Oil light coming and off

I have an 05 Corolla, the oil light came on last week and I had about half a litre which I put in when I got home(it wasn't on for the return journey).
The light came on again on my next trip so I said I'd buy a two litre.
On the trip for this again there was no light.

So I've put that in and it came on again on a return trip home today(not on the trip out)

If its intermittent is there a chance it's a sensor problem?

I only drive it once or twice a week and its been on one side of the trip and off the other so it's not consistent.

I've the NCT in about a week and saw it can fail for this. Obviously if it's a pump problem I'd need to get it sorted asap.

Dravokivich

Could just be the oil expanding when warm.

Have you checked the dip stick?

clintondaly

The first question i'd ask is what does the dipstick say or does it have none

bazz26

Any sign of oil on the ground where the car is parked up?

There's plenty of oil in the engine anyway. Checked the dipstick there.

johnayo

Did you check the dipstick before you first put oil in. Possible oil pressure switch, although it could be the strainer on the oil pump blocked

johnayo

johnayo wrote: »

Did you check the dipstick before you first put oil in. Possible oil pressure switch, although it could be the strainer on the oil pump blocked

I didn't as I hadn't put any in for a few months so just assumed it was down.

The query really is the if its coming on inconsistently is there a high chance it's just the sensor?.

EPAndlee

Oil strainer blocking is very common on these, had done a good few

CalamariFritti

Chances are on top of whatever problem the car had to begin with you now have way too much oil in it, too. Which is not good.

Nobody will be able to tell you here 'ah its grand probably just the sensor'. You should get it checked out by a mechanic.

Leonard Hofstadter

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Chances are on top of whatever problem the car had to begin with you now have way too much oil in it, too. Which is not good.

Nobody will be able to tell you here 'ah its grand probably just the sensor'. You should get it checked out by a mechanic.

Well said. The vast majority of Toyotas don't have sensors to measure the amount of oil in the engine, so when the light comes on it means the engine has low oil pressure - that is not good! Now it could be the sensor or the switch, in which case it's no problem, but it may not be - that's why one should never drive a car once the red oil light comes on (outside of just after starting, of course). The most likely cause is what has been said above - the car should not be driven until the problem is rectified.

zilog_jones

Yes, red oil light means low pressure - either oil level dangerously low, or some other problem (e.g. blockage). I wouldn't be driving it if I cared about the engine.

fancy pigeon

Yeah don't ignore that light... Get the sump dropped and see how things are in there

Xcellor

When was the car last serviced? I had avensis petrol 02 that I drove many many miles without changing filter. This behaviour occured intermittent lights etc. Until one day the engine started making ticking noise... I pulled over turned it off and on again and then booked a service. Turned out a layer of sludge had formed at the bottom of sump causing pressure issues.

Car drove fine after that and I clocked another 50k miles before it failed on a spot of rust on the sill...

If you're regularly servicing it shouldn't be the above .