oil light.

vermilion · Feb 2, 2008

i barely drive the car, it doesnt leak, and the oil change has been done about 3 months ago. i havent even put a 1000 miles on it since i bought it. the oil is still honey brown like out the bottle. and today the oil light came on and the dip stick was on min and i added a quart and its @ max. the car has 105k on it. anyone have ideas i should check? also it runs prestine cept pullies squeak. major tune up done recently also.

Goldmember · Feb 2, 2008

Ughh those squeaking idler pullies! They're cheap and easy to replace, luckily...

I have the same problem you do, except my car's a DD and I've put ~4800 miles on it since August. Uses a quart a month or so... on 5W30 Mobil 1. It isn't burning any out the exhaust, no external leaks, WTH...

+1 if anyone has insight on this

justinschmidt1 · Feb 2, 2008

is it a 96?

mine comes on...seems to use a little oil but not much.

that light seems to be stupid and wrong a lot of the time.

Red96GT · Feb 2, 2008

justinschmidt1 said:
that light seems to be stupid and wrong a lot of the time.

+1 everyone has this problem, especially with a 96

Willis_98GT · Feb 2, 2008

same w/ me. i've just gotten used to it.

justinschmidt1 · Feb 2, 2008

I just keep like 6 quarts in her...keeps her happy. haha

96 blue moon · Feb 2, 2008

My car is a 96 and has the same problem. With my setup that I have done to my car I am using a catch can that is mounted between the pvc and the intake manifold to catch any of the oil before it reaches in the intake so my intake won't get oil soaked. Mine is due from too much crankcase pressure and is getting by the pvc.

Goldmember · Feb 2, 2008

Figure I should add to my original post, I'm '97 but the dipstick doesn't lie...

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 3, 2008

Between changes I used to go down a quart, with both motor's. Light never came on though, lol.

Goldmember · Feb 3, 2008

^^How long between changes? Im losing a quart roughly every 1000 miles

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 3, 2008

2500-3500, can't lie and say I was always on time. You are losing a bit more than usual.I love the dipstick design though, register's no oil when it's down a quart, lol

Goldmember · Feb 3, 2008

J.R. said:
2500-3500, can't lie and say I was always on time. You are losing a bit more than usual.I love the dipstick design though, register's no oil when it's down a quart, lol

I figured I was, which is weird, it doesn't burn any and it's not leaking any. I'm thinking the filter is probably holding ~1/2 quart or so at any given time even if the car's been sitting. On the other hand, maybe it's that damn dipstick throwing me off- if it's halfway up the "OK" (if you can call it thaT) area or lower I just add until it's topped up again

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 3, 2008

Mine didn't leak, or burn it noticeably, although I'm sure that's what was happening. Otherwise the oil gnomes found me again.

reivaxtorres · Feb 6, 2008

are you 100% positive its not leaking? :dunno:

i had a similar problem with my car, it used to loose about a quart to a quart and a half every oil change (about 3k miles or so) and at first i thought it was because i was constantly revving the car up to redline, but i was wrong. turns out the valve covers were leaking from the back, where i could hardly see it, and it never made it to the ground, either getting boiled away on the block or the trans. never noticed it until i did a clutch job and couldnt figure out why the trans was glued onto the block (coolant and oil leak = glue). also, on mine, the gromments for the valve cover bolts were leaking a bit, but those only got the oil to the cylinder valley where it boiled away and i pretty much never noticed it as well.

i would say double check to make sure you arent leaking oil. if you arent burning it, and you arent leaking it, there should be very minimal oil loss between oil changes.

oh, and by the way...........wtf???? you guys have a low-oil light? mine doesnt, and ive been about 1.5 quarts low before too :crying:

ps. faulty valve seats can leak very little and you wont be able to see the bluish smoke coming out of the tail pipes because its such a minimal amount, but this equals to about .5 quart ever oil change.

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 6, 2008

I dunno if I had one or now, it never came on if I did.

voidfinger · Feb 6, 2008

how can you tell if your car is burning oil? b/c i can't see the exaust while in the car and no way can i get back there before the smoke stops...

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 6, 2008

A leakdown or compression test, which I beleive you already did, will tell you quite a bit about whether it's likely to burn out or not.

voidfinger · Feb 6, 2008

J.R. said:
A leakdown or compression test, which I beleive you already did, will tell you quite a bit about whether it's likely to burn out or not.

Well i did the CR test a while back and that only tells me if it isn't right with sealing when its hot... well not to my knowledge... b/c i've heard of other people doing it and getting like 180 on it and mine was 160 on one side and 165/170 on the other.... now I'm wondering if that is off... so i guess i'll take it for a leak down test.

Jrgunn5150 · Feb 6, 2008

If it's leaking down more than 12-15%, it's definately burning oil

voidfinger · Feb 6, 2008

lol i don't know what they do to do the test but whatever it is... hopefully it will answer my questions about how the inside is gonna look and what i should do. If bad then i'm gonna sell the pi swap stuff and if good then i'm going to rebuild the heads and put them on lol.