I just had a backyard mechanic do some work on my 94 accord (just purchased at 158,000 miles). When he changed the valve cover gasket he removed a bunch of sludge. While on my way home the oil light started to blink then stayed solid. Almost at the same time I started to hear a whining/wheezing sound coming from the engine (car sounds like it has asthma).

I pulled over, checked the oil level, it was perfect. Started car back up, noise still constant and increases pitch when revving, oil light stayed off at first but within 5 minutes, blinked and then stayed solid again.

From other threads on this forum it sounds like an oil pressure issue. I am pressed for time to deliver this car to my daughter for her birthday, how DIY is changing an oil pump? Or is there a way to clear the system out first and see if perhaps some sludge has worked its way into the system and is now clogging things up?

 

It is possible that the oil sump screen is plugged up with sludge, remove the oil pan and clean it all out.
I have in the past done this to sludged up engines; remove the oil pan and valve cover, spray a bunch of 'purple clean' all over top and bottom, then use a high pressure washer to blast it all off.
then put it all back together refill with oil and new oil filter, hope there hasn't been bearing damage done from oil starvation.

 

does that whining/wheezing sound make sense to go along with a clogged oil pump?

 

today i have been unable to make the oil light come on. i put some cardboard under the car and there are no leaks, oil level is fine.

should i try running some seafoam through it? will that clean things up inside?

 

One potential problem is that some sludge has been broken loose during the original work. That clogs up the oil pickup screen & bad things happen.

Seems to me the safest thing is to drop the pan & clean it out. If you can't do that, how about draining the oil to see if any sludge comes out with it. Maybe take a piece of wire & poke around thru the drain hole to see if there's crud in the pan.

So now the oil light doesn't come one... but what about the noise? The noise makes me afraid of damage from lack of oil.

 

the noise seems more likely to be coming from the new belts that were installed, new power steering pump also. maybe a further adjustment is needed?

 

Oh Sure, NOW ya tell the whole story [sm=headbang.gif]
Sure a new P/S pump that has some air bubbles trapped in it will make some strange 'wheezing' noise, but the air bubbles should burp out after a couple of drive cycles.
if you think it is the new belts raise the hood and spray a shot of WD-40 on the inside of the belt to see if it shuts up the noise [WD-40 will evaporate quickly.]
Next few oil changes you might want to try Castrol GTX 10w30, it will help dissolve the sludge.
But if you do get the oil light coming on again I'd strongly suggest you drop the oil pan and clean it and the oil sump screen.

 

i grew up using castrol 10w30 in my dads accords and then my own civic. but with the high mileage should i use the castrol syntec instead? LO AND BEHOLD that asthma sound has changed! its not as loud as before.

driving it tonight and will be a better test to see if that oil light comes on.

 

LOL There's no substitute for hearing it firsthand. HondaDude & I can sit back & claim that WE would have instantly recognized the difference just from the sound.