3/2T-G Hybrid - intermittent oil light coming on

[sillycar chick]

I am a little concerned about what my celica is doing... when I stop say at a set of lights or something, I am getting an intermittent flash from my oil light. It only seems to be when I am on a sloping road (doesnt have to be much of a slope). I havent seen it do it yet when on flat road idling. I tested the oil pressure last week at 3000rpm but havent done one at idle yet, though when I started up the celica during the test I noticed the oil pressure tester did move before I brought on the revs, just cant remember what it actually said.

I will try test the oil pressure at idle tonight if I can, but in the meantime, does anyone know what this could mean? Could it be a faulty sender? I havent had much experience with this sort of thing...

[river]

Hi,

Check your oil pressure at idle. I put it in one of the threads, but I am old and forget what thread it was in. Also check it at the other RPMs that were specified in that thread. We need to know if it is well in spec or on the limit.

Also it would be interesting to see what the diff in pressure is between cold and hot. You may need to have a different (more viscous) oil - though it would be better to ensure the oil pump is okay before applying a "bandaid" fix on a nice rebuilt engine by using thicker oil.

If your oil pressure is barely within the acceptable limits, then I'd say you need to be pulling apart your oil pump and check the tolerances. It may be getting old and worn (like me) and unable to maintain the required pressure.

seeyuzz
river

[sillycar chick]

Yeah thanks river, I will check all the pressures you gave me ealier (I know where to find them )

I wont assume that its not the pump, because to assume is to make an ass out of u and me, but the bottom end of the engine was from a 3T my dad gave me - it had sat in his garage since just before I was born, so thats over 20 years, and he pulled it out of a car that had only done 10,000kms.... and he started it once, never drove it. So it shouldnt be due to wear, but I wont assume anything until I test it all. I pulled one piston out of that bottom end just to double check it before I put the twin cam head on, and everything looked really new - piston, big end bearings etc.

The sender is off the old 3T that was in my TA22, and I dont know how old it is. It has always seemed to work, but was in the car for a long time before I got it. (because the 3T dad gave me had the sender for the GT oil/amp gauge thats in his/mum's celica, so had to give it back to him).

[Hokey]

Have you still got the running in oil in it? did you use running in oil? as river said you might not have the right oil in

[sillycar chick]

I have Penrite something in it I cant remember right now. I didnt use running in oil as the top and bottom end were both already run in, didnt use any new parts except the head gasket, as all the parts werent very old to start with. the 2t-g I stripped had a recent reco and the bottom end had only done 10,000kms

[TRAV-KE55]

This may sound silly but here goes,
when you put the DOHC cyl head on did you also pull out the standard 3T camshaft and put in the 2TG half shaft (dummy shaft)? If you did and this means the rear 2 (from memory) cam journels are now exposed and need to have the un-used cam bearings removed and rotated and put back in so that they block the oil csppilsry through the bearing, if you have put in the half cam and not rotated the rear bearings your oil pressure will be low from a large volume of oil pissing off out these holes!
Also some 2TG had a plastic (bakerlight) cap similar looking to a welch plug put in these holes from factory and the first thing to do is remove them and put in rotated cam bearings as over time the plastic buggers come loose and fall out resulting in spun big end (been there, done that!)
Trav

[sillycar chick]

Yes trav, I have a dummy shaft and I had the rear cam bearings rotated by a reputable engine shop as they are a PITA to do when you dont have the tool So that's not the problem.

I have somewhere around 55-60psi oil pressure at 3000 rpm from memory, am going to try recheck tonight if I can.

[hemi twofifteen turbo]

hey check your oil light sender and see if it's leaking any oil. I had a similar problem with a 2t where the oil light would come on after about 60 seconds after starting. The switch was broken and allowing oil to the other side of the piston and stoping the light from going out.

If it's flicking on and off at idle and goes off with some rev's it's most likely low oil pressure from something. 55-60psi at 3k is pretty good. What sort of oil are you running and does it only do it when hot? i'm guessing there's plenty of oil in the motor too? when did u last change the filter? Get a real gauge in there though permanently the oil gauge monitors the lifeblood of your engine!!

[TheToyman75]

What oil filter are you using ? I strongly suggest only fitting the Factory Toyota Filter to any twin Cam T series engine.

What is your idle speed set to ?

It is quite common for a 2TG to have low oil pressure at idle so little things like the wrong grade of oil or an inferior filter can be all it takes.

[sillycar chick]

Yeah, I think it is the oil I am running... I forget what grade it was, but I think it was a bit thinner than the normal stuff... its due for an oil change anyway now that the engine is settling in. The idle is a little low - it goes as far down as 800rpm - but its getting dyno tuned Thursday so hopefully they set it at around 1000rpm.

And Rod, your rep comment last night was quite interesting