1996 Toyota Avalon Logo
Posted on Jul 24, 2017

Oil pressure light periodically comes on

The oil lamp icon comes on after about 2 minutes after starting .... then tends to sporadically flicker on and off for about 2 minutes .... then stays on ..... but does tend to go off when going up a hill at high RPM. "Check engine" light is on but the code doesn't reflect anything having to do w/ the oil pump or anything else having to do w/ oil circulation. I'm hoping it's the oil pressure sending unit ... Thx

1 Answer

Michael S Fletcher

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  • Contributor 16 Answers
  • Posted on Jul 24, 2017
Michael S Fletcher
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Joined: Jun 05, 2017
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Most likely need to replace oil sending unit

5 Related Answers

Anonymous

  • 405 Answers
  • Posted on Jan 07, 2009

SOURCE: The oil gauge in my

have you changed the oil sending unit, this is the most probable cause.

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Anonymous

  • 6982 Answers
  • Posted on May 22, 2009

SOURCE: low oil pressure

Just guessing, but it sounds like you are loosing pressure from the bearings.....If you had the crankshaft journals cut, or if they were slightly out of round to begin with, this can happen. Cutting removes material...the journals on most modern engines are too thin to do this (same weight saving idea that gave us rotors that you need to throw away) After cutting, they go egg shaped. Not cutting and starting with out of round condition will essentially give you the same problem but may take a bit longer to fail.
Of course, check all clearances and sealing points, but I believe that's where you will find the problem.

Anonymous

  • 74 Answers
  • Posted on May 30, 2009

SOURCE: Oil light on when hard braking or turning.

hi there this sounds to me like your oil level indicator is saying the oil is low, if this is not the case you need an oil change.
or to stop hard turns and hard braking lol.

Regards JR

Anonymous

  • 3600 Answers
  • Posted on Jun 17, 2009

SOURCE: Oil pump flickering on 93 Camry

Acheep way to find out is had some power punch to the oil buy a quart for 6 bucks drain a quart of oil and put it in it the light does not xome on then it's fixed. if it still comes on check the pressuere sending unit it could be defective to.

Anonymous

  • 205 Answers
  • Posted on Jan 06, 2010

SOURCE: 2000 Tundra 4.7L oil pressure fluctuation

Any smoke from the back end? Did you check the oil level? Have you added oil recently? Its possible it might have been over filled. (which can be worse than underfilled) Also, open the radiator cap and check for white gunge. If its there you have a blown oil seal somewhere which is leaking into the coolant. Obviously, also check to see if you enough oil in there first.

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3.5L V6. Why does oil pressure light turn on intermittently?

1. As a basic measure I would make sure the correct grade and spec oil is going in the engine. You can no longer trust that a local mechanic or even a dealer service center will necessarily use the required product as stipulated by the manufacturer. It is always better to buy and supply your own so you know the correct product is being used.

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The first thing the mechanic should have done when you reported the oil pressure issue is to hook up an independent mechanical oil pressure gauge and check oil pressure when the engine is hot at different RPMs. Any oil pressure issue will usually show up at idle when the engine has been warmed up properly and the engine oil is hot (unless you have some kind of intermittent oil pressure relief valve that is sticking). Just replacing parts without actually knowing what the oil pressures are at different RPMs is being sloppy and negligent.
This is what you need to do now. Contact a business that can hook up their own pressure gauge to your engine and have them check the oil pressure readings at various RPMs when the engine is fully warm. If there is a low oil pressure issue it will show up on the oil pressure gauge. As you have a new oil pump there should be no issue now with oil volume or a sticking oil pressure relief valve which on your engine should be part of the oil pump assembly.

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How well your engine with over 90000 miles has been maintained depends on how often all the owners changed the engine oil and filter , whether they kept the engine oil level up to full (most owners rarely ever check oil levels between services) and whether they always used the correct product. Manufacturer oil change intervals shown in service schedules can be 10000, 12000 miles or more which is much too infrequent for the type of use 95% of private vehicles experience which typically are on the severe to very severe use end of the spectrum. Engine oil typically needs to be changed at least at half the mileage shown in service books (at least twice as frequently) and thus at least every 5000 miles if you want your engine to last.
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