Oil Light Popping On

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toddlaine

toddlaine

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Chalmette, La
My 72 Dart Swinger w/318 now has the oil light popping on. While driving no light, but as soon as I come below 10mph the light pops on. Once I start driving again light goes off, or if at a stop when put into N the light goes off. Oil level is good, and I recently changed the oil. I just put on 340 manifolds and had the exhaust installed today and thats when it was noticed. But car is new to me so haven't had much road time till today.

Thanks,
 
did you change the filter? re check your oil level. any leaks? is it ticking/top end noise? check your oil pressure sender connection.
 
filter changed, fluids levels good, no ticking top end. Where is the oil sender? Muffler guy could have hit it by accident.
 
Put a live oil gauge on it and see what the oil pressure really is. If it checks out good at a hot idle (at least 20 PSI) I suspect the sending unit is bad.
 
You'll need to check iit when hot. Cold test will show plenty of oil pressure.
It takes only 9 lns of oil pressure to turn the warning lamp off. The engine will run a long time with less than 9 kbs od top end oil pressure at idle rpm.
 
Anything lower than 20lbs hot and I'd put in new bearings. If you do it at that point, you might get away with just new bearing shells. If you wait until it's down to 10 lbs, you're probably through the babbit and into the backing. Once it gets to that point, you'll probably need to turn the crank. You also risk the chance of spinning a bearing or throwing a rod if you put it under a load in that condition.
 
If you change the bearings, you can do that with the engine and crankshaft in the car. In my experience, it is usually just the rod bearings that are worn, but you can change the main bearings, if needed, with a few tricks. Hardest part is dropping the oil pan, which may require jacking the engine up a bit with the mounts loose, and removing the centerlink from the Pitman arm. That would give you a chance to check the oil pump screen for debris and even remove the oil pump to check internal clearances. While in there, also change the rear seal.
 
I just had the same issue, bought an oil pressure guage for 15 bucks rather than a new sending unit and now I dont worry! Most guages will tap into the sending units threads and takes 15 min to install, its worth it
 
Do the above and install a mechanical gauge.
Most likely worn bearings.
What weight oil did you put in the car and what is the temperature outside.
Is see you are in LA so 15W-40 rotella oil should take care of your problem, but verify oil pressure on a mechanical gauge.
 
If I remember right, the factory sender cuts the oil light on at 3 PSI and under. If you run down all of the electrical possibilites and get nothing and don't want to build the entire thing, I would drop the pan replace the bearings and oil pump.
 
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