choinga

I was driving over to my sisters house today and happened to look down at one point and the "!" light was on as well as the 'engine oil' notification.

At one point at a red light I turned the car off and re-started just to see if the light would come back on and it did immediately - as soon as the car started back up.

Oil pressure is fine, engine temp is fine, car is running great, no leaks on the ground - drove about 6 more miles before I stopped at my sisters house - pulled the dipstick, plenty of oil - no leaks, no smells, nada.

I put a MAF in last weekend but I've driven the car ~200 miles since then with no problems.

I'm using Brad Penn 20w-50 oil and am seeing a constant 4.5 on the oil pressure when driving - drops to the usual 2.5 to 3 when idling.

Any idea what this might be? A sensor or something?

DarylJ

I'm procrastinating mowing the lawn, so I decided to pull out the FSM on this one.

It looks like the oil pressure warning light is wired right in the with the gauge, which goes through the central electrics to the "oil pressure switch". I'm sure they actually mean sender, but that's the FSM for you.

Someone else really should confirm this, as I'm not testing anything on the car at all, don't have a spare oil sender to check, and just reading schematics....but it appears the one of the connectors on the oil pressure sender goes to the light (and is on/off) and the other goes to the gauge, which is a variable resistance to ground. I assume ground is handled on the sender simply by to motor.

So it would seem like half of your oil pressure sender died.

krazykarl

Just to confirm, is it the light at the lower left with a dip stick symbol or the oil can on the right side?

choinga

Thanks guys - it was the one on the lower left that says engine oil - couldn't see a dipstick, but there was some kind of figure thing there.

Strangely, I just ran an errand from my sisters house and the light doesn't come on. I'm about to go pick up takeout for dinner, we'll see if it comes on this time.

Definitely want to investigate though and see if I have a faulty sensor or something...

choinga

update - so it came back on again coming back from the restaurant. Definitely sounds like a sensor or something because as far as I can tell there's not anything else wrong with the car.

What exactly needs to be fixed/replaced?

krazykarl

The lower left one is for the oil level sender. Mine came one after I pulled the cluster, and I got rid of it by re-seating all the ribbons on the back of the instrument cluster. It could also be bad wiring or a failed sender.

Here's a pic of mine, you can find it on the passenger side of the oil pan.

choinga

Assuming 'yours' is a S2? Is it the same as a 951?

Luis de Prat

Just went through this oil level light coming on after I had the oil filter housing gasket replaced. Turned out to be a bad sender. Unfortunately, it's hugely expensive at € 160 new.

Mine would light up at start up and stay on until the car reached operating temperature and was restarted. At that point it would not light up any longer until after the car had been shut off and cooled down.

choinga

Is the right thing? http://www.clarks-garage.com/shop-manual/lube-05.htm

Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be coming back on anymore (of course, now that I type that it will come on the next half dozen times I drive the car) whether it's hot or cold. I'm sure it will, but at least I know at this point it's not something seriously wrong.

What exactly does this part do anyway? If those directions are right - seems like it's a PITA to get to. From that description it sounds like if the sending unit isn't working right the oil pressure gauge won't function properly? Mine seems to work just fine - even when the light is on.

DarylJ

Yes, that's the right thing. It's a bit of a pain to get to, but not all that bad.

choinga

Is this the part I need for a 87 951? Pelican doesn't have a picture so I have no idea if this is the right thing...

http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/...9%2C%20Each%20

Also, Clark's page is down for some reason right now so the link I put up earlier doesn't work and I can't re-check...but once I get the replacement part am I going to have to cut wires to install the new one? From the picture in an earlier post in this thread it doesn't look like there is a harness or anything that just pulls off and slips on to a new one?

choinga

EDIT - I just put the car up on the drive up stands and looked under - the picture in the thread is what mind looks like - not sure why I read somewhere that the power steering rack needs to come out to change this - there's a heat shield there that may need to be loosened but looks pretty easy to get out.

1) When I pull this thing out - is it like opening the drain plug? Is oil going to come out everwhere?
2) does the sensor come with a cable? My sensor doesn't look like the cable is harnessed or anything - it's stuck on to the sensor. I haven't fished the cable to see where it goes yet - but anyone know where this thing terminates and how much of it I have to replace when I change the sensor?

Luis de Prat

I think we're not talking about the same part. The part you looked up is the oil pressure sending unit, whereas the issue that you appeared to be having was with the oil level sending unit, which was only available in the later cars.

If you're getting the " ! " warning light in conjunction with the "oil level" warning light that shows a dipstick, your problem is not with the former but with the latter part.

This part is a lot more expensive but it's possible that by cleaning the connector and putting it back on, your issue will be solved. Regards.

JakeS2

Also one thing to understand on the oil level is that the switch is connected to the harness in passanger footwell, if the wire is damaged when accessing the DME (like for chipping) it can turn the light on and as the 'oelstand' light is lit - so is the idiot light ("!").

mmmbeer

My 968's oil level sensor does the same thing as soon as the oil level gets below 3/4 full. If I were you I would try to fill her up with oil (almost to the max) to see if you have a sensor that is a bit off in the calibration.