Oil light coming on at idle

[Laughlan]

Alright guys I've got a little 1.2 8v Clio which I've just built up. I've put another head onto the block replacing every gasket, seal etc and the car runs great. When I start the car up and drive it the oil light stays off but after a short while, i.e once the engine is hotter, the light starts to flash on when stopping accelerating and then goes back off. Checked oil which is fine, replaced the filter and the oil pressure switch also, still not staying off. Anybody had this before?

 

[MicKPM]

Firstly, are you sure the oil pressure switch is a good working and correct unit for that engine? Ideally the car needs its oil pressure mechanically measuring as it could be a blocked pickup/faulty oil pump which would be bad... could also be a duff switch or even wrong oil grade.

"Plan for the worst and hope for the best" in situations like these and minimise running the engine until its sorted.

Mick

 

[Laughlan]

Firstly, are you sure the oil pressure switch is a good working and correct unit for that engine? Ideally the car needs its oil pressure mechanically measuring as it could be a blocked pickup/faulty oil pump which would be bad... could also be a duff switch or even wrong oil grade.

"Plan for the worst and hope for the best" in situations like these and minimise running the engine until its sorted.

Mick

Thanks for the reply Mick. The Switch I put onto the car was the same as the one which came off. One thing that went through my mind was that when I changed the heads around and made 1 good engine out of 2 'bad' engines the 2 oil filters where different styles, would this possibly be causing a problem with the pressure? This only seems to happen once the oil heats up and thins out so could putting a thicker oil into it solve this without any future problems? Thanks

 

[Dan1587]

Sounds like it needs a good service with the right oil and filter.

But then again could the pump be worn?

 

[Laughlan]

Sounds like it needs a good service with the right oil and filter.

But then again could the pump be worn?

The oil in it is fresh and I've just changed the oil filter today, although do you think I should put thick oil into it to stop the light from coming on when it heats up? I'm worried about this constantly because as I said I built the engine up and would be gutted if something serious was wrong.

 

[Dan1587]

I wouldn't do that personally as you are just masking the problem, and it could then ruin the whole engine.

You want to get some pressure gauges, to see if its the gauge lying or not.

 

[Laughlan]

I wouldn't do that personally as you are just masking the problem, and it could then ruin the whole engine.

You want to get some pressure gauges, to see if its the gauge lying or not.

Thanks for the help mate, will get onto it on Monday night, fingers crossed it's not to bad!