My low oil light and buzzer are going off whenever I hit a bump, and also when my steering wheel is aligned to the right. Some times when I turn right it will not go off, but most of the time, ninety percent maybe, just having the wheel to the right of center will cause the light and buzzer to go off. What the hell?

Zach

 

I would've thought it a good idea to mention whether or not you've checked the oil level...

 

yes, i checked the oil. oil is fine.

I don't really care if the light stays on, but the buzzer is driving me crazy. does nayone know how to disconnect the buzzer? i can't seem to find it. I took my dash and gauges apart, but it seems like the buzzer is dead center in the dash somewhere, and I can't seem to find it.

any suggestions?

 

^^ oh god....... Not another one of these..


Don't remove the buzzer.. its there for a reason. Fix the problem.

Perhaps your oil level sensor is disconnected, broken or stuck?

 

I don't know man. It's frustrating, because it's not on all the time. So I'm thinking it's a loose wire or something, but I have no idea.

Can anyone lay out for me the exact route that the buzzer/dummy light/oil light takes? That way I can check everywhere it connects.

I mean, if I disconnect the buzzer, the lights will still work, it's just the buzzer won't go off, right? If disconnecting the buzzer won't make the dummy lights stop working altogether, then I'm fine with that for now.

But it's weird also that it only happens when I hit bumps and turn to the RIGHT. When I turn back to the left, it stops.

Thank you for your input and help thus far. Can anyone give me any further advice? I would much appreciate any constructive help.

Thanks agian.

 

put half a pint of oil in your engine, that'll do the trick. remember our cars SPRAYS oil in the chambers for lubrication too, so we lose a little bit of oil.

 

Well, he did say he was fine on oil..... however, if it happens when he turns left and stuff..... Sounds like an oil level problem to me..... but, could still very well be a wire loose or the oil level sensor wiggin out. Check the FSM for the route it takes.

 

If youre turning to the right thats odd, since the sensor is on the left, it should indicate being fuller when turning that way, i think its a bad sensor. I have a couple of spares i can let go for cheap if need be.

 

yea, it might be the connector on the sensor either being really loose or corroded, or the wire pulling out of the back of the sensor, cause in a right turn, the wire weight (yea, grasping for threads here) would pull away from the sensor and block

 

well, it happened to me before... same thing hitting bumps and turning right, but after i put some more oil, it stopped. just my .02 though. you could also do what they said

 

Probably another bad sensor......every FC I've owned has had a cooked one. Since I got bitch-slapped for saying this last time though, I'll follow with THAT IS NOT THE NORM APPARENTLY.

Try another sensor and check the wiring, its loomed near the spark plugs so perhaps during recent work the wires/plug for the sensor were jarred? throwing out suggestions here.

 

let your car cool down then check the oil

 

This has been happening for a few days now and I'm going out of my mind.

The oil level has been good, and I have checked it several times. Now that I know the location of the sensor, I am going to trace the wires and see if any are loose. If that is not the case, I will replace the sensor, and that should fix it, since it can only really be one of those two things.

However,

*Can anyone tell me where the buzzer is located? **

This should not disable the rest of the dummy lights (unless I am wrong), and would be a quick and temporary fix- at least enough so that I can stand driving it until I can fix it.

Thanks again to everyone for their input. I couldn't fix anything on my car without you.

 

Its behind the gauge cluster. Remove it and unsolder the buzzer.

 

Ha. I just found it.

 

Only an idiot would break the car further instead of fixing it.

Fix the car right and the buzzer will stop going off.

 

You could check the wire coming out of the sensor. From what I've seen they get brittle, the insulation cracks and the wire eventually breaks right where it enters the sensor/oil pan.

But, as others have said, it sounds like low oil level or a sticky sensor.

 

After I saw the buzzer was on the motherboard for the guage cluster, I decided not to detach it. It would have been easier if the buzzer was connected with a wire that I could later reconnect.

I check the wires and then replace the level sensor next.

 

To be honest, the oil buzzer is only there because of the idiots who dont know about the oil consumption with the car and dont check the level, ever. How many other ars have this system? Not any i know of, not in that era especially, mostly just luxury cars.

Also, did you try just disconnecting the level sender and seeing if that does it?

 

The buzzer warns of low oil, low coolant and redline, so disabling it because just one of those systems is malfunctioning is just plain dumb...

As much as I hate to give this advice, it should be pretty obvious just by looking at the wiring diagrams that if the the oil level sensor is at fault then simply unplugging it will disable the warning. If you do that and the buzzer stops, the sensor is the problem. If it doesn't, it isn't.

Don't leave it like that though, this warning could save your engine. All the info you need for diagnosis is in the FSM.

 

Listen to the TehMonkay and NZConv. The sensor grounds when the oil level is low. Unplugging it is a good way of checking if the sensor is at fault. Replace it soon with one that works (clean and test it first), and don't forget the gasket.

If this is not the problem, somewhere the circuit is shorted to ground where it goes to the sensor.

 

Have a look at this...

 

thanks for the diagram. that helps a lot. i disconnected the oil level sensor where it plugs into the harness and the buzzer/light stays on.

I know the buzzer works for low coolant also, etc., but that was not my immediate concern. my immediate concern was being able to drive my car for a few days until I could fix it without having the buzzer in my ear. it is really annoying.

however, i should be able to fix the problem as soon as I get some time. thanks again guys.

 

Just to confirm...it is the oil level light that is still on after you unplugged the oil level sensor? If so, there's definitely a short to ground in the circuit. The fact that it comes on when you turn would make me check any wiring around the steering column (could have been misrouted when previously worked on). Wait...let me check the wiring diagrams in the FSM....I don't know...check Chapter 15, page 28 and make sure you didn't switch the plugs at the back of the cluster (very unlikely though). As a last resort, try to see if you can get your hands on a spare cluster and warning/clock assembly and switch one at a time and work through a process of elimination.

Take a multimeter (with ignition off) and see if there's continuity from the oil level sensor plug to ground, then trace the wire backwards to find out where it's grounding.

 

Or................................ it's also to tell you if there's a major malfunction in the oil system that's dumping oil out. Granted most of the time that means you're screwed. But depending on the leak, it might save from having to rebuild.