Oil Pressure Light

[Francos Accord]

Sitting at a stop light before, my oil pressure light started blinking at me and the car started idling real rough. I pulled into a parking lot and shut the car off. I let the car cool down and checked the oil level and it was where it should be, so i got back into the car and started it, and everything was normal. About an hour ago, it did the same thing sitting at another stop light.. Can anyone help me out with whats going on?

[Oldblueaccord]

Just have to get the pressure checked. Either buy a guage or get a shop to check it for you.

wp

[lostforawhile]

is the car overheating, oil old? fram filter? what viscosity are you running?

[car6289]

Just have to get the pressure checked. Either buy a guage or get a shop to check it for you.

wp

If your oil pressure is within spec, when checked by a gauge, the oil pressure switch couuld be faulty. You could have an intermittent short in the wire to the oil pressure switch.

[Dr_Snooz]

The oil pressure light comes on shortly before your engine burns up. Do NOT drive the car until you get this figured out.

[Nafs Asdf]

Maybe the oil pump is bad? If it was just the sensor acting up, it shouldn't affect how the engine runs.

[88Accord-DX]

The oil pressure switch is a common sensor to fail. If I was you, as cheap as the sensor is, try replacing it with a new one & see what happens. Just make sure you use some thread sealant on the the threads. IF the the light still blinks, you have some low oil pressure - either from worn oil pump, too much clearance on the main & rod bearings, oil pressure releif valve faulty.

[lostforawhile]

make sure you get a honda sender, or one with the right threads, it's not 1/8 npt, it's 1/8 bspt, you can pull a warning light sender from nearly any honda at the yard, they are pretty much the same and come on around the same pressure. you do need to have it checked with a gauge though, if it's running rough you may have a serious problem. the first thing to be destroyed on these engines, even before the main and rod bearings, are the cam bearing journals, they don't have bearing inserts, the oil is the bearing, with low pressure, the cam will destroy these journals very quickly, destroying the head. the pressure senders on these cars come on around 3 psi, that's probably low enough to damage those journals before it comes on

[Dr_Snooz]

A cheap oil filter (ie: anything not from Wix) can lower oil pressure pretty considerably. If you're engine isn't top notch, a cheap filter can aggravate the situation.

[lostforawhile]

whatever you do, don't fram it!!!, the person i got the lincoln from had the oil changed before I bought it, and this thread reminded me I need to get rid of that fram

[car6289]

Francos Accord:

This is a worthy read for what appears to be ailing your car.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/us1097.htm

[Rebel4x4]

okay i am now having this same issue there is a el cheapo filter on my car currently. this car is my dd and i was going to try an oil change with a better filter. i deal with advance and autozone what would be a good filter to use? and also my car has 300,000 miles so i went with 10w30 high mileage would this have done anything. it seems that these motors are kinda sensitive when it comes to oil pressure so i want to make sure that i buy the right stuff.

[lostforawhile]

get rid of the cheap filter, wix or Nappa gold,same thing

[Rebel4x4]

okay would 10w30 high mileage be good with 300,000miles or is that to thick for these engines?

[gtoman]

okay would 10w30 high mileage be good with 300,000miles or is that to thick for these engines?

10w30 will not hurt you. In fact its in the owners manuel to use that in warm regions. I personally use mobil 1, 15w50. It gets over 100 here in the summer and never below 15 degrees. I use the mobil 1 or bosch filters. They have higher than standard filtration rates. They are not cheap though. Try to stay away from cheap fram, purolator, and driveworks. Their filtration rates can be as low as 87-92% depending on brand. The purolator gold advertises I beleive 98 or 99% filtration. Use a quality filter and change the oil regularly.

Adam

[lostforawhile]

10w30 will not hurt you. In fact its in the owners manuel to use that in warm regions. I personally use mobil 1, 15w50. It gets over 100 here in the summer and never below 15 degrees. I use the mobil 1 or bosch filters. They have higher than standard filtration rates. They are not cheap though. Try to stay away from cheap fram, purolator, and driveworks. Their filtration rates can be as low as 87-92% depending on brand. The purolator gold advertises I beleive 98 or 99% filtration.

Adam

the bosch ones were bought out by another company and now look like fram inside, I cut one open to confirm

[gtoman]

the bosch ones were bought out by another company and now look like fram inside, I cut one open to confirm

Wow that makes me a bit sad. Are any companies still willing to make a quality filter even if it means 5% lower profit margins?

Adam

[lostforawhile]

Wow that makes me a bit sad. Are any companies still willing to make a quality filter even if it means 5% lower profit margins?

Adam

everyone I know says wix or Nappa gold,booth of which are the same thing, I have never had an issue with a wix filter

[Rebel4x4]

thanx guys i indeed had a driveworks filter and replaced it with a nappa gold no more low oil pressure light:)

[2ndGenGuy]

You might wanna drop the oil pan and make sure the pickup screen isn't clogged. Your oil pressure has to be REALLY low (IIRC 5-7psi) before that light will come on. I know that some of those filters are crap, but just having a crap filter alone shouldn't be enough to kill your oil pressure. It feels to me like the sign of something else going on too... It's cheap insurance just to check out the pickup screen and clean it. Plus, you can put in a new oil pan gasket while you're down there.

[lostforawhile]

the cheap filters will collapse internally and can competently block your oil flow, Fram is famous for doing this

[88Accord-DX]

I'd have more confidence in hooking up an oil pressure gauge up to the engine & look at the oil pressure before I look at oil filters with this old thread..