oil pressure problem?

[Clugo]

G’day all i have questions for all the tech savvy out there. First i should say that my 04 d22 has done 155,000k’s and i picked it up from the dealer 2 months ago, since then i have had to spend $2.500 on the engine because of a timing gear that was missing teeth and other things like the valves.

My question is why does the oil light flicker on and off when I’m at idle. It has enough oil. is it an oil pump problem or is the oil is too thin that the mechanic put in. It only happens when the engine gets up to running temp? And there are no other faults that i can find e.g black/blue smoke, change in temp, noise ect

 

[Old.Tony]

I'll start by observing that your dealer should have warranted that timing gear, in my opinion.

You could have a faulty oil pressure sensor, or an intermittent electrical connection on the sensor. The oil pressure switch on the QD & TD engines looks to be immediately forwards (towards the radiator) from the engine oil dipstick on the right hand side of the vehicle.

You could pop the lead off that, clean the terminals and pop it back on - that might fix it. Failing that, you could replace the sender.

If the vehicle was poorly maintained you might find the sensor is gummed up, or there are blockages in the passageways. Start with the oil pressure sensor and go from there - a look at it once removed will tell you an awful lot about the state of the interior of the engine.

You could also take a peek inside where the oil filler cap is. If you see sludge, you know the engine needs some attention.

 

[the_bluester]

Another possibility (Which I hate to bring up) is excessive wear of the engine, big end and main bearings in particular. As they wear the clearances open up and oil flow increases through the clearance, eventually the pump will not be able to supply enough oil at low revs and the oil light will start coming on.

 

[Clugo]

cheers guys thanks for the feedback i will try the sender first and go from there, but this engine didn't come with a service book and the dealer was just iching to get rid of it so i fear the worst.

 

[andymish]

I'll start by observing that your dealer should have warranted that timing gear, in my opinion.

You could have a faulty oil pressure sensor, or an intermittent electrical connection on the sensor. The oil pressure switch on the QD & TD engines looks to be immediately forwards (towards the radiator) from the engine oil dipstick on the right hand side of the vehicle.

You could pop the lead off that, clean the terminals and pop it back on - that might fix it. Failing that, you could replace the sender.

If the vehicle was poorly maintained you might find the sensor is gummed up, or there are blockages in the passageways. Start with the oil pressure sensor and go from there - a look at it once removed will tell you an awful lot about the state of the interior of the engine.

You could also take a peek inside where the oil filler cap is. If you see sludge, you know the engine needs some attention.

That's quite a possible cause why my friend is having similar oil problems on his vehicle. It was the other day when my friend told me that the oil light would go on and off, and he is not quite sure why it's doing that because he thinks his vehicle seems to be running okay. Anyway, I'm gonna let him check out the things you mentioned. Thanks for sharing.