1999 cirrus oil light question??

[speed1975]

I have a one for ya...

My 99 started to do something and i am not sure how to fix...I was on my way home from work when sitting at a light my oil light came on and stayed on till I drove away.....I got home checked my oil and it was full. I took the car and got the oil changed and it seemed to be fine after that...Well a week later it did it again but this time I noticed that it only happens when I am sitting at a light and the tack goes bellow 500 RPM...first thing that came to mind is what should the tack read when the car is sitting??????


any Ideas????

[Bomni]

I had the same problem on mine. (97 cirrus v-6.)The oil light would come on when I was idling, then would go off when I hit the gas. I had the problem fixed when I had them put in a new timing belt. i hate using the term "sending unit" but that's what they referred to it as. It was a piece of plastic about an inch long and a couple holes in it. It was broken and was misreading the oil pressure at low levels. They said it wasn't anything to really worry about, but they replaced it and the problem went away. I don't know what else to tell ya man. I don't know a whole lot about it. I hope it's somewhat helpful... :-)

[speed1975]

That sounds like that might be it.....Did you 97 do it all the time at idle...or only when the rpm's were low?

[Bomni]

For the most part, it happened when I stopped at traffic lights..(when the car was in drive) cause it idles a bit lower in drive than it does in park or neutral.. I NEVER saw an oil light at higher RPM's....

P.S. I was born in 1975.. heh heh

[speed1975]

LOL....Me to 10/22/75...LOL


that is exactly what my car is doing do you where it is located on the motor????

[Bomni]

LMAO 10/03/75 here.

This part is located in the electrical section of the Chilton manual 20320 page 2-21. According to Chilton "I'll punch this in verbatim" - "OIL PRESSURE SENDING UNIT/SWITCH - On all 2.0L and 2.4L engines, the oil pressure sending unit switch is located on the engine block, below the exhaust manifold, on the firewall side. On all 2.5L engines, the oil pressure sending unit switch is located on the engine block, below the front exhaust manifold on the radiator side." UNDER the car of course!

There should be an electrical harness attached to it. Disconnect the harness (after you disconnect the battery of course) Then, you should be able to remove the sending unit with a deep well socket or a wrench. (Some people have said that removing the oil filter will give you more room.) yeah yeah gotta put in new oil then...

There's an illustration here in the book than I can scan and hand over to ya if you want. however, I don't have a scanner here at home(my friends do though) well, I have a crappy web cam though... Hmmm......

Lemmie know what you are thinking!!!

PS: This book isn't that expensive. It's less than $20 at Checker Auto Parts which is a GREAT investment if you wanna do you own work... I've learned more about my Cirrus by reading this book than I've learned by driving it in over 5 years.

PS2: Look in my gallery. i posted a couple crappy pictures of the schematic in the book.

[shaneland]

at idle in park you rpms are low. Park allows the fluid in the trans to flow in a way it doesnt put pressure on the engine.

In drive and the brakes applied puts trans pressure on the engine and the result is lower idle. This is when the oil pressure will be at its lowest.

It is very possible the sending unit is becoming faulty and starting to read the wrong pressures. IF it happens continually you might want to think about having the oil pump replaced...

[Legionofone]

my 98 2.5L does it... i shift into neutral and rev the engine a tad when it does and it goes away...

[gdaddyb]

did that fix it? i replaced mine and it still comes on. i have a 99 cirrus with same problem. my idle drops down to 500 rpm and the oil light comes on. the engine starts running kinda bad..

FIXED:
10w40 oil change.

[championny]

Same here, except that my engine shuts down. I was told when the engine senses low oil pressure, it will click on a fail safe that cuts the engine off. Quite a bummer when driving.