Oil Pressure Light ocassionally flashing on

[Corkys]

Does anyone have any suggestions why my oil pressure light is ocassionally flashing on. My oil pressure at idle is around 8 bar, and around 2000rpm it is around the 30's. But the thing is the oil pressure light only flashes, for a very short period of time, when I accelerate hard in 1st gear.

Any Suggestions, checks, etc??

Cheers,

Karl

[TVR_owner]

8 bar tick over would not be an issue, 8 psi however is too low if the hot idle is at 9-950 rpm.

I would suggest you consider changing pressure sensor and maybe a service if oil/filter are old.

If that fails, suggest the engine is on it's way out.

[Corkys]

Cheers for the reply, I only had it serviced 10 mths 2000 miles ago, and it had a full 12k service inc tappets. I have read about the pressure sensor having intermitent faults, but why does it only flash when accelerating hard in first gear and not the rest of the time??

I am taking it to TVR power at the end of Feb for another service so I will have to pick there brains. TBH the car runs fine other than that.

[Barkychoc]

8 bar would be 120 psi at idle which would be too high (and not possible?)
8psi too low symptoms as said of a worn engine or other problem.
I am no speed six expert but this pretty much universally applies to any engine.
Has is got the right oil??

I would get some professional advice fast.

[TVR_owner]

Barkychoc said:

8 bar would be 120 psi at idle which would be too high (and not possible?)
8psi too low symptoms as said of a worn engine or other problem.
I am no speed six expert but this pretty much universally applies to any engine.
Has is got the right oil??

I would get some professional advice fast.

I stand corrected.

8 bar wouldn't be achievable with a standard s6

[Corkys]

I meant PSI. Not enough cups of teas yet.

Around 8-12 psi is correct at idle I believe.

I use 0w40 fully synthetic Mobil 1 as advised, I know there are many discussions on this. It has used around 1 litre in 2000 miles, so not excessive comsumption.

Edited by Corkys on Friday 4th January 08:40

[Cockey]

Is there an actual light that comes on, or just the LCD warning message? Interested because I wasn't aware there were actual lights that flashed.

I've heard people mention that Dom at TVR Power says not to worry too much about low oil pressure at tick over (when engine is up to temp) as the sensor is not very accurate at low pressures. I wouldn't say 8psi (especially if your idle speed is a little low) is all that unusual if the engine is hot enough, although I never like to see single digit psi figures at any time.

What sort of revs does your car show at hot idle? My last service at TVR Power had my car come out at about 650-700rpm which was a little low for me as it would cut out on cold mornings, so I've raised it to 1,000rpm. This also means I never see low oil pressure figures.

[Corkys]

My idle revs are very low, something that I was going to get altered at the next serviced, when very cold outside temps you are looking around 500-600 rpms, and it does want to cut-out, when warm it is 600-700 rpms and ticks-over fine.

The warning light is not on the LCD display but is one of the symbols, the little oil can, at first I thought it meant low oil, but after refering to the handbook it is pressure not level.

Cheers for all your suggestions.

[Konrod]

If it helps, mine was rebuilt by Dom so I know the engine is good, idles at around 700 and typically shows around 9 PSI at around 70c oil temp and 5 or 6 above 80. Spoke to Dom who said not to worry, the temp and pressure sensors aren't that accurate.

[ruta87]

8psi at tick over is the lower end of normal, i wouldn't worry too much - Warning codes can appear randomly, i get one appear every now and again for the speed sensor when im in traffic and it gets hot. Get it looked at for a piece of mind but id ignore engine rebuild nonsense! (mine developed a horrendous backfire over xmas which turned out to be the coil pack but people get a bit over excited anytime something goes wrong!) - its a stuck valve, head rebuild etc) my old Audi S3 used to have the oil warning light come on all the time - it was just a known fault with the car and there wasn't any issue. As we all know, the electronics in a tuscan aren't the best!

[TVR_owner]

If it's a concern, get your local garage to fit a manual gauge (temporarily).

A fit engine at mormal operating temperature should be closer to 20 psi at 1000 rpm. Low oil pressure at idle = wear or poor oil.

Edited by TVR_owner on Friday 4th January 12:52

[DAVEY DEE]

My Cerb used to do this.High revs,accelerating & the warning light would flash.Mine is now being rebuilt, but I was told my oil was way too thin & mine was 5/40.

[NCE 61]

The oil pressure light looks at oil pressure against engine speed, if it is coming on while accelerating would suggest a possible pressure sensor problem. 8 psi on hot idle of 700RPM is a bit low, idle speed is best set to 900-950 RPM.

[TVR_owner]

NCE 61 said:

The oil pressure light looks at oil pressure against engine speed, if it is coming on while accelerating would suggest a possible pressure sensor problem. 8 psi on hot idle of 700RPM is a bit low, idle speed is best set to 900-950 RPM.

That's a clever sensor. Most just read pressure, which, when all is well, varies with engine speed ( other than when the relief operates ). Are you sure of your statement ?

Edited by TVR_owner on Friday 4th January 14:38

[Robertjp]

Just my two penneth but i wouldnt leave this without further investigation if i were you.

If a genuine problem it could be indicative of oil starvation, risking wear and / or further quite significant damage (e.g. thrown big end etc)

As has been suggested, a manual check would be one option, or a sensor change is easy enouugh.

[NCE 61]

TVR_owner said:

That's a clever sensor. Most just read pressure, which, when all is well, varies with engine speed ( other than when the relief operates ). Are you sure of your statement ?

Edited by TVR_owner on Friday 4th January 14:38

I had a similar issue to the OP on my first Tuscan,and after some investigation by dealer it was explained to me that the oil light is not triggered from an independant switch, but from the oil pressure sensor and engine speed via the dash software.From memory the light operates at <30 psi with an engine speed of >2500 RPM. Replacing the oil pressure sensor rectified the problem on mine.

[TVR_owner]

NCE 61 said:

TVR_owner said:

That's a clever sensor. Most just read pressure, which, when all is well, varies with engine speed ( other than when the relief operates ). Are you sure of your statement ?

Edited by TVR_owner on Friday 4th January 14:38

I had a similar issue to the OP on my first Tuscan,and after some investigation by dealer it was explained to me that the oil light is not triggered from an independant switch, but from the oil pressure sensor and engine speed via the dash software.From memory the light operates at <30 psi with an engine speed of >2500 RPM. Replacing the oil pressure sensor rectified the problem on mine.

Interesting, never heard of anything like that before.

[Chim450]

Silly question. But have you checked your oil level? I have had this before on hard acceleration and cornering, checked the level, which was a bit low, topped up and the light went away. Just a thought.