Need Help - Check Oil Light

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Hey, I need a little help.

My check oil light is coming on. It happens after being rather cold, and then warming up and sitting at idle. For example, yesterday was extremely cold for KY - single digits. After driving most the way home from the office (about 5 miles) when I came to a stop the light came on. That was after driving a couple miles at about 55 mph. If I put it in nuetral and gave it a little gas it would go off, but then come right back on if I was just sitting there. While driving, it stays off. I went back over to Valvoline where I had the oil changed a few days ago and they replaced the oil filter and topped it back off with 5W30 synthetic. We let it run for a while at idle, put it in drive and reverse at idle, and no light. This morning, after the couple mile 55 mph section, the light came back on at the end of the off ramp when I had to come to a stop. It kept coming back on every time I was stopped.

Advise me on this please. I have to drive 150 miles round trip on Christmas.

Christopher · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:21 am

Myself and others have had this problem and for me it was the sensor. Its under the power steering pump. The oil pressure sensor isnt too expensive. But tI would check that out.

L.O. · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 10:47 am

I agree, its probably the sensor (had this problem on my XJ years ago), but it would be worth having a mechanic put a oil pressure reader on the engine just to be 100percent sure. Cheap insurance.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Thanks,

I'll get the pressure checked. I really hope it's just the sensor considering how cheap it is. Of course, if it's not, I hope it's the pump and not the engine bearings considering this is the second motor and only has 36k miles on it. If that's the problem I guess I'll finally be getting the extra short block sitting in the garage bored out and getting it rebuilt.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 12:19 pm

Ky, if the oil pressure was actually low enough to kick the light on or if it was going to zero at idle you would know it. The engine would be louder and the lifters would be ticking like crazy..

If you made it home with no issues after all the stops and crap that youve got to do in lex then theres a good chance its just the oil pressure sensor.

Remember, the 3.7 only runs ~5psi at idle.

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Thanks everyone. It was the oil pressure sender.

I've got a new stealership story now too.

I went in and told them I thought the oil pressure sender was going bad and asked them to check it. They said it would be a half hour charge but that would apply to the price of the repair if I got it fixed. So I sat down in the waiting room with everyone else while they checked it. The guy came back in after a little while and said it was the oil pressure sender. It would be about $200 for the sender, about $200 to flush the motor and refill with oil, and about $100 to reflash the computer so the new sender would work, so about $500 total. At that point, in front of everyone else in the waiting room, I stood up right in his face and said, "That's some good $4it you're smoking. Can I have some?" He looks like a deer caught in headlights at this point and manages to stutter a "W-W-What??" I responded with "There is no way I'm going to pay $500 to replace a $30-$40 dollar part that I can do the labor on myself in under an hour!" At this point he doesn't know what to do, especially since I know he saw me pull the Five-seveN out of the door pocket and stick it in my jacket pocket when I was turning the Jeep over to them. He then said, "U-U-Um, p-please come with me, an-and we'll see what we can do." A few minutes later I walked back into the waiting room to see a bunch of anxious faces to which I replied "50 bucks for the part and 1 hour labor." For the next hour we all swapped stealership stories and had a few good laughs.

iambob · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 3:43 pm

Good job standing up to them. Just think of all the ones they do get.

Jeepjeepster · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 3:48 pm

hahaha, thats great. Was that at Freedom?

Glad thats all it was.

Christopher · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 4:01 pm

Holy Crap! I cant believe that times are hard enough for a dealership to try and pull that. I have had okay experience with mine and I am sure they are out there. But why does everyone have a story like this about dealerships?

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

Jeepjeepster wrote:

hahaha, thats great. Was that at Freedom?

Glad thats all it was.

No, I won't go back to Freedom. I'm pretty sure they sabotaged my Jeep last time it was there. $1600 worth of problems within 48 hours of them working on it. This was at the one on Nicholasville.

I think they may have had to clean him up after confronting me. Don't think he knew how to handle a 220 lb armed redneck he had p'd off.

