Low oil pressure light

[SAOJORGE69]

I have a 2000 Venture and the Low oil pressure light comes on and off sometimes it's on for a while and goes off and sometimes there are days that it does not come on at all, does anyone know the cause? Could this be the oil pressure switch?

[Glen_T]

How many miles are on the van? Usually low oil pressure is caused by a worn out oil pump or worn bearings/bushings. When the engine starts to wear out, you usually get the low pressure light at idle first when the oil is hot, but it goes away as the engine speed increases. As the engine wears more and more, the light stays on at higher and higher speeds, and eventually it is always on. If your light is mostly at idle, then you might have a wear out condition.

However, if it is more intermittent, then you could have a bad oil pressure sending unit or shorted wiring to the sending unit.

The diagnosis is typically to install a pressure gage where the sending unit attaches and compare the reading to the expected pressure. If the pressure is okay with a hot engine at idle, then the sending unit and/or wiring is suspect.

Depending on the cost of the sending unit, you might just replace that first after inspecting the wiring.......Hope this helps, Glen

[SAOJORGE69]

Thank you for the reply. It has about 91,000 miles. The light comes on actually more when the engine is cold, as I drive after a while it usually goes off, but it has been coming on more and more latetly on engine restart.