Rep Power: 271

k i fixed the coolant leaking problem from my previous thread. now i got a new problem, my oil light is on. prior to fixing the coolant leak the oil light never went on but now after this the oil light is on. there are no oil leaks and the oil level is full. isnt there supposed to be a oil leak if the light is to turn on? i was reading that the oil light only comes on if there is zero oil pressure but this is obviously not the case because the car runs decent and i dont think it would run anything close to decent with 0 oil pressure. i checked if my oil pressure sensor was plugged in and it is. any pointers guys? thanks.

 
Rep Power: 0

check the wire to the sensor to make sure you didnt break it during the coolant repair. if thats ok. hook up a mechanical*SP oil pressure guage to see if you realy do have the oil pressure you think you have. then we will go from there.

Jay
Fabricated Peerformance

 
Rep Power: 271

^^ thanks il check when i get the chance. any more suggestions?

 
Rep Power: 423

I wouldnt drive it until you're sure it's got pressure. Get a mechanical gauge, stick it in the system and make sure you've got pressure... if not.... well, engines dont last long without oil. You could have oil in the car, but a blockage somewhere in the system.
If you've been frickin around with the water pipe, you could have pulled the wire out of the harness, make sure the wire that connects to the sensor is plugged in on both sides, and the wire didnt pull out of the connector inside the boot. Its a finicky little thing.

 
Rep Power: 349

If the wire isn't connected, the light won't come on. That isn't the problem. Only if the sender is faulty or you have less than 7.5 psi will it come on.

Yes, the car will drive fine with low pressure. But, you won't feel a difference until its too late. You have two options. One, like Justin said, stop driving immediately. If you have started to spin a bearing, you won't know until it starts knocking. At that point, the crank is trash. Or you can replace the sensor and see if the light is still on, or get a mechanical gauge to see. Hopefully you just broke the sensor.

 
Rep Power: 271

alright, out of curiosity i decided to change my oil filter. usually when i unscrew the oil filter a decent amount of oil spills out. this time when i took the oil filter out there was no oil spillage and there was no oil in the oil filter. wtf. sounds like a major problem. oil pump? i guess the oil pressure sensor isnt lying? i dont know, but any input will be greatly appreciated. prior to fixing my coolant leak dilemma i actually took my oil filter off and accidentally turned the car on (forgot i left the oil filter off) and all the oil spilled out through where the oil filter is. but now it seems as if little to no oil is getting to the oil filter. wth. please help! any help is appreciated. i searched and i have found no similar problems.

 
Rep Power: 349

The filter is the first thing that sees oil from the pump. You can try a new pump, but I would at least measure your rod bearing tolerances first. Be prepared for some potential downtime. You may have toasted the motor. If this is something you plan to do yourself, you need to get a helms manual.

www.helminc.com

If you've been running the engine with the oil light on for more than a few seconds, you probably spun some bearings. If you didn't completely spin out any of the bearings, the journals may be alright. If you did, your crank is trashed. The only way to know is to get into the bottom end and start pulling it apart to see what's up. Don't waste money on an oil pump if the crank is shot, though.

 
Rep Power: 271

andy how would i measure my bearing tolerances? wont the lower end always have oil lubing the bearings cuz the crank just splashes in it? why would my oil pump stop working though i didnt even touch it. ugh this is frustrating. i probably ran the motor for about an hour. i didnt go anywhere, i just let it idle for a long time to get the motor broken in. the motor still seems like it runs okay, no clicking noises or anything. wouldnt a spun bearing result in a loud clicking noise? is there any other reason no oil was in the oil filter or is the oil pump the only reason? thanks.

 
Rep Power: 349

How? Like I said, get a manual and tear into it. There are alot of torque specs and things you need to know. I can't teach you how to be a mechanic on the internet. If you're afraid and don't know what you're doing, you can do one of two things, either replace the engine yourself or bring it to a mechanic to diagnose and troubleshoot.

