Hi Folks,
First post! I bought this Honda last year as a daily driver because my Land Cruiser drinks to much, and I wanted to take it out of service for some mods.

It's done great in that time, but on the way home last night I noticed the oil light flickering when stopped at a light. A light touch of throttle, and it's gone, so I drove it home. Checked the oil, and it was about halfway between the marks on the stick - added half a quart. On the way in today, it did the same thing - but only when it was hot. This may just be due to a lower idle when hot?

No obvious leaks - parked it over some clean snow last night. I should try that with the engine running I guess. Oil was changed about 3K ago - Valvoline 5w30, with none added until last night, so the oil consumption is reasonable.

It's a 93, 2.2L I4, 5spd, 4dr, ~171K miles

Any ideas?
Is this light an oil pressure or oil level indicator? Or both? I'm guessing pressure since it's correlated with RPM.

Also - the red service light under the tach came on at about 170K after being yellow for some time - I'm guessing this is just a factory service interval reminder? Or am I ignoring something important??

Thanks!

 

that's just a service minder light, our DIY section has directions on how to reset it if you want...

As for the oil level light... When you checked the oil was the car level? Check around the back of the engine just above the oil filter, there's an oil pressure sending unit there, make sure it's screwed in tight and that it has a good clean connection. Just a few quick things to check... Also look at your air filter and see if you have a bunch of oil in there....

 

Thanks - I'll check the sender and air filter. Why would I have oil in the air filter? Is there a electrical connection at the sender that can be cleaned?
The car was level when I checked the oil last night.

Also - you called it the oil level light. So this is indicating an oil level problem, not an oil pressure problem?

 

Sorry that was a mistype, it's not an oil level light.... I called it that because I was remembering a while back I had that light flash at me in a 94 civic, turns out I was VERY low on oil because I had blown a few rings, within a week it started to smoke pretty bad...

The reason I mention to check for oil in/on the air filter is because on some older cars when the engine gets weaker you get "blow by" where a bit of oil goes past the PCV valve and goes into the air filter, this is typically a result of the rings getting weaker...

As for the sender yes there are a couple of wires going to it that may have oil, while you're back there make sure your oil filter is tight as well, I believe that light is actually a pressure sensor...

 

The oil warning lamp is triggered by a pressure SWITCH (not a proportional 'sensor') above the oil filter. I'm pretty sure it's only one wire, and it works by closing the circuit to ground.

So...
Look for enough dirt at the wire so it's making some contact through the dirt. But that's not very likely.

The oil pressure switch isn't the most reliable piece of instrumentation. If you own an oil pressure gauge, you canconnect it in place of that switch. Or just buy a new pressure switch & see.

If the oil pressure is truly getting low, you need to figure out why before your engine kills itself.

 

Ok - looks like it's going from bad to worse. Went out to a lunch meeting and noticed that the light doesn't come on when it's cold - even at low idle. Same thing on the way back - sitting for 1.5 hours, and the light didn't come on for about 5 miles.

There was an autozone across the lot so I went in there and got a new pressure switch ($3.99) - you're right, just one wire so it must just short to ground. I also picked up a bottle of CD2 Oil Detergent ( http://www.turtlewax.com/main.taf?p=2,2,2,6) - a guy at work suggested that there might be a sort of check valve in the oil pump that is gunked up or otherwise stuck, so I should try some sort of engine flush. Note - this is not a flush product that you dump in and run for 5 minutes just before an oil change. It's an additive that you're supposed dump in and leave in.

Anyway, driving back to the office about 5 miles. No light until I'm about to pull into the parking lot. But now it's not just flickering at low idle. It's flashing on and off at any RPM - flashing regularly - not flickering. At low idle it still does the flickering bit.

So ... any ideas? I'm a little concerned about driving this 20 miles home tonight.

The temperature bit is strange - viscosity related? I may try stopping at a jiffy lube just up the road and having 10w30 put in.

 

Wow - that's alot of blow-by to push it that far upstream through the intake! Seems unlikely, as the car doesn't smoke at all, and isn't using much oil - 1/2 quart in 3K miles. I'll check it though.

 

I wouldn't expect oil on the air filter. With blowby, you get reverse flow in the PCV vent line which connects to the big air intake duct between filter & throttlebody. Look for oily residue in that intake, not on the filter element.

Some cars (even some Civics) that vent line is close to the filter element, so it gets oily in those cars.

 

Maybe I'll pick up a new PCV on the way home just for grins.

 

Is the oil light coming on with the new sensor installed?