Oil light is on, slant 6

[shadango]

So over the last couple weeks my son said that the oil light flickered on when going down a hill...he checked and topped off the level.....wasn't very low but just a half quart/quart maybe.

He went ahead and did an oil change the other day and all was well for several days.

Then today on his way home the oil light comes on and stays on. He rechecked the oil level and its fine.

Engine (slant 6, 90k miles) isnt making any more noise than usual.....we wiggled the connector at the pressure switch and the light stayed lit and didnt flicker, so probably not a wiring issue.....the sender doesnt seem to be leaking any oil.....

Pulled the oil filler cap and looked in there with a flashlight while running... doesnt seem to be much splashing or flow as far as I can see at the rocker arm visible thru the hole....

We are gonna get a new switch and hope that is all it is...but that lack of oil splashing around......seems like there would be more? The top of the valve seemed to be wettish but not much else....how much oil should be splashing around up there?

I guess it could be the oil pump if not the switch, or a clogged pickup.....

We were just about getting ready to try and figure out where to mount a real oil pressure gauge too.....LOL

Any advice or thoughts on next steps? Coincidentally ....We JUST had a switch go bad on the barracuda (318) and when THAT one went, it started leaking...so it was obvious.....and I have a real guage in that car and we had plenty of pressure.....$8 later it was fine.....hoping that is the issue here.....

 

[Master M]

My dad had a 1969 Dodge Dart in 1973 with 23,000 orig miles with the slant six. I recall the oil light would flicker on and off at idle regularly. It did that for the decade he owned it and my buddy bought it to commute to college and he drove the heck out of it, and did nothing about the flickering light. I am not saying this is the same issue as yours, but it could be.

 

[shadango]

My dad had a 1969 Dodge Dart in 1973 with 23,000 orig miles with the slant six. I recall the oil light would flicker on and off at idle regularly. It did that for the decade he owned it and my buddy bought it to commute to college and he drove the heck out of it, and did nothing about the flickering light. I am not saying this is the same issue as yours, but it could be.

Well the light is on full bore now......I realized I didn't say that above so I corrected it.

 

[Master M]

I would hook up a temporary oil pressure gauge and make sure all is well, and log your pressure readings cold idle and cold fast idle, and hot idle and hot fast idle.

 

[shadango]

I would hook up a temporary oil pressure gauge and make sure all is well, and log your pressure readings cold idle and cold fast idle, and hot idle and hot fast idle.

When you say connect an oil gauge......Right at the pressure switch I guess? Any other good spots to "plug in" to?
I ordered a new switch and will try that.

I was curious as to wht the switch has three terminals...found this on moparchat (I love Google!!)

http://moparchat.com/forums/showthread.php?p=419390

"Red wire is 12 volts when the key is in the on position, the other gives 12 volt to the electric choke when the engine is running and the tan wire is for the oil light. "

 

[Aspen500]

If it is low oil pressure, could be the pump but more likely is excessive internal leaks and by leaks I mean bearing clearances.
The only place you can screw a mechanical gauge in is where the switch goes. Honestly can't recall a S6 that had low oil pressure though.
It is normal for the light to flicker at hot idle, nothing to worry about there but, on all the time is bad, lol.
Here's hoping it's only a faulty pressure switch

 

[Master M]

You can get small brass fittings to screw into where the oil pressure switch goes. Then attach the small plastic line from the gauge and run through a small opening in the firewall and connect to the gauge and mount temporarily until you are satisfied that the oil pressure is normal in all operating conditions.

 

[shadango]

You can get small brass fittings to screw into where the oil pressure switch goes. Then attach the small plastic line from the gauge and run through a small opening in the firewall and connect to the gauge and mount temporarily until you are satisfied that the oil pressure is normal in all operating conditions.

Thanks....I ended up buying a tester kit from HF....$20 after coupon......I like having tools...LOL

Gonna set the son loose on this today and cross my fingers.....

 

[shadango]

Dangit--- the son just tried swapping the switch and no change.

He tried threading in the adaptor from the HB oil gauge tester kit and got skeered cause its very snug and he is afraid of stripping threads (newbie)...

