96 oil pressure gauge question

[bmwgolfguy]

I have a 96 with 107,000 miles on it. I bought it about 4 years ago when it had 80k miles.

I took it in today to get new spark plug wires installed as I was encountering some rough engine idle and arcing from one of the plug wires in front of the engine.

After driving it home about 10 miles, the oil gauge flat-lined on me and the little yellow/green light within that gauge also came on.

There are no visible oil leaks and no anti-freeze loss or in the oil that I can see.

I had the upper and lower head gaskets replaced about 5,000 miles ago along with a new plenum after I had the radiator power flushed. I wanted to get rid of the DexCool.

Is it possible that the mechanic bumped a wire somewhere to cause this gauge to fail? There is no apparent visible loss of oil which I check about once a week. I checked it tonight after the gauge read zero and the engine appears to have oil considering I checked the dip stick when the engine was still warm.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Bassasasin]

It would cause serious damage to drive any distance with a car with no oil pressure.

The oil light is an indication of pressure not the level of oil that is in the engine.

It is possible that the sensor or wire has failed.

The sensor located down just above the oil filter.

The circuit can be tested without running the engine.

I'm suprised you have a guage on a LeSabre.


Good Luck

[bmwgolfguy]

Thanks for your help.

I think the problem is with the sensor and not the oil pump. The car was driven by my son at least two miles with the gauge dead and the light within the oil pressure gauge on. A guy at a local auto parts store told me if the oil pump wasn't working the engine would have siezed up by now after that drive. Also, I can see oil on the top of the engine inside when you remove the oil cap.

I am just going to call the mechanic who did the work yesterday and see what he thinks.

Once again thanks.

[bmwgolfguy]

I took the vehicle back to the mechanic that worked on it and they did indeed find the oil pressure sensor was bad and put a new one in. The car is running fine now.

Thanks for your help.