Irksome

Driving to the airport the other day, about 15 minutes from my home (so the car is fully warmed up), and everything is fine. Suddenly, I get an indicator on the dash, with very scary wording, about the oil pressure. The oil pressure gauge was reading 0, but the RPMs, speedometer, and temperature guages were all normal. I engaged the clutch and began to decide where I would pull off to wait for the tow truck, when suddenly the warning went away and the oil pressure guage jumped back to normal range.

Having a scheduled departure imminently, and the car showing absolutely no symptoms of problems, I drove the remaining 5 minutes to my parking garage. No more warnings, all guages showing normal, no bad sounds, nothing. I got there, got under the car, no leaks, no smells, nothing.

I flew off, and by the time I returned I had TOTALLY forgotten about it. I didn't remember until I returned from another trip yesterday. In the meantime, I did an autocross (first in class, woot!) and put ~500 miles on the car, all perfectly normal.

I'm assuming I just had an instrument or sensor hiccup? Has anyone ever had this happen? Is this a warning sign of bad things in my future? Should I get it to a mechanic to read the computer, or can I safely ignore this?

Tippy

Probably the sending unit.

If you truly lost oil pressure, your lifters would tick, rod bearings would clack, and the main bearings would knock. Maybe not at all once but at least one is going to make a noise.

MJBird993

I had the exact same thing happen to me. Bad oil pressure sensor was the culprit. In my case it was covered under warranty, but I think it was rather inexpensive anyway.


Michael

LVDell

Sending unit. Had the same problem in my GT3. Fixed under warranty.

I agree thought, scary as crap to see that message and then the oil pressure gauge read 0.

deckman

I've had this happen numerous times. Took it to the dealer and they didn't know what it was. I'll take it back now that you guys have given a clue as to what it is.

LVDell

My dealer said they couldn't find the problem and the "computer" they hooked up (PIWIS) showed no problems either so they fixed nothing. Further they said they couldn't duplicate the problem. WTF? So I drove the worthless tech around the block and REPLICATED the problem to which he said "that's normal". WTF? Normal to get the needle to drop like a lead weight to the zero? Normal to get the error message? WTF? So I ask.....do you have a sending unit in stock? Well they do. So I make a deal with the service manager. I tell him to install it and if it is NOT the culprit and the problem persists then not only do they not have to file it under warranty repair but that I will pay for it out of pocket and I will pay DOUBLE whatever the retail price on the part is and double the book rate for labor. Of course later that morning I got a VERY APOLOGETIC call and was told that the sending unit fixed the problem.

deckman

Problem with mine, and I expect others, is that it happens very sporadically but in clumps. I may go 1-2 months with it not happening at all, then it could happen three times in 10 miles. Since my CPO ends the end of the year I will take it in and be rather persistent that they fix it.

Gaspasser19

I had mine towed to the dealer the first time it happened to me. Of course they were unable to reproduce the problem. I've seen it a total of three times now.

kpl

Try cleaning the contacts on the sender and put some dielectric grease on them...that fixed it for me. For some dumb reason the connections are not protected against dust and the weather.

RF5BPilot

This happened to my '03. It would show no oil pressure, then a few moments later--it's back. Unnerving. The dealer could find no error codes. Happened several times over the course of a year. No relation to going over a bump or anything else I could identify that was related. So they said, the next time it happens, if possible, don't turn it off, drive it directly to the shop & let them read the codes. Well....I did, they did...still nothing conclusive. So, they replaced the sender. Hasn't happened since.

Jackel

Mine did it once on a hot day. Flicked the oil check light when under 800 rpms, went away when i added a little gas. Never happened again. I took my car in for some other issues and the dealer couldn't get the car to repeat any of its idiosyncrasy... I swear this thing is alive....