After my car (97 2.2) warms up, my oil pressure light will come on whenever my RPMS go below 1500 and I am not pressing on the gas. When we changed the oil last time, my dad put in 5-20 instead of 5-30, could that be the problem? If not then what could be causing this?

Thanks

does it have any oil?



You look so much cuter with something in your mouth.

could be the problem. could be other things. go change ur oil and find out. annd you shoud do that yourself whether a shop does it or u pull the valvoline comercial and squeze under ur car hardcore car-guy style


Working on obtainting an M-Class license... ?? Hint: 2 wheels.

I wouldn't have thought that the 5W20 would have been light enough to cause that - but it's entirely possible if the engine's got some miles on it. My first car (a Chrysler product with a 318 in it) would do that at idle even with 10W30 in it. I had to move up to a 10W40 in that car to keep the light from coming on.

I would immediately change the oil back to 5W30 again. The clearances in your engine are likely too large for the 5W20, and it "slips through" too fast not allowing the oil to build pressure as it should. I'm sure that if our engines could work safely with 5W20, then GM would have likely called for it, as it would give them better fuel economy numbers.

I'm sure that your dad has probably done some reading on how great the 5W20 oils are now, and figured he'd be doing you and your car a favor. Unfortunately it's not working out in this case as your light is telling you. If you want to help it out in the cold, go with a synthetic 5W30 or 0W30 for the winter. Either of those will flow better when cold than most conventional oils, yet remain thick enough when hot to keep your engine happy and protected. I would probably stick to the 5W30 though, based on the car's age.

At least you shouldn't need to bother changing the filter. There won't be enough oil in there to bother it for the remainder of the change. You'll just end up with something like a "5W29".

I was thinking of doing an experiment with the 5W20 myself (as I have a stash of it for our Ford product), but based on your results, I'll stick with the 30.

John

Yes it has oil in it. The light only comes on after the car warms fully up and then only comes on if the RPMS go under 1500. Which is usually stopping or going down my street.

I had this problem when I had my old 97 2.2 OHV in my J. I dont believe it is your choice of oil although it might have a little something to do with it. There could be many things going on with this right here. I remember when I was working as a tech going through this with mine. I replaced the lifters & pushrods and it solved the problem for a few months. Light would come back on, I also replaced the Oil pressure switch. That also helped for quite some time then it came back. There is something else going on in the block though. I have done the same thing with my winter beater. 94 Corsica. I've replaced all of these things, Im starting to wonder if there is an oil pump problem, bearing problem. This is the second GM 2.2 OHV i have faced this problem with. I think they are prone to this.

I have this same problem with my 1996 Chevy cavalier. Except It will only do this if i push the clutch in or I am sitting in the parking lot at my school with the car in neutral. I am not sure if this helps any, but I use 5w30 motor oil and It is also a 5 speed. It started to all of a sudden doing this after I replace the thermostat. If there is any that can help, please.

yep mine is doing it right now i replaced the headgasket and thermostat and it comes on only at idle and as soon as i touch the gas it goes off

ok so i think i have it figured out but Im not a mechanic so bear with me. Ian is your motor a 2.2? If so i heard through the vinegrove that the oil pressure sensor on your block is the problem. Try changing the sensor. If that doesnt work then it could be that your main bearing going bad. or your oil pump is not suppling oil to your motor.
So just try changing the oil pressure sensor. Its on your block about 3 inches from the oil filter. My motor has 2 sensors i think not sure. What i've been told is that just go ahead and hook up a oil pressure gauge to your motor so you know for sure. but thats kinda a costly route.