Low oil pressure / level light?

Hey guys,
so for the first time since I bought the truck, I am having an engine issue.
If the truck sits for a good amount of time (8 or more hours it seems), when it comes time to start it I get a low oil level/pressure light. To clarify, this is the light under the speedo in the center and is a red oil bucket with a drop of oil coming out. I have tried adding oil and i currently have half a bottle of seafoam in there as well thinking it might be sludge. Seafoam has been in for maybe 20 miles.
The light will go off after about 20 seconds of idling.
I will run the seafoam for the recommended 100 miles and then change my oil but does anyone know what could cause this or why it is doing this? Anyone had this issue?
The oil is maybe 3-4000 miles old and is valvoline non-synthetic. Can't remember off the top of my head what filter is on it. Oil isn;t black and looks normal brown and doesn't drip excessively like it is thin. Truck doesn't appear to be burning oil and there isn't a leak to be found in or under the motor bay.
I'm stumped!
I am thinking an oil change will likely fix it but I am still wanting to know what happened so it doesn't happen again!
Time to go back to synthetic I suppose...

 

Uh you mean it comes on when you turn the key on?

 

Well of course it does that too but it is on when the motor is running and then shuts off after about 20-30 seconds of idling (warming the car up basically)

 

Maybe the anti drainback valve on your oil filter is faulty, leaving no oil inside it after the amount of hours you leave it parked.

I notice this when I change my oil and have a new filter on. There is no oil in the filter since it's new and it takes several seconds (not 30, maybe 5) for the same light to go out. But during the time frame in between oil changes, I don't have that light on.

 

I kind of wondered that too. Sadly, I think i have a fram on it now. I went with whatever was on sale last time just because before I was using royal purple and the expenses started adding up. Was like a $70 oil change lol!

I will try a new filter and oil tomorrow. It is supposed to be only 3 degrees here today and I am not sure I can get myself to change the oil in that weather lol.

Anyone recommend just trying a filter first?
Oil was still good but needs to be changed in about 1,000 to 2,000 anyway.

 

I'd just change everything all at the same time, whether you do that soon or later is up in the air.

Did you ever see this thread? You'll shit when you see the Fram inners. If you buy Toyota oil filters in bulk it ends up being about $4-$5 apiece.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/123608-toyota-oil-filter-made-thailand-vs-competition.html

 

I dare not even look...I have heard the horror stories.
I will buy a wix or mobil 1 this time.
I should have just done that before but it was the basic auto store oil change bundle special thing so I just went with that.
Never though I would be dealing with this because of it...(so we think anyway)
I think sludge is an issue too but can't prove that theory.
Either way an oil change is in order I suppose.

 

yep buy the oil filters in bulk (ebay sometimes has good deals on them) and if you have costco membership you can get cases of Mobil 1 synthetic on sale. I just picked up three more cases last weekend as I was getting low. I think after the coupon it worked out to $26 for each case.

 

Wouldn't hurt to run a flush through the motor while your at it... I doubt you'll have sludge problems running RP but another member posted earlier about frying his engine with just 120k miles due to oil starvation from sludge build up, supposedly hanging the oil every 3-5k miles.

 

My money is on the filter - I mean the Fram, as said, its probably a defective anti-drain back valve, or it was their cheapo line that doesn't even have one. You are wasting money putting synthetic motor oil in without any decent filtration, you'd be far better off with an OEM filter and any decent non-synthetic oil.

 

get factory oil filter from Toyota. Its better than aftermarket. Get that team out ASAP. Its probably what caused oil pressure to go down. Also hope there is no piece of team sticker in one of the overflow valves keeping it open. Still you have to do oil pressure check after you change.

 

my work truck does it occassionaly on "cold" startups (to me that's less than 40deg F) its a gmc with whatever the oil-change place puts in.

non synthetic oil is thicker when cold and that's what I attributed it to.

my first truck however, was a chevy that started getting nasty oil for reasons unknown to me, I had since new and ran royal purple, Castrol, mobil one, whatever my teenage brain decided was "best" vs what I could afford. that truck started getting very low pressure maybe 1k miles after change, I would dump the oil, sludgy, yucky muck, put new, and watch it happen again very soon. I hope that's not whats happening to you

my taco gets nothing but mobil 1 synth and I have never noticed the light.

 

That's a long time even if the filter was empty it shouldn't take more than a few seconds. A new Toyota filter has no oil in it just after a change and it still only takes a few seconds for the light to go out so if (doubtful) the Fram filter is leaking down it still should go out in a few seconds. Now might be a good time to actually check the oil pressure with a gauge when you start it and see what's going on it could well be a bad sensor but until you check the pressure you'll never know. It is entirely possible the pickup screen is partly plugged up. At least it's not a bad job to pull the lower pan.

 

well it was worst this morning but it was also negative 5 here not including wind chill. Before you comment on the weather, this is abnormal even for the part of Montana I live in. This is far and away the coldest I have ever had this truck in. Fired up no problems though. *(my truck says screw block heaters!).

As for the oil pressure, well this morning wasn't great. The light didn't go off after 30 seconds so I shut her down and tried refiring her and it was still there. Let it go another 30 and still there. So I shut her down and tried to think of what I could do to get to work and/or what I could do to fix it when it is negative 5 outside and blowing 7 ways to sunday and I'm shivering cold. Gave it a 15 second rest and figured I would try it one more time. No light this time, good to go.

Haven't been able to get an oil change done yet because of the weather and what not. Might just take it to an oil place today (i know I know but otherwise I'll have to keep doing this for another few days) and get it done there. Better than nothing right?
At least it will get a new filter and oil...

stay tuned.

 

Oh and it isn't an oil Level Light. Only pressre.

At best it could be a sticky pressure sensor. Then again it could be the oil pump ( worst case ).



If it were mine I would get an oil pressure gauge and see what the pressure is actually reading. If you cannot get a gauge replace the Oil Pressure switch ( sensor ) and proceed from there.

I would not continue guessing and possibly wipe the bearings or seize the engine

 

I was having almost the exact same problem here in Ohio during the cold. I wasn't getting 30 seconds but more than 10. I figured the oil was thick due to the cold so I started throwing a 100 watt utility light under the oil pan when I parked for the the night if it was below 10 degrees. This significantly reduced the amount of time the oil light stayed on at startup but it didn't return to normal till we got back up to 17 degrees. Going back down again tonight though.

 

I agree with this. 20 to 30 seconds is an eternity with no pressure. I question that it is the filter because even with an oil an filter change the light should not be on any length of time and you are not draining the system. Changing the sending unit may fix it but if not You need to check and see if your operating pressure is up to par.

 

Coldest it's been this winter was -27 my oil light was on about 3 sec.

 

OK, I would sugest if you can go to dealer to do oil change? Make sure you put synthetic Mobil 1 and factory filter. See if that helps, but do Oil pressure test anyway. That will tell you if you have problem or its just sticky pressure switch (also a possibility)
-5F should not make any difference unless you having some issue. Even at -14F my truck had oil pressure immediately, probably even faster due to oil having higher viscosity and not flowing through filter that easily.

EDIT: For people lookign for OIl pressure test kits look in Harbor freight. Their kit has Toyota fitting.

 

Hmm, yeah, don't keep driving it until its fixed. That sounds much more serious than what I understood from your first post. JimmyH gave great advise. Don't keep driving it without the problem being resolved, unless you want to spend some serious money.