SMH- Low oil light

[joegr]

...Is the warning light a low oil LEVEL warning or oil PRESSURE warning? ...

It's an oil pressure sensor, and they are well known to fail after several years, often right after an oil change.

 

[NC356]

Just so you know: the 3.8 oil pressure switch, in the valley under the fuel rail, is actually a dual function sensor: oil pressure switch (on-off) and oil temperature sender (continuously variable resistance). Helps explain the high cost. (doesn't justify, but explains)

There are 2 posts above that are misleading to people.
Both think high viscosity oil would trigger a low pressure switch to alarm.
The opposite is the case: higher viscosity will create fewer low pressure alarms; might even eliminate alarms on a switch that is just on the edge of going out. Reason: oil pressure is a measure of the resistance to flow as the fixed amount of oil coming from the oil pump sees the throttling action of all the oil flow clearance points throughout the engine (ie: all the pressure lubricated locations: bearings (cams, rods, mains), piston squirter nozzles, etc).

 

[Alfer]

Well I ended up talking to RM and noted to him that oil light had stayed off for a couple of days. He told me he ordered the sensor and new dipstick and told me to go ahead and pick up at local hyundai shop on way home since it's by my house. He said they will fully pay for the work. The light did come back on multiple times today so I'm contacting RM to schedule drop off.

 

[Looney100]

There are 2 posts above that are misleading to people.
Both think high viscosity oil would trigger a low pressure switch to alarm.
The opposite is the case: higher viscosity will create fewer low pressure alarms; might even eliminate alarms on a switch that is just on the edge of going out. Reason: oil pressure is a measure of the resistance to flow as the fixed amount of oil coming from the oil pump sees the throttling action of all the oil flow clearance points throughout the engine (ie: all the pressure lubricated locations: bearings (cams, rods, mains), piston squirter nozzles, etc).

That depends on where the sensor is located. If it is before the 'blockage' it will read high pressure, if after, it would read low. I don't know where it is in this vehicle.

Well I ended up talking to RM and noted to him that oil light had stayed off for a couple of days. He told me he ordered the sensor and new dipstick and told me to go ahead and pick up at local hyundai shop on way home since it's by my house. He said they will fully pay for the work. The light did come back on multiple times today so I'm contacting RM to schedule drop off.

Best of luck.

 

[NC356]

Looney100,
You said:
That depends on where the sensor is located. If it is before the 'blockage' it will read high pressure, if after, it would read low. I don't know where it is in this vehicle.

You should understand: the oil pressure sensor is before the "blockage" as you call it. In all motors, everywhere. Your "blockage" is the several points in every engine where full pressure oil is forced into the spots where oil under pressure does it's job; that would be every oil lubed bearing, plus maybe a couple of other things like oil squirters shooting at the bottom of pistons in air cooled engines or nozzles oiling timing chains.
The only possibility of blockage before the pressure switch would be either: a foreign object (dipstick tip maybe) restricting the inlet screen to the oil pump, or: a collapsed oil filter, which is after the pump. Both quite rare.
Within a few psi, the oil pressure is full and equal as it enters each of the bearings or squirters.
The oil pressure drops to zero as the oil is injected, then flows through the restrictions of the bearing clearances.
Then the zero pressure oil drains by gravity, no pressure, back to the oil pan. All those many gravity flows are in open channels; there is no place to put a pressure sensor in open drains; and besides, there's no pressure to be measured.

 

[joegr]

...other things like oil squirters shooting at the bottom of pistons in air cooled engines ... or: a collapsed oil filter, ...

I will just add a couple of points to this.
1. I have seen many water cooled engines with piston squirters.
2. There is a bypass valve that prevents the oil filter from blocking oil flow. (Better to have dirty oil than no oil at all.)

 

[Alfer]

RM set up my repair for Tuesday. He is being very accommodating and I told him I appreciated all their help.

 

[Alfer]

Interesting that with temps in the 50's-60's last week, the oil light stayed off, but this morning it was 34 degrees and light was constantly coming on.

