Questions and Answers

Oil Light Off And On Q. I have a 1989 Dodge 4x4 truck with a 5.2 liter engine and 135,000 miles. I have been very religious about oil changes. Here recently the oil light has been coming on, especially at stopping the truck and then going out upon acceleration. I've changed the oil and the trouble seemed to go away and then it started back up again.

I was constantly checking the engine oil and the levels where fine. Here the other day I tried to start the truck and couldn't, the oil light was on from the beginning. I checked the oil and barely had any on the dipstick. I crawled under my truck to check for leaks at the oil pan and around the filter, etc. and did not find anything. I also had not smelled any oil that had been burning.

At the last oil change I used some "oil flush" to clean out the old oil. I have never used this product before and it seemed to thin out the old oil pretty good. I emptied a little over 5 quarts out. I only use this truck part time and it will be sitting for the time being. I have also not found any information on troubleshooting from the Haynes or the Chilton manual.

Do you have any ideas as to what is going on here?

Thanks for your time on this,
Keith

A. When you say you couldn't start it, do you mean it would crank and not start, or do nothing at all?

If you have a bad Oil Pressure Switch, that would not keep the truck from starting. If it cranks, then you need to check for fuel and spark to see which one is missing. After you get it started you'll need to check the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge to see what the actual oil pressure is. If it reads below 6 psi at idle then you have an engine problem. Above that you'll need to replace the Oil Pressure Switch.

I think what probably happened is you cleaned this engine to death. One of the worst things you can do is do an engine flush on a high milage engine. I have seen more than a few engines that this has happened to. The oil pressure test and a compression test will confirm or deny this.

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