[boricuacaddy]

Hi everyone! I don't know if someone on here might have the answer to this. My question is, when the check oil level message appears, how much oil is in the pan when it first comes on? I am wondering if it does come on while driving will you have to pull over and check immediatly? or will it be safe to keep driving until you get home or somewhere where you can check the oil?

 

[krimson_cardnal]

In my 96DeVille when the checl oil light comes on the engine will take two quarts. The crank fill is 7.5 quarts total. Looking thru the forums you'll see it's not a good idea to over fill. Check it hot and keep it between the lines, not over.

With 5 quarts your engine will run fine till you get a quart in. You're not likely to harm anything.

Much has been discussed here on oil consumption. Do a forum search on it. Check the tech archives at top of page.

 

[Ranger]

Krimson is correct. You should have about 5 1/2 qts. left. No need to panick. The only reason for 7 1/2 qts is so that the pump will not suck air with a 1G lateral force on it at WOT. So if your check oil level light is on, don't take a clover leaf on ramp at WOT.

 

[boricuacaddy]

LOL! Thanks guys, I really didn't know how it works. I remember when the light use to light up Oil on the old cars, it usually meant you are almost bone dry.

David

 

[Ranger]

That is because the "old cars" only had an oil pressure switch and not an oil level switch, thus the idiot light went on when the sump was dry and the pump sucked air, a little late for a warning.

 

[cadwithanaltitude]

my '95 sls 4.6 check oil light comes on every time on start up. it doesn't come on later. is this normal? thanks

 

[Ranger]

Are you talking about the check oil level message, the change oil message or the oil pressure light? If you are talking about the check oil level message, and the oil level is still on the stick, then I would suspect a faulty level sensor.

 

[mcowden]

Are you talking about the check oil level message, the change oil message or the oil pressure light? If you are talking about the check oil level message, and the oil level is still on the stick, then I would suspect a faulty level sensor.

The level sensor is a simple float switch. I just replaced mine. The float came off the end of the sending unit on my old one. It was just a small clip that held it in place, and the clip apparently broke and is sitting in the oil pan along with the float. On the new ones, the end is molded plastic that probably has a little better structural integrity than the stupid clip-on thing did. Despite what our old buddy Rob said, I wouldn't replace the sensor with oil in the sump. It sits low enough that you'd have quite a spill unless you have the car at an extreme angle and/or only a few quarts in the pan.

The oil pressure light uses a completely different sensor that's above the oil filter adapter. The oil pressure is normally pretty low at idle, but if it's low enough to trigger the light to come on, the sensor could be bad, the harmonic balancer bolt could be loose, or the oil pump could be marginal. I only remember hearing about one instance of a bad oil pump, so that's a pretty unlikely solution. Rob used to recommend using one of the HDD oils like Delo, Delvac, or Rotella 15W-40 oil to alleviate intermittent oil pressure light issues after the sensor had been replaced with an OEM (AC-Delco) sensor.