Flickering Oil Light

[SethM]

My daughter's 85 T4WD has started to flicker (the oil light on the dash that is) when she puts the clutch in at stop lights... My first thought was to just change the OPS but I haven't gotten that far yet. She doesn't live in the same town as I do but I should be seeing her fairly soon. I'll post in to report what I find. She loves this car so we're both hoping it isn't something more serious.

[Petros]

make sure the oil level is correct (and not low), than put an oil pressure gauge to see what it is doing. If it gets down to seven or eight psi at idle the bearings are worn. you might try adding heavy oil additive like STP or motor honey if it is actually low oil pressure. Supposedly the various "teflon" oil additives are supposed to help, but it did not work when I had low oil pressure on my old Toyota pick-up. I threw a rod after a few weeks of driving low oil pressure.

good luck

[dlb]

i would tell her not to drive it until you resolve this. worst case scenario, it could cause a whole lot more work. like petros said, make sure it actually has oil first. then put a mechanical gauge on it and let the car warm up. the FSM says minimum oil pressure on idle only needs to be 4.3 PSI or something but i think a reading that low is grim and ominous. on the two cars i've had that did this, the oil pressure at idle was 15-20 psi when warm. if your readings are good, replace the pressure sender and that should do it. otherwise you could try 15w-40 or heavier, and/or lucas oil or one of the ones petros mentioned, and maybe start planning for a bottom end rebuild.

[SethM]

Well I'm pretty sure the oil level is fine. She's good about checking that and when she first told me about this, the first thing I told her was to stop and check the oil level. This condition has been going on for a while now but she has been hopping all over the place for work and so doesn't actually drive the car all that much. But that will change soon so I have a small window to try to do something about it.

OK, so I have to go back an re-read the posts about finding an adapter so that an off the shelf pressure gauge can be fitted? Do I have that right?

Thanks everyone (I have an 85 T4WD that is my daily driver in addition to the 85 my daughter drives. I don't think I could keep these cars on the road without this list!)

[dlb]

yes, the piece you will need is a 1/8" x 28 BSPT male to 1/8" NPT female adapter. once i knew what i was looking for, it was easy to find. most auto stores should have it. can't remember but i think it was under $10.

i should clarify my last anecdote: i've had two corollas that had a flickering oil light at warm idle, but both times i tested the OP and found it to be good at 15-20 PSI at warm idle. replaced the OPS on both of them, problem solved. lucky for me!

[Petros]

I had the same flickering light, but it occurred randomly. I put in a mechanical oil pressure gauge and know the pressure is fine at all rpms. but that darn oil light still occasionally flickers on, even though there is not even an OPS in the car! If the oil light only comes on a idle, it sounds like the pressure is actually low at idle. it could be the OPS is out of range, or it could be the pressure is really that low. either way you will need a gauge to know for sure, they do not cost much.