Oil Light

[yippee]

Hello again.

I was driving the Jeep the other day and the oil light came on. I drove the Jeep to work and parked it til lunch. For lunch I drove the Jeep home, went to lunch, back home, then back to work. On the way back to work the oil light started coming on and off. It would come on at a stop or coming to a stop then go out when I got going again. Once I got back to work I parked it again until I got off of work. After getting off of work I went out and checked the oil level, looked fine. Decided to go ahead and try to drive it back home, and haven't seen the light again.

From doing some digging, people seem to point to the oil sending sensor/switch/unit. My question is mostly, should I address this now, or wait to see if it comes back on? My secondary question would be should I check the oil pressure now, or wait til the light comes back on (if it does) and check it then to verify it is not from weak pressure?

The oil level was fine, oil looks fine, oil smells fine, 700ish miles left til oil change (religiously changed every 3k).

 

[tommudd]

Not something you wait on to see if it happens again
MOPAR oil sending unit , replace now
and yes should check it as well to see what pressure you have

 

[Conundrum2006]

Hopefully it's just the sender. Or bad oil filter, if it's a Fram you should probably ditch it. (Although for any Hyundai owners out there the cheapest Fram oil filter insert for the 2007 V6 engines are actually made in Korea by the same manufacturer that makes them for Hyundai)

Were there any noises when the oil light came on?

Best case is the oil pressure sensor is bad. Worst case is oil crud or something blocking the oil pickup tube. When I had this happen the top end of the engine sounded like hell not getting enough oil. I could change the oil filter and get just enough pressure back it'd run normally for a bit. Mine was an extreme case of PO neglect and a foolish oil flush when we bought it that loosened a ton of crud, dumping it into the pan. The way the pan us designed it will never allow sludge and crud to drain out, only what's free in the oil will be expelled.

Since the oil was changed regularly I doubt oil crud is your issue. Could be something else failing in the engine but I'd think the oil sender and filter are more likely at this point.


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[JasonJ]

Man.. i could go without a coolant temp gauge.. as long as the light does its job. But OIL ... no way.. I wish that all vehicles were required to have a proper and calibrated oil pressure gauge.

That's the one thing that'll kill an engine so fast your head will spin.

 

[Conundrum2006]

Man.. i could go without a coolant temp gauge.. as long as the light does its job. But OIL ... no way.. I wish that all vehicles were required to have a proper and calibrated oil pressure gauge.

That's the one thing that'll kill an engine so fast your head will spin.

Completely agree. With my old jeeps and cars I get so much from the oil pressure gauge, Heath of the engine, how the oil is doing, when I need to change that oil and filter. It's irreplaceable in any instrument panel.
every new vehicle in our family is idiot lights with no option for a real gauge. My f150 has a spot on the cluster for the oil pressure but it's feed off the idiot light sensor. I doubt modern airplanes, helicopters, and boats use idiot lights instead or real gauges.

The only excuse I hear is car manufactures had too many nuisance service tickets to check engines do customers worried over the pressure dropping as the engine warms. But then these same service centers who ignore real serious noises and symptoms as "normal".



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[tjkj2002]

Man.. i could go without a coolant temp gauge.. as long as the light does its job. But OIL ... no way.. I wish that all vehicles were required to have a proper and calibrated oil pressure gauge.

That's the one thing that'll kill an engine so fast your head will spin.

99.99% of all the idiots on the road never pay attention to any light in the dash let alone a guage besides the fuel gauge and alot don't even bother with that.

 

[yippee]

The motor drove and sounded fine, no signs of any issues from what I could tell. I use only Mopar filters (well, all parts really) on the Jeep, so hopefully that isn't the issue.

If one were to say "oil sending unit" and "oil pressure sensor", would they be referring to the same part or are those two different things?

I'll go pick up a pressure gauge today to test the oil pressure, my normal gauge is about 6 hours away on loan, so it's easier to just go buy a new one right now. Is a harbor freight pressure gauge good enough for the task or do I need to invest more in a better product?

The correct procedure is to get the engine up to normal operating temperatures, then test the pressure - right? I should be looking for more than 4 psi at idle and between 25-80 psi @ 3,000 rpm - correct?

I'll go ahead and get the part on order so I can have it headed this way, and drive the truck in the meantime just to be safe.

 

[Conundrum2006]

Far as I know the 3.7 only has one oil sender/sensor. I use the term interchangeably because some parts companies list it either way. But there probably is a proper definition I'm not using.

Good news is no engine noise! I doubt if the pressure is really too low, be good to test it anyway.


