Intermittent oil warning light: MK3 Mondeo

greengiant · 5 Nov 2010 at 19:53

Hi guys!

While popping out to the shops to day in my 53 plate MK3 Mondeo I noticed that the engine oil warning light was intermittently coming on after the car had water temp had warmed up. The warning light only came on twice and stayed on for a second or two before going off.

Parked up in the carpark, checked the oil level, all OK. Oil warning light was not light on the way back home. Checked the oil level again after letting the car sit for 10 minutes after getting home, oil level just under max.

What is it likely to be? Oil pressure sensor? Oil Pump?

Cheers

Adz · 5 Nov 2010 at 20:02

I had this on a Vauxhall Omega many years ago and it genuinely was just the sensor. There's hope but I'd stop driving it now, just in case.

Edit: Assuming you mean pressure warning, not level warning

GeX · 5 Nov 2010 at 20:52

Is it oil level or pressure? Most likely pressure. What grade oil is in it? When was it last changed?

Assuming it's not a faulty sensor, first guess would be the pressure relief valve on the pump.

greengiant · 6 Nov 2010 at 07:49

Thanks for the replies. According to the owners manual it's an oil pressure warning light. Oil was changed at the cars annual service back in February (~3000 miles ago!) with 5W-30 semi synth as specified in the manual. I'll see what the garage says next week.

The Edge · 6 Nov 2010 at 08:13

I thought these took 5w30 full synth but that shouldn't make a whole heap of differance. What's the mileage? I know some people prefer to use a slightly thicker oil as the engine wars to "Take up the tolerances". I've never beleived this myself but you never know!

greengiant · 6 Nov 2010 at 20:38

The car has only done 36K miles, going to see what the garage says next week. (Hopefully not a sharp intake of breath through the mechanics teeth.....)

-- edit -- Got the car back today, replacement oil pressure sender, + check of oil level + pressure, everything seems OK now.

DB_SamX · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:36

greengiant said:
The car has only done 36K miles, going to see what the garage says next week. (Hopefully not a sharp intake of breath through the mechanics teeth.....)

-- edit -- Got the car back today, replacement oil pressure sender, + check of oil level + pressure, everything seems OK now.

Grenngiant, how did that sensor + labout cost?

Scania · 1 Jan 2011 at 17:44

greengiant said:
The car has only done 36K miles, going to see what the garage says next week. (Hopefully not a sharp intake of breath through the mechanics teeth.....)

-- edit -- Got the car back today, replacement oil pressure sender, + check of oil level + pressure, everything seems OK now.

Glad to hear its ok.

A recent 2010 model Scania I was driving did just this which had only done 101,000km - which is sod all for a truck! - and it was indeed the pressure sender.