You won't hear "clicking," you'll hear knocking of the rod or the main banging against the journal. An hour with low to no oil pressue, yeah, you did some damage. You just need to find out how extensive it is. Unfortunately, you can't measure the main bearings with the block in the car. And no, it won't click right away. If you've started to spin a bearing, there's no stopping it now. If you don't have any knocking yet, that's a good sign. It means you didn't completely spin a bearing out and your crank/rods/mains may still be in tact. But don't run the engine at all until you find the problem. You won't hear the knocking until there is metal on metal contact, when that happens, your screwed.

Your oil pump could stop working if it was sucking in air from the pickup. Understand pressure is created by the pump sucking up oil and flowing it to the proper locations, not just the crank splashing in the oil pan, if that weren't the case, we wouldn't need oil pumps.

If you can't wrap your mind around the concept, google "how oil pressure works". That should help explain the concept.

 
Rep Power: 271

thanks andy.. and btw i wasnt asking you how to be a mechanic. i will probably try and just switch out the oil pump from my old motor into this motor in the car and see how that works. so my oil pump got ruined by sucking up air? what a bummer. lots of work to be done .

 
Rep Power: 349

There's no certainty of anything at this point. If the engine is running and there is no oil in the oil pan and the pickup sucks in air, that can cause a lack of lubrication of the pump which can destroy it. You need to start narrowing it down. Everything you need to check is in this thead.

I know you weren't asking that directly but different engine repair requires a certain level of mechanical skill and ability. If someone tells you that you need to check your bearings or your headgasket or something else, depending on what it is, there are way too many steps and specs involved to teach that kind of thing over the internet.

Like I said before, either pick up a manual and learn yourself (or download the online version from xproductionz), find someone who can teach you or take it to a mechanic if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself.

 
Rep Power: 271

thanks again. im pretty mechanically inclined. i do all my work myself. labor is so expensive and as a college student i am very poor so i took things into my own hands. i would rep you but i have no rep power. lol

i dont know if this is relevant but the oil pump probably only sucked in air for 3 seconds at most. as soon as i realized all the oil flying out of the oil filter area i turned it off.

thanks again andy. seems your the only one that wants to help me . your more than enough though. ahah.

 
Rep Power: 271

alright, i got some more updates. i did exactly what i did to get the oil pump to stop working again and now it magically works. i opened up the oil filter a bit and i started the car and oil squirted everywhere. so yay the oil pump isnt broke. however the oil light was still on. i had an extra oil pressure sensor (stock) and hooked it up into my oil sandwich adapter (between the block and the oil filter) and the oil light is still on. now i am really stumped. either both oil pressure sensors are broke or there is still another problem with the car..?!

edit: oh i forgot to add that both sensors are not in their stock locations. 1 is on the oil sandwich adapter and the other is in the stock spot but attached to a brass T fitting bolted to the stock spot (taking it out about 3/4 inch out of the stock spot) . however i ran the car previously with the oil pressure sensor in the same spot and it still didnt trip the oil light.

so to sum it all up basically there are no oil leaks, my oil pump works and i hooked up an extra oil pressure sensor (was laying in my spare parts box) and my oil pressure light is still on. any other things i should check? wtf o_O

thanks for any help in advanced.

 
Rep Power: 349

What's the point of giving advice, you aren't going to listen. You were told at least 2 times by different people NOT TO RUN THE CAR AT ALL!! And you are still running it. You may as well pick up a new motor and start putting it in. Your motor is trashed if it wasn't already.

 
Rep Power: 271

how else am i gonna check if the problem is fixed without starting the motor? lol. i let it run for a good 2 seconds. so do you have any more input or no?

 
Rep Power: 349

Yes, pull the motor out of the car, remove the oil pan, remove the pickup, detorque the girdle, remove it, remove the rod bearing caps, plastigage all of your bearing clearances.