_UsUrPeR_
Greenie Member
I have a 2006 Mazdaspeed 6 with ~40,000 on a remanufactured engine. It's a little tuned, but nothing groundbreaking.
Yesterday, while idling at a light, the low oil pressure light started to flicker to life. Immediately I tried gunning the engine at the light to force some pressure through the system, and the light shut off, then came back on after the engine dipped below ~2,000 RPM.
I was in traffic, so tried to keep the pressure light off the best I could while trying to find a parking spot, and finally was able to pull in to a hardware store that happened to sell 5W-30 synthetic oil. I went inside, bought some shop towels and a quart of 5W-30 Pennzoil thinking to myself "yeah, I guess it could've burned the oil. It's been a while since I checked." I walked out to the car in the lot, popped the hood and checked the oil, and the level was dead full, just where I left it. So there was no missing oil. Aww man, is the engine bad?
I turned the car back on in the parking lot thinking I would have to contend with the same oil issues and keep the revs up, and instead, the oil pressure light went off when the engine was started, and stayed off the entire drive. Throughout the entire experience, the engine idled properly, and I heard no difference in engine operation, something that is atypical for a poorly lubricated engine, to my recollection. The vehicle drives and sounds the exact same as it had.
The next morning, I had to get up to go to work, drove on the freeway about 30 minutes away, and got there with no inkling of a problem. On the way home this evening, it was a different story. While cruising at 70mph on the freeway doing ~3,000 RPM in 6th, the light slowly started to illuminate. I had seen some other individuals speaking about failing oil pressure switches, and thought that I would experiment a little. I raised the revs to 3200, and the light went off, then slowly came back on. Then to 3500RPM where the same thing happened. The light slowly reappeared. I pushed it to 4000RPM with the same results. Finally around ~90mph, I started to realize I was driving like a demon on the freeway, and decided to pull off at the next exit.
I let the engine coast down as I exited the freeway listening for any strange oil starvation noises: squeaking, lifter clatter, knocking, anything. There was no difference. The engine pulls just as strongly as it had last week, and sounds the exact same. Curiously, as I came back on the throttle after exiting the freeway, the pressure light went off again, and the process seemed to reset. The light would go off as I hit 2500 RPM, come back on with the clutch, and then go off again, slowly rising the requirements for the light to go off, only to once again approach the same issue.
I pulled off and shut the car off immediately, thinking that this might clear the issue. I am thinking about sediment getting sucked into the pump intake, or something which would calm down after an engine sat for a bit. I started the car after about five minutes, and this time, the the low pressure light came on immediately. I am still skeptical of this being an actual low oil pressure issue, so I popped the hood again, and listened for anything strange while the engine idled under what I would typically believe to be catastrophic conditions.
Nothing.
Has anybody experienced this before? I don't have time to get this worked on tonight, and I have to be up ultra-early tomorrow morning, and I will be taking another vehicle to get there. I see O'reilly has a oil pressure switch for ~$30 available for me to pick up. Does this function just as well as OEM, or should I consider actually getting another oil pressure measurement device?
Yesterday, while idling at a light, the low oil pressure light started to flicker to life. Immediately I tried gunning the engine at the light to force some pressure through the system, and the light shut off, then came back on after the engine dipped below ~2,000 RPM.
I was in traffic, so tried to keep the pressure light off the best I could while trying to find a parking spot, and finally was able to pull in to a hardware store that happened to sell 5W-30 synthetic oil. I went inside, bought some shop towels and a quart of 5W-30 Pennzoil thinking to myself "yeah, I guess it could've burned the oil. It's been a while since I checked." I walked out to the car in the lot, popped the hood and checked the oil, and the level was dead full, just where I left it. So there was no missing oil. Aww man, is the engine bad?
I turned the car back on in the parking lot thinking I would have to contend with the same oil issues and keep the revs up, and instead, the oil pressure light went off when the engine was started, and stayed off the entire drive. Throughout the entire experience, the engine idled properly, and I heard no difference in engine operation, something that is atypical for a poorly lubricated engine, to my recollection. The vehicle drives and sounds the exact same as it had.
The next morning, I had to get up to go to work, drove on the freeway about 30 minutes away, and got there with no inkling of a problem. On the way home this evening, it was a different story. While cruising at 70mph on the freeway doing ~3,000 RPM in 6th, the light slowly started to illuminate. I had seen some other individuals speaking about failing oil pressure switches, and thought that I would experiment a little. I raised the revs to 3200, and the light went off, then slowly came back on. Then to 3500RPM where the same thing happened. The light slowly reappeared. I pushed it to 4000RPM with the same results. Finally around ~90mph, I started to realize I was driving like a demon on the freeway, and decided to pull off at the next exit.
I let the engine coast down as I exited the freeway listening for any strange oil starvation noises: squeaking, lifter clatter, knocking, anything. There was no difference. The engine pulls just as strongly as it had last week, and sounds the exact same. Curiously, as I came back on the throttle after exiting the freeway, the pressure light went off again, and the process seemed to reset. The light would go off as I hit 2500 RPM, come back on with the clutch, and then go off again, slowly rising the requirements for the light to go off, only to once again approach the same issue.
I pulled off and shut the car off immediately, thinking that this might clear the issue. I am thinking about sediment getting sucked into the pump intake, or something which would calm down after an engine sat for a bit. I started the car after about five minutes, and this time, the the low pressure light came on immediately. I am still skeptical of this being an actual low oil pressure issue, so I popped the hood again, and listened for anything strange while the engine idled under what I would typically believe to be catastrophic conditions.
Nothing.
Has anybody experienced this before? I don't have time to get this worked on tonight, and I have to be up ultra-early tomorrow morning, and I will be taking another vehicle to get there. I see O'reilly has a oil pressure switch for ~$30 available for me to pick up. Does this function just as well as OEM, or should I consider actually getting another oil pressure measurement device?
