Oil Gauge not working...Oil level fine

Morning

I have a 1996 V6. started the struck yesterday and the Oil Gauge did not register + Engine light on. Oil level is all good...looking for reco.


M.

 

I assume you mean the oil temp?

With the light on, you've got some codes. Get a code reader and see what the codes are. Go from there.

Sounds like a bad oil temp sensor or something, though...

 

Do you mean the oil pressure light? Or do 96s actually have an oil temp gauge?

 

That's a good point, I was actually thinking of the coolant temp needle.

Is the oil light a temp or pressure warning?

 

The oil light is for low oil pressure. Not sure what psi it comes on at for Toyotas. They call them idiot lights cause when the light comes on & stays on many times damage has already been done. But that's back in the day, not sure about newer vehicles but anytime that light comes.on other than when you first turn the key on, that's not good!

 

I thought the oil lantern light was an oil pressure warning but maybe it indicates both?

The oil gauges the early 1st gens have on the dash...I'm not sure if that's pressure or temp either. I would assume pressure though

With the CEL on at the same time I personally would avoid driving it if at all possible...if there's an oil pressure problem that won't end well if it gets driven around. The oil level can look normal and fine on the dipstick but if there's problem with oil pressure you shouldn't drive it. First things first get those codes scanned to see what they are

 

As far as I was aware, the idiot lights are supposed to come on BEFORE you do a bunch of damage. Because otherwise, what's the point of having them at all?

 

From what I've heard by the time that oil lantern comes on you've got like 3 seconds to shut the engine off before you risk seizing it...IDK how much truth there is to that or if it depends on what the issue is. But I certainly would if it happened to me.

A guy I work with drove his Scion around after the oil lantern light came on because he thought it was a maintenance light for an oil change. He ended up spending thousands getting the engine rebuilt lol.

 

Doesn't sound like his CEL is on. To me it sounds like he's describing the oil pressure light not coming on momentarily like the CEL does when first starting the truck.

The oil pressure sending units (just a pressure switch) don't usually go bad. It could be just disconnected. If it's not plugged in the light won't come on, well usually, never tried it on a Toyota. Or the bulb could simply be bad if it's not lighting up momentarily when key turned on.

 

ah yeah I think I misunderstood the OPs original post

 

Cause the idiots don't shut off the engine right away when they see the light or even notice it right away.

 

This is why I find my co-worker's story hilarious...how someone can make it to be 33 years old and not know the difference between a maintenance light and an immediate warning sign is mind numbingly sad.

 

Some people are just not very familiar with cars. Happens more than you think/we know. I guess he never read the manual!

 

If the light is red it means turn it off NOW. If its yellow, means wife can drive 6 months before mentioning it.

 

OPs post isn't exactly clear, though, either.

@windglider can you give us some more info?

Which light is going on, and for how long?

and what do you mean "oil gauge"?

 

well that's different from what you said before, lol. I don't disagree with this.

You'd think that ANY unusual circumstance being displayed on the dash cluster would be a cause for concern. The whole "my car is trying to tell me something, I wonder what it is..."

I had a "discussion" with my wife a while ago about the turn signal hyper flash. She never knew that it was a sign that a turn signal was out and was kind of offended when I suggested that was fairly common knowledge. The point being, that if one turn signal suddenly flashes 2x faster than the other one, something is obviously different, and even if you don't know exactly why, it should be a sign to take it somewhere and ask an expert, or hell, even google it...

If you're not observant enough to even notice something like that, then damn, should you even be allowed to drive? lol

 

without derailing the thread too much (too late probably) I think it just has to do with adults in my generation just not caring enough to make it a priority. Another co worker of mine nearly did the same thing to the Lexus he had and that thing was a POS because he never took care of it. He asked me to help him check his oil because he couldn't remember the last time it was done, and he was getting warning lights on his dash. I pulled his dipstick and it was bone dry His ATF fluid was barely registering and his brake fluid looked like motor oil. Again this was a separate co worker lol.

 

Funny, you're story reminded me of this kid/customer when I worked at the shop. Not funny for him though. I used to always do his oil changes on his Civic, he would always watch me & I let him cause he was fascinated with cars. Then one day he stopped coming.

Months later his car pulled up on a tow truck & I asked him what happened. He said he tried to do his own oil change cause it looked easy. Engine started smoking, oil leaked from everywhere & then it would no longer start. His words.

Turns out he would just pour in 4 quarts & change the oil filter whe it was due. I asked him about how much oil drained out when he was doing the oil change. That look on his face I will never forget as he said "what do you mean?" Poor kid never drained the oil before he put new oil in & that was his second "oil change"! I told him, that's why they call it an oil CHANGE.

I ended up rebuilding his engine, SOHC D16, kid spent a lot of money, JE pistons, Eagle rods, ported head, cam, etc. A month later his car got stolen, found with the engine gone. Owner of the shop who was my buddy bought the car off of hime, I dropped a DOHC B18C in it, & he later sold it. Poor kid, never saw him again after that.

 

That's not unique to your generation. Take my oldest brother, who is now 49. Back when he was in college, he called up my dad and was talking to him about random stuff. Then the subject of his 83 VW GTI comes up.

Brother: "oh yeah, I noticed this light on my dash came on, what's that mean?"

Dad: "when was the last time you checked the oil?"

Brother: "the oil?"

Dad: