Low Oil Pressure Light on Cold Start
 

Two oil changes ago, I changed my oil filter to the LN spin on adapter, and used the NAPA gold filter that they recommend with it. used my regular oil and everything was great until the next morning. When I started it up, it was clanking and making all sorts of nasty noises, and then the oil pressure light started coming on. I immediately shut it down. When I re started, it was smooth and fine, I drove away and the car ran great. This would recur only when the engine was cold. Me being nervous, ordered new oil filters, and the upgraded oil pump spring and valve. while I waited for the parts to arrive, I ran to the auto parts store and grabbed a new filter, and installed it. the issue went away. I drove the car for about 2000 miles, decided it was time for the new pump spring, and new oil. I installed it and for the first two days it was great, every cold start was extremely smooth, no clanking or lifter noise like usual. However, suddenly it has changed again and is back to the way it was. If the oil light comes on and I immediately shut it off and re start it, all the noises go away and its fine. Everything was fine with the oil change.

I am wondering if the spin on filters are collapsing internally? I'm only installing them hand tight and I believe I had overtightened the first one. I was planning on replacing the filter again, and the oil pump hex drive, and possibly the pump gears as well. I can't seem to find anything on the internet describing what I'm experiencing.
its a 2003 Boxster s with almost 138k miles. any help would be appreciated!

Extremely unlikely; spin on filters are mechanically much better made than the factory cartridge filters (which are much more prone to failures). In all the years I have been changing customer's oil filters and cutting every spin on apart to check the media, I have never seen one even distorted much less collapsed. It just doesn't happen.

Your cold start oiling issue rests elsewhere (pump, oil itself, bypass pressure relief system, etc.).

JFP, you're one of my Number 1 go-tos as 99% of the time I'll cede to your recommendations. That said...

I'm curious why you didn't recommend OP remove the adapter and filter and reinstall the cannister/filter to see if the problem replicates. Word? :cheers:

Simple: The LN adaptor is an inanimate object, it has no moving parts, so there is no way it could only impact cold start issues. If it was the adaptor, you would have either great flow and pressure at all times, or none. Add in the hundreds of these we have installed that all worked perfectly from the start and still do today, and I don't see the adaptor being the problem.

Thank you, Sir. :cheers:

It was interesting that the issue went away after I changed the filter, and then has come back now that I have put the same type of filter I had on when I first installed the adapter. So I have gone through 3 spin on filters, the two NAPA gold ones that LN sells with the adapters have been problem ones, and then and STP gold equivalent I got at the store didn't give me oil light issues.

If you don't think its the filter then where would you recommend starting? I already installed a new spring along with the 997 part, and was looking at installing the new hex drive for the pump, along with new gears, but would probably want to do anything else while I'm in there.

Different filters may have different resistance for the oil flow, depending on the pore size. Normally this should not make any difference to a properly functioning engine. Probably you have a leak somewhere in the system. This can be a lot of things, like a broken o-ring at the pick up tube, damaged oil pump rotors or something at the relief valve, etc. I would think the oil pump can`t keep up with the increased resistance given by the better filter. With the engine warming up it gets easier for the pump to push the oil through the filter material, hence the oil lamp flickering stops. I would drop the sump and start inspecting things around there.

First place I would start in my shop would be to pull out the electronic oil pressure sender and temporarily install a known quality mechanical gauge to see what the pressure readings actually are when the phenomenon usually occurs (we have seen multiple examples of weak or failing sending units creating problems). If changing the filter brand still changes the oil pressure, the filter is the issue. Just as an aside, we do not use the NAPA gold filters, we buy our Wix XP filters (Wix XP filters are specifically designed for use with full synthetic oils) by the case and can say that we have never had any problems with them. Wix used to be the supplier for NAPA, but I do not know if that is still the case.

I looked, seems like I have some oil coming from where the pump slides into the block, where the hex drive is. I have a feeling there’s a problem that’s just being highlighted by the more resistance from the oil filter. The sump has definitely been dropped before. Going to change the filter and try cranking it with the ignition relay pulled and then see what happens when it fires up. If it’s fine after the cranking then I’m going to lean towards a worn pump not building pressure fast enough

Just an update, saturday I took the car out. When I got to the light in my neighborhood it started running rough. I shut it off and started it back up, ran fine. Went to the gas station and filled up and it was fine. Was decelerating down a slight hill and the oil light came on. Shut it off and coasted and pulled over. Started it up and it was fine all the way home. I have it up on ramps at my house. Started it up the next day, same clanking and oil light. Shut it off. Then later in the day, I pulled the ignition fuse and cranked it quite a bit. Put the fuse back in and it started up flawlessly. No odd noises and it seemed to run really really smooth.

As of right now my plan is to replace the oil pump and also drop the oil pan and reseal/ inspect pickup tube and everything else. The oil pump looks like no joke of a job so I’m not looking forward to it, but it is leaking and needs to be addressed anyway.
Does this sound like the right path to go down? I’m not driving the car except in the garage once I have room. Too scared of that light coming back on. It’s really confusing how sometimes the engine actually runs rough, but was flawless after just cranking it extra with the fuse pulled.

First thing is do what JFP said in his post #8.
second do what it takes to fix the oil leak at the oil pump.
Then re-evaluate the situation.

I’m gonna get a new filter and get a gauge. Any suggestions for pressure gauges? Or could I rent one from the auto parts store that would work? Also where is the oil pressure sender so I know where to hook it up?

This is what we use, which runs about $100, but you can find something on Amazon for around $30

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...AC_SL1500_.jpg

Passenger side top of valve cover close to bulkhead behind passenger seat.

https://cdn4.pelicanparts.com/techar...large/Pic3.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads02...1615596271.jpg

I am going to suggest a little pump of the brakes here. If you see a low pressure oil light and HEAR metal clanging then installing a gauge to verify what you hear is only further risking damage unnecessarily. This all started happening after an oil change and installation of a filter adapter, none of which should cause the symptoms you are seeing.
I would highly recommend dropping the pan. Something clogging the oil pickup screen such as some foil from an oil container, could cause these symptoms. The clogged screen would also cause the oil pump to cavitate which may have caused the leak.

Agreed. If the oil light illumination accompanies with engine clanking there`s no need to test its function, or at least it`s not top priority. You can easily cause permanent damage to the engine running it at low pressure.

Thank you. I ordered a gauge. I’m gonna do multiple readings with the current filter and then changing the filters and then back to the factory filter and take those numbers. I will say, my one thought when I put in the LN adapter was wow, that filter looks really small. Just curious, what spin on filter do you use? I know you said wix, but what #? This filter is considerably smaller in diameter than the base of the adapter. Just had me wondering….

On the basic LN adaptor, we use the Wix 51042 XP; on the IMS Solution cars, we use the Wix 51348XP (the IMS Solution uses a different filter).

Don't be concerned about the filter's physical size, what is important are media micron pore size, the filter's rated flow rate, and the media quality. Either of these filters are more than sufficient for use on a big V8 engine such as the GM LS unit, their flow rates are way beyond what the oiling system can move, and their media is considerably finer in pore size than the factory filter.

Interesting, I had ordered the wix 51348 because that was the cross reference for the filter they gave me. Maybe it doesn’t make a difference but I do not have the ims solution, just a regular adapter. I just ordered the wix
51042xp. Maybe the issue can be resolved with the right filter?

That would be a good idea.