 

[Alfer]

Car is in shop.

They found the broken dipstick piece.

Unfortunately they said they need a special tool to take apart manifold(?) and it's not available until tomorrow, but they are trying an alternate method to undo the part so they can deal with the sensor. SMH

 

[skipgen]

Car is in shop.

They found the broken dipstick piece.

Unfortunately they said they need a special tool to take apart manifold(?) and it's not available until tomorrow, but they are trying an alternate method to undo the part so they can deal with the sensor. SMH

Weird. My shop didn't need anything special to get into my intake to service the O rings for the transwarmer TSB. on my 5.0.

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[carguy75]

Car is in shop.

They found the broken dipstick piece.

Unfortunately they said they need a special tool to take apart manifold(?) and it's not available until tomorrow, but they are trying an alternate method to undo the part so they can deal with the sensor. SMH

It has been a while since I removed my intake manifold on my old 5.0 Genny, but it was only held by 10mm nuts and some wiring loom attachments on the top of it. I believe that they should just remove the wiper cowl trim/wiper motor for more room.

You may need to get a new mechanic for your Genesis.

 

[Alfer]

Note that I didn't chose this mechanic, nor the situation.

The shop who changes my oil and I have my tires warrantied through messed something up and after some discussions, told me they would cover the repair so I accepted the offer. Had I gone somewhere else I'd be out hundreds of dollars.

 

[Alfer]

This is getting whackier by the minute.

Now they say the sensor is in, BUT they had to take off fuel rack and injectors and now they had to order all new gaskets/o-rings for the injectors so need car for ANOTHER day! WTF?

 

[joegr]

This is getting whackier by the minute.

Now they say the sensor is in, BUT they had to take off fuel rack and injectors and now they had to order all new gaskets/o-rings for the injectors so need car for ANOTHER day! WTF?

Which engine do you have?
On the 3.8, the fuel rails (including direct injectors) have to be removed to get to the oil pressure sensor. It also looks like you have to modify a wrench to get to it without also removing a coolant line.

View of oil pressure sensor (and modified wrench) after manifold and fuel rails removed.

 

[Alfer]

It's the 3.8

 

[carguy75]

It's the 3.8

Oh crap!! I thought you had an 5.0. Well forget what I posted on the matter. The 3.8 and 5.0 require different methods to repair parts. Well, maybe your mechanic is telling the truth about the work needed. I have no experience with the 3.8 engine.

 

[Alfer]

The fun continues..

Got car back yesterday. Seemed to run smoothly. Unfortunately this morning the "check engine" light came in.

I went to AutoZone to read code and it pulled a P0021 camshaft code. The AZ guy felt it should reset and light should go off after a few times turning car on off. I'll keep watch and bring back to shop next week if need be.

 

[Chuckdbaby]

Last week before our big winter storm I went to the location multi location tire/mechanic shop our company uses for oil changes/tires/repairs to get oil changed and tires rotated. I asked for the blended oil change but they ended up doing the full synth version for $10 more. Not a huge deal but still ticked me off a bit.

So last night while sitting in traffic I see the engine oil warning light coming on when car is idling in traffic, but goes off when driving. I go home and check dipstick and there is no oil showing on the dipstick. UGH.

I dropped the car off this morning and they didn't seem phased at all by the issue, just grabbed keys and sent me on my way.

So it's been 3 hours since drop off and no call yet. I'll be anxious to hear what they found, but I doubt they acknowledge any fault and just tell me to come get the car.

Sad that you can't trust anyone to do good work these days.

This happen to me after an oil change on my 3.8. It’s the oil pressure sensor. There’s a YouTube video about it. Somehow it gets dirty with oil and needs to be replaced.

 

[Alfer]

The latest is they had me stop by and reset CEL and said to drive it a while longer to see if any further errors show. If they do, they will take it back to main shop to go over and this time give me a loaner car.

 

[skipgen]

The latest is they had me stop by and reset CEL and said to drive it a while longer to see if any further errors show. If they do, they will take it back to main shop to go over and this time give me a loaner car.