oil light flashing

David09

Noticed for the past while that when the engine is hot, especially after a motorway run, and when allowed to return to idle, the oil light starts flickering. When I rev the engine slightly, the light goes out completely.
The level of oil in the sump it where it should be; between min and max on the dipstick.
The car has a very high mileage, but is serviced regularly by myself using genuine parts and recommended 10w 40 oil.

Is this a cause for concern? Is it safe to continue driving it?

Henry Ford III

Engine may be suffering from wear.

David09

I was kinda suspecting that.

Is it safe to continue driving though, even in its worn state or will it die catastrophically?

corktina

old skool thinking with a high mileage engine which may be suffering wear would be to use a thicker oil, say 20w50....

Might be the pump, or better still the actual pressure transmitter/switch whatever it is

If it's not flickering at start up it's not panic stations yet

eirator

My old skool understanding is that the oil light comes on at a very low pressure well below that needed to keep the oil lubricating the engine correctly so if the light is flashing it really is quite bad

- I'm open to correction?

David09

It seems that when the engine is hot, the oil is thin and the pump isn't turning enough to keep the pressure.
Coupled with the fact that it has a lot of mileage and is well worn...

Thinking out loud, the 20w50 idea might be a good one. I might also try to see if a larger oil filter is available spurious as opposed to the small genuine one. Maybe this might act as a reservoir of oil for the pump...

I don't really care about it. If I get time I'll either rebuild it or get a good secondhand engine to sling into it. I just don't want it to give up catastrophically in the meantime.

I'd try it with 250mls of oil over the high mark on the dipstick

Wheelnut

David09 wrote: »

Thinking out loud, the 20w50 idea might be a good one.

It might be hard to get a 20w50 with a specification suitable for today's cars so maybe you should look at 15w40 oil. However I don't think you have a problem once the light stays off under load, so the 10w40 is OK in my book.

RoverJames wrote: »

I'd try it with 250mls of oil over the high mark on the dipstick

This certainly worth a try, will cost practically nothing and will not do any harm. (...yes, yes, I know what it says in the handbook so there's no need for posters to point that out.)

Rich11

LIGHTNING wrote: »

I thought that was normal behaviour. The owners manual in my car states that after a long drive when the engine is brought to idle that the oil pressure light may flash briefly and that a blip of the throttle will cause it to go away.

OSI wrote: »

Haha. Such an Italian solution. Not enough oil pressure? Give it some throttle!!!

that why alfa's always blow-up:D

corktina

Wheelnut wrote: »

It might be hard to get a 20w50 with a specification suitable for today's cars so maybe you should look at 15w40 oil. However I don't think you have a problem once the light stays off under load, so the 10w40 is OK in my book.


This certainly worth a try, will cost practically nothing and will not do any harm. (...yes, yes, I know what it says in the handbook so there's no need for posters to point that out.)

by the same token, if that likely to make a difference, then running with the oil AT the max, rather than between the MAX and MIN would make a difference too. I'm not sure I subscribe to this

(15w40 would indeed be easier to source than 20w50 I agree)

I'm sure David09 will let us know how the experiment goes
If its between max and min maintaining it at max might even suffice imo.

Anan1

David09 wrote: »

Noticed for the past while that when the engine is hot, especially after a motorway run, and when allowed to return to idle, the oil light starts flickering. When I rev the engine slightly, the light goes out completely.
The level of oil in the sump it where it should be; between min and max on the dipstick.
The car has a very high mileage, but is serviced regularly by myself using genuine parts and recommended 10w 40 oil.

Is this a cause for concern? Is it safe to continue driving it?

Is there an oil strainer in the sump? Is the oil pickup blocked? Might there be a problem with the oil pump? Wear is a likely reason, but it might be something else.