard on "her in doors", be it at my peril, but it was a bright day and I suggested that the sun may have lit up the oil can outline on the dash. No she was adamant that the red light came on and off.
My solution, apart from ditching the wife, is to change the oil pressure switch which is the only thing which I can think of that may cause such an odd occurrence. Any one have any other ideas?
I did say it was a dumb question
OLDMINIMAN
1996 SPORTY OIL PRESSURE LIGHT.
apart from the oil pressure switch being duff i can only think of a duff body to earth strap somewhere but to be on the safe side i would check the oil pressure through a manual gauge, but my best guess is a dieing sender unit
1996 Sporty Oil Pressure Light
We had a similar problen a few years back with our '93 Fourtrak 2.8TDX.The oil pressure light definitely blinked on and off whilst I was driving on the way to work.The vehicle appeared to drive satisfactorily so I continued my journey and had a look when I arrived at work. Nothing was obvious until I started the engine and asked someone to sit inside and watch the light whilst I carfully moved the wire to the oil pressure sensor. The warning light flashed. When I returned home I removed the wire from the sensor and replaced the spade connector which cured the problem.The explanation is that if the circuit is broken (bad connection) the system thinks the oil pressure has dropped and the light illuminates.Similarly when you turn the ignition switch on the light illuminates until the engine has started and the oil pressure is sufficient to activate the sensor.
This may or may not help you.
blinking oil
Just a suggestion, is your wife sure it is the oil light, as i have had many of these before, it may be the oil port is possibly contaminated with dirt, had this before, and causes an intermittent fault.
Most likely options have already been covered, as the switch or a wiring break adjacent to the spade connection.
Just for a laugh, once had a woman complain of her oil light coming on when the lights were switched on, after looking, i found it was not the oil light, but the rear fog lamp indicator light as she had left her rear fogs switched on.
oil pressure
Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I have ordered a new switch and will check the wiring when it comes. Like you all I think it is the switch or switch circuit, but the wife has to always be correct as we all know. I will test the pressure with a meter but I am 99% certain that it's fine but it will give peace of mind that either the car has a fault or the wife. She has just had new glasses so perhaps is seeing things again.
Good Motoring and thanks
OLDMINIMAN
M J Young
Under Pressure
Just another suggestion, fit an oil pressure gauge permenantly, this will alleviate any concerns regarding low oil pressure, systems are cheap, and good insurance against failure.
Air Con?
My wife's rocky (SPORTRAK) has the oil light come on sometimes. It tends to happen when the car is stationary after a 30 mile motorway/duel carrageway type run when the air conditioning cuts out, The revs drop the oil light turns on the revs pick up and it goes out again.
Obviously if you dont have air con it wont be this, also its an automatic but that shouldn't matter.
www.centraloffroadclub.co.uk for free fun offroading in the midlands
My missus once said the
My missus once said the engine management light was on when she parked up. We went out to it, turned out it was the handbrake light.
She threw a fit and blamed Daihatsu for 'getting it wrong'.
Dave with a Sporty
Dave with a Sporty
hide the rolling pins
Gents be carefull what you post. my er.... beautiful wife sometimes reads over my shoulder and gets very upset when its made very clear that men are by far better drivers.:D
www.centraloffroadclub.co.uk for free fun offroading in the midlands
Men Are Better Drivers
Its a fact, men are better drivers, men have twice as many accidents as women, but, travel more than four times the mileage that women do; this makes men at least twice as good.
Statistics from various sources.
P.S. I have a good helmet, and body armour from my trialling days if you need to borrow them.
Oil light
My girlfriend drove hundreds of miles with the oil light on and only told me when she got home............. turns out there was no oil in her car!!!! Luckily somehow there was no damage!
My theory on the stupid notion that woman are better drivers is that generally when women have accidents the are stupid things like hitting a pole etc. and they all have a man somewhere to fix it without having to go to the insurance company but on the rare occasion men have an accident they have a REAL accident!