Rep Power: 0

Whenever I shift gears the red oil light on my dashboard flashes a few times very briefly, almost as short as a camera flash.
Does anyone know what this means?
thanks

 
Rep Power: 811

thats bad news, means engine oil pressure is falling low enough to cause engine damage. if it stays on for more than a second, goodbye motor. check the oil level, if its full then you have bigger problems like an oil pump going bad. what weight of oil do you use?

 
Rep Power: 209

First check the oil level. If the oil light flickers when you are driving it is usually because acceleration or deceleration causes the oil to flow to one side and the oil pickup runs dry. If there is an oil pressure problem you should see it at idle since that is when engine speed and oil pressure are lowest. When you shift the RPM's probably stay above 2,000 at the lowest so if you see flickering then but not at idle of 850, my guess would be oil level.
One other possibility is the oil pressure sensor may be getting plugged and is showing a lower reading than there really is, but again, this would show up at idle first.

If it is an oil pressure problem then it most likely is due to either wear in the oil pump causing low pressure or wear in the bearings causing high flow and therefore low pressure. If this is the case, a slightly heavier weight oil will mask the problem.

It is also a good idea to be more carefull about the oil level in engines with smaller oil capacities. If an engine that holds 4 qts is 1 qt low that is a 25% decrease while an engine that holds 5 qts and is 1 qt low has a 20% decrease. On a car that holds 4 qts of oil I would not wait for it to be a full quart low before adding oil.