Oil Pressure Light???
 

Hey guys, 2 days ago my oil pressure light briefly came on and I'm hoping its due to nothing major going on? A little background, 2001 2.7 liter, I recently hit 131k miles. I have replaced IMS, RMS, all oil changes have been on schedule since I purchased the car @ 109k miles.

I'm hoping the sensor went off due to the outside temp. I had driven about 50 miles and I was reversing a few hundred feet into a parking spot, and when I pulled in I noticed the light had come on, not a blinking pressure light, just stayed solid. I went into work for about an hour, came back out, cranked the car up, no smoke from exhaust, no oil pressure light, drove it home about 10 miles on the interstate, got on it pretty good and nothing. Oil level was normal ( i'm about 500 miles away from another oil change), so my optimism leads me to believe that this pressure light was possibly due to the extreme outside temps in Mississippi, and the heat made the oil get so thin that it triggered the sensor? i have occasional smoke on start up (once every 20 or so startups). I checked the aos which I have no idea if it is original or not, not hard to remove oil cap when engine is cranked although there is a decent amount of vacuum. So I am replacing the aos within the next few weeks.

Has anyone else had an issue like this before? and any suggestions or opinions on what maybe triggered the light to come on?

thanks guys

an oil pressure light, even a solid one that's intermittent is something you want to get addressed ASAP! i had the same engine same mileage and when i got a light 2 months ago my engine was already toast. it happened when i was hard on it for about an hour, car started shaking, pulled over and light came on. light went away and it drove what seemed to be normally but when i went and pulled the filter right away it was full of metal.

hope your fate is better than mine though i really do!
if you're so close to an oil change i say drop the oil now and check the filter and housing carefully and see if it's clean. maybe it was just older thinned oil and the heat.

good luck!

here's my thread on how it started, you might find some of the advice given to me useful:

http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/62041-my-first-real-scare-boxster-need-some-advice.html

Your oil pressure sensor is a simple pressure switch designed to trip the MIL if the pressure drops below a preset level. It is not effected by temperature. If the light comes on, either your oil pressure is too low, or the switch is failing. Standard test is to remove the switch and hook up a known gauge to read the pressure; if it is good, replace the switch. If it is bad, you need to dig further to find out why. In any case, you should not be driving the car until the problem is diagnosed and corrected.

Darby - a generic switch is $5 - just fit a new one if you do not have a tester ?But not until you checked:

1. Oil level low on dip stick not the gauge?
2. Drain the old oil now and inspect for debris
3, Post photo of what you find in the pleats of the oil filter.
4. Don't be casual about this - you could be a few minutes/miles away from a very expensive engine failure.

When you were backing up and the light came on, where you driving on level ground or was the ground sloped? Were you riding it hard and then turning the car quickly with a lot of G's right at the end such that the oil in your engine sloshed and your oil pickup screen to the oil pump took in a snort of air?

thanks for the input guys, really helpful insight as always!!! My local auto parts store didn't have a filter in stock (go figure) so waiting on new filter to arrive in the mail.
when I was reversing the car, i did hit the gas a few times in way that there was a significant jerk (you know how sensitive reverse is!!) and I followed that by a sharp turn into a spot which is what I'm hoping happened. Oil sloshed around and triggered it. But I will inspect it further when I change the oil. As far as the switch is concerned, does anyone have the part # for that item? and or install directions as well

thanks again

You just starved it for a second, I think you are fine as long as is not turning on any more