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[yippee]

I purchased the oil pressure gauge from harbor freight earlier today. While inspecting the Jeep, trying to figure out what the best way to access the sending unit/pressure sensor was, I noticed this:

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(Hopefully that works, first time trying to post from imgur (thanks to photobucket thinking they can charge like $400 a year))

I assume this need addressing too.. I know (at least I'm pretty positive) that I have a leaking front crank seal, I'm going to try to fix that soon as well. I'll probably order the seal when I order the pressure sensor. The problem is there looks to be some rubber sandwiched between the two pieces of metal on the pulley that has a chuck missing out of it. I'm assuming this is obviously going to be an issue?

As far as the oil sensor, what is the best method people have found to getting it out? I'm assuming, just from looking today, that It's probably going to be best to go ahead and change the oil and filter at the same time and access the sensor while I have the filter removed? Or is there a better way to get to it? I was hoping to pull it before draining the oil so I could check the oil pressure before putting in the new sensor.

Edit: I'm guessing 53020689AB is the right part number?

 

[ltd02]

Probably doesn't matter in this case but I'm not sure what year you have. I would make sure you have it in your signature. It can help.

I'm not so sure the crank pulley is bad. It almost looks like it was supposed to be that way to me. I don't remember my 02 having a chunk out but maybe that's how it was balanced? Anyone else know for sure?

Also the oil running down there could actually be a symptom of the failing sensor/sender. When mine started failing it was also leaking pretty bad and running down to that area. That is often how they fail.

Regardless, make sure to get a Mopar and make sure it is designed for a switch and not a gauge. I got one for a gauge at first and it would trip the oil light everytime you hit about 2000rpms.

 

[yippee]

Thanks for the tip, I'll make sure to get the vehicle info added to my signature tonight.

I'll definitely be tackling the oil pressure sensor first. Once I get done with that job I'll clean up all the old oil and see if I still have a leak or not before progressing with the front crank seal.

I will definitely be putting Mopar back in it, as that's all I trust for the Jeep.

What is the best method people have found for getting the pressure sensor out? Seems to kind of be tucked away in there a little bit

 

[ltd02]

Thanks for the tip, I'll make sure to get the vehicle info added to my signature tonight.

I'll definitely be tackling the oil pressure sensor first. Once I get done with that job I'll clean up all the old oil and see if I still have a leak or not before progressing with the front crank seal.

I will definitely be putting Mopar back in it, as that's all I trust for the Jeep.

What is the best method people have found for getting the pressure sensor out? Seems to kind of be tucked away in there a little bit

It's not so bad when the oil filter is out. You could loosen and swing the PS pump out of the way too.

 

[yippee]

I kind of figured removing the oil filter would be a pretty solid strategy based off of looking the other day. Problem is, I'd like to just remove the pressure sensor so I can check the oil pressure without having to remove any oil. Once I get the pressure tested I'll swap the sensor out and perform a complete oil/filter change. I would like to try to keep the filter in tact for now (if at all possible).

 

[HoosierJeeper]

You shouldn't loose more than half a quart taking the filter off. I've taken mine off before to swap out to experiment, don't really loose any oil.

 

[yippee]

Alright, I finally got it all figured out. Took a little while trying different socket, extension, and wobbles to find the right combo. But I got in there without having to remove the oil filter. I pressure tested the oil and the results are as follows:

At an idle at operating temps:

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At about 3,000 RPM at operating temps:

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I look to be sitting around 28psi at idle and about 82psi at 3,000 RPM. Any issues with these numbers?

 

[ltd02]

According to my 05 FSM: over 4psi at curb idle and from 25-110 psi at 3000 rpm. This is on a warm engine (after thermostat has opened). You should be good to go!

 

[yippee]

I started the Jeep and let it run until it got up to the normal operating temp on the temp gauge inside. After that I kept feeling the radiator hoses until I felt the bottom hose get warm/hot. After that point is when the readings/pictures were taken.

4868672AA is the part number I am coming up with online, just wanted to verify this is the right sensor before ordering.

 

[ltd02]

That should be it. Descriptions I found very specifically mention it being for a switch or light so that is good. I haven't changed mine in the 05 and the 02 had a different one that was way more expensive.

 

[djtimyd]

My wife's 05 just started doing this yesterday. Same issue with no change in noises or operation of the jeep, just the dash light on (and light off if you turn the jeep off then back on). How much was the sensor and how hard was it to change? I just had an oil change done at the dealership 500 miles ago so I'd rather not loose any oil doing this if possible.

Thanks for the pictures yippee, do you have any of how you got to the sensor with all the adapters?

Thanks y'all!

 

[HoosierJeeper]

I had to swap an oil filter out once and I didn't even loose half a quart of oil.