Hello, I have a 2001 Neon with 109000 miles and am having this problem. After I drive for a bit, when coming to a stop, the engine idle drops rather low and the oil pressure light comes off and on. As soon as I accelerate, the lights goes off and stays off.

I have maintained the car pretty well and it has been very dependable thru out the 5 years that I have owned it. I recently changed the spark plugs, have changed the oil every 3000miles and have changed the trany fluid once as well as changed the coolant like 2-3 times.

Could this simply be cured by a good,comprehensive tune up? Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Bryan

 

your pump is prob going. the pump rins directly off the crank so the faster it spins (higher rpms) the more oil flows. if your idle drops, so does your oil pressure and if the pump is going, it wil drop too low and cause a CEL. this is a big problem and i would suggest getting a new pump

 

Thanks. What is a CEL? As for the idle, will adjusting it maybe be the problem rather than the pump?

 

CEL is check engine light i dint realize there is a oil presure light for it so dont mind the CEL part lol your idel is prob normal where does it drop to 600 rpm prob?

 

Ok, man do I feel stupid, CEL, that makes sense. I have a little oil pan light that has been coming on intermitently only when the engine idles low. It idles pretty low, can't give ya an exact rpm value, but lower than it ever has and it only started recently along with the oil light. As soon as the I increase the idle, or what I have been doing is engaing the air cond. compressor which makes th engine idle up and the light goes off.

Still think it's the oil pump and not engine idle???

 

i think it is, but i would try to see where it idles when the light comes on

 

Remove the oil sender unit (it could be bad) and attach an oil pressure gauge, then you can see what the actual pressure is before you start tearing things apart.

 

Thank you guys for your responses. I will check the oil sender. I had my routine oil change last night and they listed that they checked the oil pressure and said that it was ok. Now this is WalMart and I am not sure if they truly checked it. I will say that the light does not come on with a cold start. It is not until the car gets warm and not always.

Bryan

 

unfortunately i work at walmarts lube place right now(about to go to a dealership), and believe me, most of the people that work there dont know as much as they should. granted it's only oil change work, dont need to b a rocket scientist, but tomost of the techs, checking oil pressure means turning on the car, waiting a few seconds and as long as there's no leaks, its checked. so, id get a second opinion on the pressure.

 

Thanks. Ya, I found that out when I stopped one of the techs and asked them. Kind of pissed me off cause if they are going to claim to "check" the pressure, they should drop a gauge on it. Oh well, like i said it's Wal-Mart. Anyway, Saturday morning I got the sender unit replaced and the light has not come on since. So, I assume that fixed it.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

Bryan