Dash indicator light translator???????

Greetings, I've got a 88 ford ranger that I bought used about a little over a year ago. So far I've had no problems with it but, a few days ago this little red indicator light started coming on about 5 min's of be started and running.

This red light is located within the odometer circle on the dash and illuminates what seems to be an oil can(?). I assumed that that was what it was so I've changed the oil but the light is still coming on.

Every now and then I think I smell oil burning but, the level is still good.
How can I find out what this indicator light is trying to tell me????

Thnx

The truck doesn't really know when the oil needs changed. Even in newer cars they have a reset switch you have to push ever 3k that tells you to change your oil.

Check your valve cover gaskets for leaks on the exhaust manifolds. It may appear to be a rear main leak when it drips.

You have an oil level sender on the drivers side of the engine. This could be the problem, I never that light come on in my 88 though. My guess that this sender is going bad. I never really got into how it works, but it appeared to be like a float, when the oil gets low, it drops down and passes voltage to the dash light to trigger it on. Only thing I can think of. Do you have low oil pressure? My engine went to the birds with low oil pressure, and I don't even recall that light coming on. I imagine it's gotta be the oil level sender.

Pete

Low oil pressure is the only other thing that I can think of also. I do recall a yellow "check oil" light that came on once, located more toward the center of dash. I topped it off and the light went back out.

I just figured this light has to mean something specific? Probably is pressure.... oh crap! Now what? What causes low oil pressure? Could it be a bad gasket or something???

low oil pressure can be caused by two things I know of.

The first is of course a bad oil pump.

the second is due to worn bearings within your motor. These bearings located primarily for the Crank and Cam. These bearings work differently from the conventional bearings you might be thinking of. These bearings are made of a special metal and appear more like sleeves, no roller pins or balls. There are no moving parts. The pressurised oil fills in the gap between the actual part (be it a crank or cam)and the part of the block it rides in. The actual part (of the crank for example), is lined with this bearing saddle. The bearing must be within a specific distance to the part, This distance is filled with pressurised oil. If your bearings are worn, then you lose this vital oil pressure. If the oil escapes as I just described its becouse the tolerance (distance from say the crank and the crank bearing) has become too far for the oil to stay put. If this happens your crank will contact the bearing metal. The oil is supposed to work in place of the ball or pins found in a conventional bearing, No metal is supposed to touch metal. if metal part a comes in contact with the bearing you get a spun bearing or you wear away part of the material that is the bearing. This is why when you get a remanufatured crank or have a crank machined it is cut(undersized), that is they put it into a lathe and remove a part of the area that would be in conjunction with the bearings and when you order bearings after work like this is done you ask for a bearing that is over sized to make up for the amount of metal taken away from your crank.. It is very Important to check it yourself(with micrometers or plastigauge) or have it assembled by a trusted machinest this work is critical to detail.

anyways I hope all you need is a new pump and not too much damage has been done.

PS this is why it is important to pressurise the oil before initial start up.

Hope this Info helps you out.

Don't forget the simple things like a bad sending unit or a wiring problem. :uhoh:

Thanks for the info. I hope that I havn't caused too much damage to it thus far. I usually only drive it about 20 miles per week. That's to and back from work once a week. Thanks for giving me something to go on. I'll have it checked out in a shop, I'm not much in the way of doing it myself.