Oil light occasionally flashes........why?

[riverarob]

The oil light on my 03 wrx occasionally flashes very briefly.........for a second if that. Seems to only happen when i'm slowing down. Just before I come to a complete stop.......not always......just sometimes

Got an oil change about 1450 miles ago at the local dealer......I checked the dip & oil seems fine........what could be the cause?
This just recently started happening.......probably within the last 500 miles.

It has 61,500 miles on the odo. Car is lightly modded with the basic stuff; up-pipe, shorty downpipe, axleback, y-pipe & ecutek, lowering springs, 17" wheels & tires.

[dru_hill]

If you're not actually low on oil (big if), my first thought would be the light is messed up. The only other way oil pressure could be low is if something is wrong inside the engine, and usually that is something not good. I dont know where the sender is for the light, but that would be my starting place, maybe there is some goo in there and its messing it up or something.

[boxxxer]

Have this checked out IMMEDIATLY! It's probably just a faulty sender, but it's too much of a risk to not be sure.

If the oil pressure is indeed going low enough to signal the light, then your motor does not have long to live. An independant mechanic should be able to put a hand held guage on it for short money and time to confirm all is o.k. and it's just a sender.

[realwomble]

IIRC the stock oil warning light comes on at <= 2.5psi oil pressure... scary low. On a warm engine at idle, pressure should be ~30psi, and ~70 under load.

Sender is behind/beneath the alternator.

[HndaTch627]

Originally Posted by realwomble

IIRC the stock oil warning light comes on at <= 2.5psi oil pressure... scary low. On a warm engine at idle, pressure should be ~30psi, and ~70 under load.

Sender is behind/beneath the alternator.

22.5psi it's a pretty standard oil pressure switch

the senders are known for going bad but as was stated...it's not worth finding out the hard way

[riverarob]

I've got an appointment set for the weekend at Mastro in Tampa........put in half quart of oil in the meantime & i'll monitor it closely until the weekend.........i've never had an oil consumption problem before & i just recently had the oil changed 1500 miles ago so i find it hard to believe that it would burn up so much oil in that time.........anyway i swear the dipstick on this car is very hard to read or perhaps something is wrong with the dipstick trying to read it

thanks for the help.........i'll post their findings & i'm definitely investing in a proper oil pressure gauge

[HndaTch627]

Originally Posted by riverarob

I've got an appointment set for the weekend at Mastro in Tampa........put in half quart of oil in the meantime & i'll monitor it closely until the weekend.........i've never had an oil consumption problem before & i just recently had the oil changed 1500 miles ago so i find it hard to believe that it would burn up so much oil in that time.........anyway i swear the dipstick on this car is very hard to read or perhaps something is wrong with the dipstick trying to read it

thanks for the help.........i'll post their findings & i'm definitely investing in a proper oil pressure gauge

yes the dipsticks on these cars suck to read, you really need to have the car hot to get a good solid idea of where the oil is at. start it up, shut it off and check it don't wait 30 minutes like people say to, that's just a bad idea