Oil light on but full

[chrisasst]

ok,
yesterday my 2007 dodge caravan oil light was coming on. Usually when this happens it needs about a quart of oil. Well, the dip stick says it is full.
Drove it today, the light is coming on after the engine gets warmed up. It was going off if I stepped on the gas pedal a little and the light would come on when I was slow or idling. After a couple miles the oil light would stay on no matter if I gave it the gas or not. It did go off for a split second going down the road but come back on.
Researching this problem on google and I finding different answers so idk.

 

[mass_burner]

this could be a idle/rpm issue. check your rpm's at idle. can u make it stay off in nuetral at half throttle?

 

[FanMan]

The light in most cars measures oil pressure, not level. Low oil pressure can mean a bad oil pump or very worn bearings. More likely, though, it's bad oil pressure sender.

 

[maverick06]

an oil light on almost all cars (except the high end new ones) is an oil PRESSURE light, NOT an oil level light. So when it comes on, it means you have low oil pressure, and you really should immediatly pull over and figure out why. If you are "low" and that caused the problem, it means the oil pump wasnt getting oil and was sucking air, starving the engine. Do that enough and you will probably find that the rings are more and more worn and you burn more and more oil. being that this varies with speed, that seems to match up with the oil pump going bad, since that varies with the engine speed.

point being, if the light is on, and you are full of oil, something is wrong. Could be a sensor, but if i were you i would take it to the garage to get looked at... .probably would see if tehy would tow it to the shop, minimize your damage. if it isnt the sensor, probably the oil pump is bad, maye from being run low too often, who knows.

is the car burning much oil, how frequently do you have to add oil between changes?

(I ahve a VW with 183k miles, doesnt burn oil, and a 2010 dodge caravan, also no oil burnt, know a lot of audi a3's have oil burning engines...)

 

[Hogwildz]

Could be a bad sensor or loose wire.

 

[fbelec]

how many miles on the car

 

[Ash_403]

If possible, I would temporarily plumb in a pressure gauge (from the same port as your on-vehicle sensor), then diagnose from there.

 

[homebrewz]

As several have said already, the oil light responds to a drop in pressure, not level. Two different things. Waiting for the oil light to come on until you add oil is a terrible way to know you need to add oil. Some of the sensors only go on when pressure is down to a few PSI! Its possible the engine components are so warn by now that it has a hard time keeping up oil pressure. You need to independently check the oil pressure with a gauge. If you're lucky, its just the sending unit that needs replacing. Otherwise, it could be the oil pump or the oil pick-up tube screen needs cleaning (remove oil pan for that).

 

[blades]

Back in the eighties I had one of the infamous Gm auto destruct oil pumps (at about 60k ) V6 units. Symptoms sound similar. Make sure your oil pan isn't dented and as above sensor, sensor connections, plugged screen, dislocated pickup tube and of course shot pump. Best to get on it quick. Also check your manual make sure you use the recommended grade of oil, oil passages in the newer engs are very small, too heavy a grade and the oil will not flow correctly. Also if that oil filter hasn't been changed recently( along with the oil) I would be doing an oil change plus filter ( not fram oil filter- been problems with those).

 

[chrisasst]

thanks guys...
The van has 93k on it. I have gotten the oil changed when I am supposed to.
My Father in law is supposed to look at it this weekend. ( he is an uncertified mechanic ). He said will probably have to pull the engine. and rebuild it.
UMM what..
These things can be checked with out pulling the engine right. ( sensor, sending unit, pump, bearings etc..) ??
If he pulls the engine, I will have to go trade it in the next day I am feeling. ( he has pulled engines before, but...)

 

[homebrewz]

He's assuming that you've already done irreparable damage to the engine, which you may have. In which case, you will need another engine.
I would try the above suggestions before taking that step.. check oil pressure, and if its good, replace the sending unit/switch. Some of the auto
parts places rent tools, perhaps they have a oil pressure gauge.

If the engine is making noises it didn't make before, chances are you need another engine. If not, with 93kmi, I would just keep driving it,
but you may have shortened the life of the engine considerably.

 

[PapaDave]

If you've been waiting for the oil light to check the level, you're doing it wrong.
Just because you have the oil changed when you're supposed to doesn't mean you're not either burning oil or losing it from a bad gasket.
I check my oil at least a couple time/month, and I don't put very many miles on the thing anymore.
If you need to add that much oil between changes, you need to find out where it's going and why.
You could just keep adding and driving it, but check it more often.
As has been mentioned, get yourself a real gauge and check the pressure to see if it's low, or check/clean connectors.
Go get your hands dirty and let us know what you find.

 

[chrisasst]

The oil changing place told me one time a few months ago that I was a quart down. That was the only time I have ever been.

Good news is that I thought my extended warranty was gone,( repair advantage max) but I found my book today and said it expires april of next year or 93,643 miles. which ever come first.
Well I have 93,064 miles. So I will have it towed next week down to the dealer.

 

[fbelec]

great news on the warranty.

 

[maverick06]

thats a fairy god mother watching after you! be careful they dont just say "you need an oil change and it will go away after a few tanks" because then you will be over the milage!

 

[homebrewz]

One of the Car Talk guys used to tell a story about a Dodge Caravan he had. The oil light went on when driving down the
highway, and his first instinct was to get over to the breakdown lane and turn off the engine as quickly as he could. However,
it only had something like 14kmi on it, and he remembered it was under warranty. He also suspected that when he took it
to the dealer, they would replace whatever had failed and send him on his way with perhaps a compromised engine. He
decided to take his time turning the engine off, and even drove a few exits until that thing was ruined. Well, it was funnier
when he told it!

I'm not suggesting you do that, and you have a lot more miles than he did, but my point is you might want to try and assess
if any damage has been done, and if so, perhaps a new engine under warranty is in order (if the warranty covers that).

 

[Dustin92]

Could be a bad sensor- whether oil pressure or oil level- if you drove it at all and didn't notice it knocking, you can probably drive it to the dealer. I had a Caravan (much older- 1987) with 175,000 miles and my oil light came on whenever it was idling. I'm sure it was a bad sensor,it did that for a year and I sold it, still running fine, and as far as I know, it was still running fine at 190k when it was wrecked. My current vehicle, a 2003 Chevy Impala, has an oil level sensor, and an oil pressure sensor. It comes up in my message center " low engine oil", which is 2 quarts low. It turns out, my oil level sensor was leaking badly, which caused it to lose two quarts in a week. Although it has never come on, I have read in the manual that if it loses oil pressure, it will set off an alarm and show "low oil pressure... stop engine now" in the message center.

 

[chrisasst]

Well had it towed to dealer this morning. They said it was a bad sensor (shocker there)...all is fix for now atleast.

 

[joel95ex]

mechanically check oil pressure with a gauge then replace the $10 sending unit if the measured
pressure is within spec. my accord flickered at low rpm and it was the sending unit. now I have 463k miles on it.

 

[joel95ex]

oops sorry I didn't read your follow up. bob is the oil guy forums are good for oil advice. I would focus on cleaning up ring packs and see if that helps the consumption problem. oils known for cleaning should be used but at first you will go through lots of it (hi mileage oils) there are also other tricks
like mmo