I guess i know what I will be doing when I go home today.

 

[shadango]

Had the boy pull the switch and crank/start the engine briefly......no oil came out.

Next step is to pull the relief valve and pray the spring is broke or that the valve is clogged.....

 

[shadango]

Son pulled the relief valve.....said that the spring looks ok, but the piston seemed to hang a little coming out....and it has what he calls corrosion on it that looks like it was in one spot a while.....

He said that when he got the piston out, some oil came out thru the oil switch hole where none had been before....

That all seems to indicate that maybe the pressure relief valve was stuck open?

Gonna stop for some crocus cloth on the way home to polish it and pray that it helps. Can I also polish the BORE of the pump without worry with it on the engine??

The worrying part is that he also said that he seems to see what he calls metal flake in the little bit of oil that came out.....not sure if its his inexperience saying that or if it really has metal in it.....hoping the bearings didnt start to toast.

 

[The_Red_Baron]

Metal found in my oil pump. Pulled the switch and piston. This came out. Thoughts???

 

[shadango]

I cant tell what it is that you are saying is metal......not the big "chunky" things is it?

 

[The_Red_Baron]

I cant tell what it is that you are saying is metal......not the big "chunky" things is it?

No. That's diet or something from under the car. In the center. Metal flakes. Like in paint

 

[shadango]

Well me and the son (Red_Baron) looked at this again together.

I dont think *I* see metal....some very very fine particulates maybe? Dont seem to be magnetic.

We pulled the relief valve and used crocus cloth on it.....used a bore scope to peak at the hole a bit.....tough to see but to me it looks fine in there......

Put it together and put the oil pressure gauge on it....ZERO...NADA ZILCH. None at cranking , running at high idle or low.

Not even any oil in the hose/fitting of the gauge......when you disassemble it all again oil DOES drip out a drop every minute or so........but clearly we have no oil flow.

The oil level is overfilled by about a quart I would say.......above the "full mark" by the same distance as between the "fill" and "full" marks.....which is weird because he put in 5 quarts just like the book says. One quart extra wouldnt cause the pump to fail would it?

So now we are down to either a bad pump, bad gear on the pump or cam, or clogged pickup/pickup sucking air. None of those jobs are fun.

That damn pump hangs off the side the way it does and looks like it would come out but I know it wont without lifting the engine....

We had done motor mounts a couple months back and had jacked the engine up from the bottom to do that,...... But not sure I can see doing THAT to change the oil pump......seems like the jack would block access. We didnt have to disconnect anything when we did that as far as rad hoses, exhaust etc.....I assume we would have to disconnect all that to get the engine to lift high enough to clear the pump?

Engine hoist I guess? Even then the legs will be under the front of the car.....

And removing the pan looks like a royal PITA........center link, exhaust has to come out, proabbly STILL have to lift the motor, right?

So what would you all do??

 

[BudW]

How many miles on her?

I’d recommend taking a spark plug out and either perform a compression test on one cylinder (if you can’t stick a finger/thumb over the spark plug hole) and crank engine over.

No compression tells me the camshaft is not rotating.

I wonder of all of the teeth on the plastic/metal timing gear has worn down to “nuttin”?

 

[shadango]

Oh it has compression....it runs. Just cant run it long what with no oil pressure.

 

[Justwondering]

I am sorry for the oil problem, but this is great detective work. I am really interested in the final answer.

But til then, can you tell what is crocus cloth?

 

[wvdodgemirada]

My brother had an oiling problem on his big block last year. Long story short, he started his car and it had no oil pressure. he shut it off after 15 seconds. After doing a lot of reading on other forums, he took the distributor and everything out so that he could use a rod to reach the oil pump. He spun the oil pump and still nothing, so loosened the oil filter and tried it again. He then had oil pressure. Apparently he had air in the filter. Something easy to try if nothing else. His car has ran fine since then.

 

[BudW]

Scratch off what I said, then.

Crocus cloth is an abrasive sheet similar to sand paper or emery cloth but covered with a layer of very fine loose iron oxide particles rather than with bound grains of abrasive.
It is intended for final metal and gemstone finishing and is available in various grades (particle sizes).