David Jr · **Posted:** Tue Dec 23, 2008 6:29 pm

KY Liberty wrote:

Thanks everyone. It was the oil pressure sender.

I've got a new stealership story now too.

I went in and told them I thought the oil pressure sender was going bad and asked them to check it. They said it would be a half hour charge but that would apply to the price of the repair if I got it fixed. So I sat down in the waiting room with everyone else while they checked it. The guy came back in after a little while and said it was the oil pressure sender. It would be about $200 for the sender, about $200 to flush the motor and refill with oil, and about $100 to reflash the computer so the new sender would work, so about $500 total. At that point, in front of everyone else in the waiting room, I stood up right in his face and said, "That's some good $4it you're smoking. Can I have some?" He looks like a deer caught in headlights at this point and manages to stutter a "W-W-What??" I responded with "There is no way I'm going to pay $500 to replace a $30-$40 dollar part that I can do the labor on myself in under an hour!" At this point he doesn't know what to do, especially since I know he saw me pull the Five-seveN out of the door pocket and stick it in my jacket pocket when I was turning the Jeep over to them. He then said, "U-U-Um, p-please come with me, an-and we'll see what we can do." A few minutes later I walked back into the waiting room to see a bunch of anxious faces to which I replied "50 bucks for the part and 1 hour labor." For the next hour we all swapped stealership stories and had a few good laughs.

YES!!!!!!!

This is one of the reasons my Dad and I do our own repairs. That plus the good feeling you get after working on a car.

dkcase · **Posted:** Wed Dec 24, 2008 1:05 pm

Those who have replaced your sender, how about looking at these questions.

I posted these in an earlier thread. I have not proceeded with any action because the light has not come on again.

Quote:

The oil light has flickered on briefly on several occasions. Likely it's the sender switch.

1. ... all the catalogs describe it as a sender "with gauge." Of course there is an idiot light, not a gauge. Immaterial ?

2. What fits on it to remove it ? Socket size ? Does a deep socket fit over it ? I'd go ahead and get the new one and see what it will need except for my uncertainty above about if it is the right [application] or not.

3. Do you know what threads it has ? One source called it a 1/8 NPT, another a metric M10. If it's a 1/8 I can hook up a mechanical gauge while i have it out, to see what the actual pressure is . If it's metric I'll need a different adapter.

Thanks. I did look at it. It does have a connector with three conductors. I think the catalog description "with gauge" is bogus.

To the person who responded to my earlier post, it's an '02, 90,000 miles, running Pennzoil Platinum 10w30, Wix filter.

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Dec 26, 2008 3:58 am

KY Liberty wrote:

"There is no way I'm going to pay $500 to replace a $30-$40 dollar part that I can do the labor on myself in under an hour!"

Not to be a $&...but if you could have...why didn't you?

KY Liberty · **Joined:** Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:46 pm **Posts:** 1195

ThunderbirdJunkie wrote:

KY Liberty wrote:

"There is no way I'm going to pay $500 to replace a $30-$40 dollar part that I can do the labor on myself in under an hour!"

Not to be a $&...but if you could have...why didn't you?

Well, look at the subject of this post, and my first posts in it. I was bluffing.

I had looked up the part (thanks to the helpful posts here) and found prices between $30 and $40, so I was going to have to ask which part I actually needed here. Then I was going to have to order it, pay shipping, and wait for it to arrive. I was also going to have to get instructions on how to replace it here, but didn't bother telling them that either. During the few minute conversation not in the story, ordering the part and paying shipping was discussed. That's why I was willing to pay $50 for the part they already had in stock. I was already on the hook for a half hour labor with them for checking it, so it was only an additional half hour labor charge for them to install it.

My p'd off redneck act is just that. An act. Granted, I was pretty mad at them for trying to rip me off, but I am actually extremely calm, patient, and collected in emergencies and problems. So much so that it actually disturbs some people. I just have a little bit of a twisted sense of humor and decided I was going to have some fun with them, and probably get what I wanted out of them in the process.

Need Help - Check Oil Light

Who is online