Oil Light...weird...help?

[Magik Si]

Ummm this is strange...just happened on my way home from work...

Stopped to get groceries on my way home for supper and when I shut the car off my oil light came on? Weird, so I turned the car back on...the light went off. Shut off the car...oil light came back on.

So I did my business at the store...came out...light still on, turned on car, light goes off...get home, shut off car...light comes on.

So the car is sitting in my driveway right now with the oil light on...and the car turned off!!!>>>wtf???

Will this kill my battery if it sits like this overnight? What is up with this??

Help! SOS! Mayday!

Jason

PS...yes I checked the oil...it's fine.

[i_a_n112784]

I don't know what would be causing the light, other than maybe the oil pressure sensor, which is right above the oil filter (just a guess on what it is, could be wrong). But I know that if you have a good battery, that light shouldn't be anything to worry about overnight. It's maybe a 2 watt bulb, so it doesn't take much power.

[Magik Si]

Anyone??

Jason

[Magik Si]

Bump...can anyone offer anything?

Jason

[bambam89lx]

my only advice is that it is either unplugged so it's not completing it's circuit. Or to make the light go off, just unplug the sensor. It's on the back of the block by the filter. it'll be ok, just make sure you've always got a healthy amount of oil in the car. That's all that light is for, to sense the oil pressure which tells you when ur oil is low.

[johnb16a2]

Hmmm, I agree with i_a_n112784. I think something has gone wrong with your sending unit, it's easy and cheap to replace.

BTW, disconnecting the light is a VERY BAD idea, if your oil pump fails you will ruin your engine and the oil pan will be full of oil. Let us know what happens. GL

[Magik Si]

Originally Posted by johnb16a2

Hmmm, I agree with i_a_n112784. I think something has gone wrong with your sending unit, it's easy and cheap to replace.

BTW, disconnecting the light is a VERY BAD idea, if your oil pump fails you will ruin your engine and the oil pan will be full of oil. Let us know what happens. GL

When you says "sending unit" do you mean the 'oil pressure sensor'?

Jason

Ps> Can't do much right now...this is what my drive home at noon (work sent us home) looked like today:




There is a mini-van ahead of me...can you see it?
20-40cms of snow, 80-110kph winds, 2 meter storm surges on the coast, and an all around "nasty" day!!

[ci5ic]

Well, the Oil pressure indicator light is connected to the ignition switch (so that it has power while the car is running), and is also connected to the oil-pressure switch.

The oil-pressure switch doesn't indicate the level of oil in your engine, it only indicates the oil-pressure, so just because you have enough volume of oil in the engine doesn't mean that the pressure is okay... so you could have 4 qts of oil in the car, but if your oil-pump goes, you've got no pressure.

That wouldn't explain why the switch was on when the car was off though.

With the car off, there should be no voltage at the indicator light, which would mean that current wouldn't flow through the indicator light even if the oil-pressure switch was closed. However, the oil-pressure switch should be open when the car is off, wich would mean that current shouldn't flow through the indicator light unless the oil-pressure dropped below a certain level. So either way, that light should NOT be on when the car is off.

I would test the oil-pressure switch to make sure it's not fubar'd:



If that doesn't work, check your ignition switch:


If neither of those seem to give you any information, then I don't know what to tell you...

Oh yeah... here's the wiring diagram... I highlighted the indicator light circuit in green:

[Magik Si]

WOW!! THat has to be one of the best responses to any question I have ever asked on ANY forum...

I will look at what you suggest...but as I said above...can't today...DAMN WINTER!

Jason

[91civichatch2571]

WOW!! THat has to be one of the best responses to any question I have ever asked on ANY forum...

wholy shit Well said Mike.

[CRX-Crooks]

lol maybe your car is retared

[Magik Si]

Originally Posted by CRX-Crooks

lol maybe your car is retared

You know...I think you may be right...because it went off for about an hour the other night when a buddy of mine fiddled with the wire that goes on the pressure sensor...BUT...this morning I get in my car and start it (cold morning) and put it in neutral and pull the emerg. brake, of course the e-brake light comes on and I go in the house...come back out and get ready to leave for work...put down the e-brake...the light stays on.

I even shut the car off (oil light comes on) and started it again (oil light goes off) e-brake light stays on...stays on the whole way to work (not pulling or anything like the brake is still on)...I get to work and shut the car off, the e-brake light goes off and the oil light comes on!



So do I have some serious electrical issues here? or could it be the gauge cluster? I haven't checked the ignition switch yet...but would that effect the brake light (don't understand why)?? Honda wants $50+tx just to hook it up to a machine and tell me what's wrong...I don't want to waste the cash if this is something you guys can help me with...

Please note...I don't have a volt meter and wouldn't have a clue how to read one if I did...I will pic one up if someone can give me a few tips on how to work one. Electrical makes me nervous, I know that is probably silly...but dumb this wayyyy down for me...

UUUUUUGGGHHH!!

Jason

[ci5ic]

Originally Posted by Magik Si

UUUUUUGGGHHH!!

Well, if you look at the schematic that I posted above, the e-brake indicator light is on the same circuit as the oil-light, so that could be part of it... They are both connected to the same + lead. However, if that particular lead was bad, I would assume that all of the indicator lights would be malfunctioning simultaneously, so I imagine that it's something affecting both indicators further along in the circuit.

What I would do for starters is remove the guage-cluster cover (2 screws up under the front and 2 towards the windshield under square covers). And also, remove your guage cluster (just a few screws that are in plain sight). Then look at the wiring to see if you can find anything that looks suspicious (like exposed wiring, or foreign objects in the wiring, etc.). Also check the back-side of the guage cluster to see if you see anything wrong there, you will be able to clearly see the metal traces that the current flows through, so check to make sure that nothing is shorted and other obvious stuff...

That may not solve your problem, but it's certainly a first step.

Also, if you remove your guage cluster cover, make sure that you plug your hazard-switch back in, otherwise your turnsignals won't work.

[Magik Si]

SOLVED!!!!

This is gonna blow you away...when I had my engine changed I had a CAI installed too...the genious that installed it (which I havn't been back to since) put a metal clamp on it to hold it in place...what I didn't look closely enough at is he put it around the engine wire harness under the hood.

The metal clamp over time cause the wire harness housing to 'chaffe' and wear down exposing the wires underneath...then...the actual wires for the brake light and the oil light became exposed when their housings wore off.

Also, the clamp had worked its a bit loose and the "tube" of the CAI was resting on the positive terminal of the battery.

Thus....when I shut off the car the CAI and the clamp were pulling direct 12V current into the wires and lighting the lights on the guage cluster and killing the battery.

Removed the clamp...fixed the wires...re-positioned the CAI....and...

NO MORE LIGHTS ON THE DASH!!! Wooo Hooo!!

Jason

[johnb16a2]

Wow, I am so glad I do my own work!

Glad to hear the mystery is solved!