how long does the oil light take to turn off?

[cdlong]

there's a low oil light that comes on when you start the car and goes off a few seconds later when oil pressure is up. mine seems to take a while to go off when the car is cold. i never timed it but i thought it used to take a few seconds and now it takes 10-15. i'll time it in the morning just to be sure. the oil level is fine and i don't drive the car until it's off.

it's a mostly stock KA with stock internals. can anyone with a similar setup time theirs? any ideas what's wrong?

[WilloW]

My oil pressure light turns off in ~2 sec (faster than I could remember to start counting). You may just have an old and clogged up sender. That pin hole on the sender is tiny. Don't rely on that stupid light man, get an oil pressure gauge. It'll give you heart attacks or by the time you see the damn light, it's already over for your engine is already nuked.

[hai1206vn]

could be a worn oil pump. My oil light turns off as soon as the engine finishes the vroom at startup

[Matt93SE]

Replace sender or get a pressure gauge. my oil pressure gauge goes up as soon as the engine fires, but the dummy light takes a couple seconds to go off. always scared me until I disconnected the damn thing.

Those senders are known to get clogged or just quit working when they get old. In my ~15 yrs of driving, I've had 4 or 5 go bad on me in various vehicles.

[cdlong]

an oil pressure gauge is on my to-do list, but my to-do list is huge, i've got parts i bought 2 years ago i still haven't installed (though i was in korea and afghanistan for all but 4 months of that). i'm going to start tearing into it this winter, i guess i'll bump that to the top of the list. thanks.

[DuckyD]

I removed my oil-pressure bulb in the gauge cluster

[Def]

I bet your oil filter doesn't have an anti-drainback valve so your engine has to pump the filter up before any pressure hits the sender.

I run OEM Nissan filters for a B13 SE-R and they work great, oil light goes off within a couple of seconds, and by the time my Defi gauges finish their startup test I already have full cold oil pressure.

[cdlong]

sounds likely, i recently did an oil change and used an STP filter i've never used before.

i poked around underneath to install a tension rod brace and noticed some oil on the AC compressor. i don't know where that came from. i also found a loose bolt behind the compressor. i really don't know where that came from.

[Matt93SE]

Who cares? You don't need A/C.

Umm, compressor is on the same side as the power steering, right? Wonder if it's PS fluid or valve cover that's leaking... I took AC off mine about 3 years ago, so I don't remember what goes where...

[hai1206vn]

yea, the oil on a/c compressor is usually PS leak

[cdlong]

so you guys inspired me to actually get some work done on my car (though def is probably right). i started looking at gauges today so i can do everything at once. i'm going to install the skull and bones oil filter adapter, remote oil filter (who's idea was that location?!) and oil temp and pressure gauges. i'm planning an oil cooler for the future, but autoXing in colorado with a stock KA is hardly taxing. down the road i guess.

i want something with a warning light since i'm mounting them below the radio. autometer has what i assume are a new version of the sport-comp II, the pro-control series. they have a warning light on the gauge and an accessory output control. i could possibly setup the output to turn on a light closer to the IP or even the stock warning light. but for only $10 more per gauge i could get the competition series. similar specs and possibly a better gauge. and i think the entire gauge turns red as a warning instead of just one light. any thoughts on either series? what would you guys get?

quick access to specs on the gauges.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATM-5552/
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ATM-3652/

[DuckyD]

That is a sh*tload for a gauge.

For the price of one gauge, you can get two ProSport gauges. We have been using them and like the quality. The Premium Peak/Warning gauges will flash, change colors, and beep when you go above or below set limits (you can also turn off this feature). That way, you dont have to always be watching your gauge (like if you are on track). You can even wire in external warning lights if you wanted to.

Looking at around $150 for oil pressure and oil temp, I have them in stock too.

[hai1206vn]

or even cheaper, get VDO gauges. When having a gauge is better than nothing at all, I'd just grab the cheapest stuff with reasonable quality (VDO is OEM supplier for a bunch of European cars). Got my oil temp, oil press., water temp gauges and senders all for about $130 shipped. Seriously I don't see the need for warnings lights/beeps. You shouldn't be looking at gauges or bothered with flashing LEDs in the middle of a corner anyway.

[DuckyD]

You shouldn't be looking at gauges or bothered with flashing LEDs in the middle of a corner anyway.

That is the point.
If you are in a corner, you can't be looking or messing with your gauges. So setting warnings BEFORE going on track could save your motor.

[hai1206vn]

^^ But you can glance at the gauges after a corner. Then you can tell if there's a problem while on the straight.

I'm saying there's little need to have warning, except in cases where you have to know there's a problem while taking a corner, e.g. when you're turning fast enough to starve oil and cause low oil pressure. Water/oil temperature? No. It just doesn't spike off during a turn. Boost problem? You won't see it until you floor the gas on the straight.