I drive a 2000 Mercury Sable. Tonight I came home after about 10 or 15 mile drive, the engine was in normal temperature range. When I switched from drive to park, the oil pressure light flickered but never fully illuminated. Then I began switching into different gears. Drive, park, reverse etc. Every once in a while when I switched into a different gear the light would flicker buy never fully illuminate. It has never done this before. Is this a serious problem?
11 Answers
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check your oil, it could be low, and older oil is thinner and generates less pressure, so try changing it( and the filter). keep an eye on it because if your oil pump is worn engine damage may result.
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Oil Pressure Light Flickers
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Oil Light Flickering
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The most common cause of oil pressure lights, especially in ten year old cars, is a bad oil pressure sender. However, it is critical you not drive the car until this is sorted out.
My approach is to blindly replace the sender. The sender is cheap and replacing it is about the same labor as connecting an oil pressure gauge. If the light stays out the sender was the problem and life is good. If the light continues to come on there is an actual oil pressure problem. At that point it is a job for a professional or experienced amateur.
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If that is the only time you ever see the oil pressure light, everything is fine. If it starts coming on when to stop at a light, or the oil light comes on when you are sitting in gear and stopped, but goes away as soon as you accelerate, there may be issues, but when you first turn on the key, there is 0 oil pressure, and once started it takes a brief moment to build up oil pressure. Its when those warning lights occur while driving normally, then you panic, but not before, relax, your car sounds like its working right. you can sleep at night ok?
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The normal reason that the light would flicker is due to low oil psi caused by worn out main bearings. i would guess that you have low oil psi at an idle and a lot of miles on the car. you can have the mains replaced but chances are the the whole engine should be replaced or rebuilt. if the bearings are worn out the rest of the engine probably is too. at higher rpm the engine can build more psi so the light would come on more at low rpm, the lower the rpm the lower the psi. oil pumps dont wear out unless foreign matter has gone thru it like metal shavings. low oil level would cause the light to flicker at high rpm not low. oil filters, or the mounting have bypass on all cars unless it has been modified. so a plugged filter would not cause the light to flicker at low rpm. a plugged oil passage in the engine might , but if its that dirty the engine is probably bad anyway due to dirty oil and lack of oil changes.
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From the very random symptoms described, it sounds like a loose connector to the oil pressure switch. Check if the oil level is right and then check the connector.
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That means you are low on engine oil, or your oil filer is lose … Check your oil level tomorrow morning on cold engine
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Probably one of two things. Low oil. Need of oil change.
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I don’t think it’s serious. But i would check to make sure there’s enough oil in your engine.
