Hi don't know if anyone can help. Got a problem with the oil light creeping on. The car is fine when sat idling, but as soon as I drive it around the block the oil light creeps on faintly then comes on full. The engine starts to sound cranky when this happens. Naturally I have only done this a couple of times and turned it off as soon as the noise starts. I have dropped the sump and it all looks clean. The oil pick up pipe is spotless and there are no fragments of swarf or metal in the pan. I suspect the oil pump or is there an oil pressure by pass valve somewhere? Car is 2006 x type 2.0 fmba engine. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Try swapping oil filter first and see if there is any difference, you never know, you might get lucky.

If not it's probably the pump or main/rod bearings getting worn out if you're sure the pickup tube is clean.

Good luck!

 

Hi thank you for your reply. I have changed the oil and filter. They weren't too bad no swarf or dirt. I wonder if it may be the pressure relief valve, only trouble is I don't know where to find it. Is it part of the oil pump. Other considerations might be the sump, it does have a slight bash upwards which I thought maybe is restricting oil flow as the pick up pipe is quite low?

 

Sounds like your going to have to drop the oil pan and see what's going on. If it's making noise when warmed up I believe you may have spun a rod bearing or something like that. Either way you really should knock the bottom of the oil pan flat again.

The only other thing I can recommend before tearing into the bottom end of the engine is maybe putting in 10w-40 or 20w-50 oil and see if the pressure problem and noise disappear. That can sometimes compensate for the extra bearing clearances on higher mileage engines.

When I replaced my oil pan gasket I couldn't believe the amount of cooked oil that was clogging part of the pickup and sticking to the splash shield. Thought it was just because the prior owner used cheap oil and ran long on the change interval but the top of the engine was clean with no deposits so the close proximity to the catalytic converters and transfer case preventing cooling airflow around the oil pan may have contributed to the problem.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.