LOW Engine Oil Pressure light and warning bell

[SDS Cardino]

Hello all,

 

I have a '14 MKZ with a little over 100K most all highway  miles (I'm a traveling sales guy) and it's perfect other then this LOW Engine Oil Pressure light and charming alarm bell which comes on when I am in slow traffic or at a stop light. A local mechanic thought it might be a bad sensor so I had it changed but it still came on, the sensor was fine. I then took it to the dealership that told me your oil pressure is perfect we have no idea what's going on.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Thanks,

 

SDS

 

[kramf411]

It could be as simple as a bad oil filter to a bad engine oil pump. If the dealership says pressure is perfect, have you tried changing oil / oil filter?

[SDS Cardino]

Thanks, I did an oil change and filter but no I did not put in a new oil pump. The dealer indicated that they'd put a gauge and there was no issue with the pressure. Off huh!

[Viking]

If the dealer did the pressure test on "cold start" but did not check it when it was hot, then they really cannot tell you for certain that everything is fine.  The oil pump could be leaking down when hot.  Also, the main bearings could be worn, allowing oil pressure to read low when hot.  If the oil in this engine has been changed regularly, then there is little likelyhood that the oil passages are somewhat clogged, which could prevent a good reading at your oil sensor.  If this is not so, perhaps a crankcase cleaner for a couple of hundred miles, followed by another oil change, might be in order.  If everything is good there and the engine is clean, then worn main bearings, or the oil pump are reasonable assumptions.

[SDS Cardino]

1 hour ago, Viking said:

If the dealer did the pressure test on "cold start" but did not check it when it was hot, then they really cannot tell you for certain that everything is fine.  The oil pump could be leaking down when hot.  Also, the main bearings could be worn, allowing oil pressure to read low when hot.  If the oil in this engine has been changed regularly, then there is little likelyhood that the oil passages are somewhat clogged, which could prevent a good reading at your oil sensor.  If this is not so, perhaps a crankcase cleaner for a couple of hundred miles, followed by another oil change, might be in order.  If everything is good there and the engine is clean, then worn main bearings, or the oil pump are reasonable assumptions. 

 

Thanks for the 411, you would think the dealer would have told me all this so I appreciate your expertise and will head back to the drawing board. At over a 100K miles if the fix is north of $2K maybe it's just time for a new one. Hate to do it b'c I just use it for biz road trips and  outside of that pia bell  it still looks and runs perfectly.  

[Viking]

53 minutes ago, SDS Cardino said:

 

Thanks for the 411, you would think the dealer would have told me all this so I appreciate your expertise and will head back to the drawing board. At over a 100K miles if the fix is north of $2K maybe it's just time for a new one. Hate to do it b'c I just use it for biz road trips and  outside of that pia bell  it still looks and runs perfectly.  

 

You can likely go a long way with the car acting like this.  If the oil pressure light goes off when the revs come up, then you still have oil pressure.  A while back (a long while) I had a 1964 Ford pickup that was like this.  When it got hot, the oil light would flicker, and when quite hot, it would come on full time.  I drove that truck probably 25K miles like that.  I sold it one morning to a stranger, when it was cool outside.  He was a mechanic.  I told him about it, so he pulled the engine and did the mains and the truck probably went another 100K for him.  If you get no oil light on the highway, drive the car.

 

Oh, and unless you have a good personal relationship with the Service Manager at the dealership, it is not in their best interest to tell you this stuff, or possibly they do not even know this stuff.  Modern mechanics are not the mechanics of old.  I only know this due to my being a millwright/mechanic.

 

Just thinking more about all this, and a burnt or frayed wire from the sensor could be limiting signal (that is the easiest least expensive and probably hardest to find problem - need an Ohm meter for the wiring)

 

Another thing you can try - if you are using 5W20 oil - try 10W30.

 

Ford does not like to recommend additives, but Rislone for higher mileage engines can do wonders, as can Marvel Mystery Oil.  I do not normally recommend additives as synthetic oils (which I do recommend) have everything in them and do not sludge up engines.  You say you use the car for highway, and business, so I doubt you have a dirty engine unless you are not doing oil changes, but the Rislone for high mileage engines can bolster the viscosity, as can heavier weight oil.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Viking

[SDS Cardino]

Again MOST helpful info thank you! Good point about them not really wanting to share the true simple fix because no I don't know this guy from Adam.

 

 

[17MKZ3.0TT]

If you keep running into the wall on this, the old school way to look into it would be to add a Tee and aftermarket gauge's 

pressure sending unit at the oil pressure sensor hole with the gauge inside the car. A simple run of the wire out from under the hood and in through the closest door so that you can read the psi anytime is all we need, since it's all temporary. When the light is flickering or whatever, you can glance at the guage to see what the pressure really is. In the meantime, it's a good way to get some baseline pressures for cold, hot, idle, various higher RPMs, etc are.

Edited March 10, 2020 by 17MKZ3.0TT