ok this week I noticed my oil light comes on at start up an then shuts of within 5 seconds
its only on a cold start too
it still has the 5s with 178732 mile
I kno the oil pan leaks some good but is there anything else I should be worried about

How often do you add oil? When you check the oil, how low is it? Do you got smoke coming out of the exhaust? You should add a mechanical oil pressure gauge (T it at the head). It'll give you your operating oil pressure readings during start up, idle, and driving.

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so far I've add oil once in 2900my miles an it was only half a quart
I check the oil every morning now before I ever start it up
ok I like the idea of the gauge but where at on the head do I t it at?
not 100%pretty on the smoke since its been in the low 40s here
so it looks like its smoking even if it isn't
but I kno last week for sure it wasn't smoking

That's not really a lot of oil adding to worry about as long as you keep it up. Checking the oil each morning is a good idea. I do that as well and my motor was fully rebuilt 10K ago.

The gauge is simple. Basically you remove the oil sending unit, then fit in a t-mount. Then, fit in the oil sending unit on one side of the t and then the new gauge on the other side of the t. The t mount itself is like $5 at any hardware store. The oil press. gauge is about $40-50 roughly for a good one and can be bought at any advance auto, pep boys, autozone.

Also, if you don't want to install it yourself, a mechanic will do it for cheap. At most, up to one hour's labor.

Here's a pic of mine (circled).



Should look like this when done...

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ok that looks easy enough to do
yea Im honestly starting to think im freaking out over bothering
an chance its maybe just the sensor?

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ok that looks easy enough to do
yea Im honestly starting to think im freaking out over bothering
an chance its maybe just the sensor?

I think so (based on my own experience). I bought my celica with 173K on it and it drove and rode just fine with no engine probs until around 190K (no oil lights but lower oil press (right at the minimum) and that's probably because I drove it really hard and was a little careless with the oil changes. I once went 8K miles on regular oil before changing it. It came out really dark and felt really, really thin.

When I got my old pistons back during the rebuild, the original pistons had bad signs of scuffing wear but still not enough to cause smoke out the exhaust - the rings weren't that bad. Our engines are pretty rugged.

Also, like my engine had, you probably have dry rot here and there on some areas and or components. I just lost my cold air start temp. sensor because of dry rot. The plastic just gets really old and then cracks causing the sensor to default.

This post has been edited by 6G96GT: Oct 1, 2011 - 1:48 PM

ok that makes me feel little better
im a freak about oil changes
I normally use penzoil (mainly because im to lazy to change my own oil )
is there something better I can use

I use mobil 1 fully synthetic but you probably should stick with what you got or maybe try mobil 1 high mileage. I hear that is great oil for higher mileage vehicles but I think any top name oil is pretty good. It's not like we're running drag cars or even turbo cars, lol.

The oil light normally comes on on start up because it's been sitting at the bottom of the engine, in the oil pan. Once you start it up, it takes a few seconds for it to circulate throughout the engine. Nothing to worry about at all.

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yea true
although in the summer I do like to hit the strip alil lol
my oil seems to do the job since its high milage

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ok that makes sense
guess I just never pay much attention

Well that is true but for example, when mine was going before the rebuild my light would come on for 2 sec max but then came on for about 5 seconds or longer as it got worse. During the rebuild the mech said my oil pump was just about gone and my idle oil pressure went down to 9 psi. Now, since the rebuild about a year ago, the light comes on for a second and the idle psi is at 20. BIG difference.

This post has been edited by 6G96GT: Oct 1, 2011 - 9:59 PM

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ok so my next check ill get a new oil pressure gauge
an hopefully I've fought any problem soon enough to be fixed
without a full rebuild

I think the gauge will tell you where your engine's at. You'll get the oil pressure for start up, idle, and various rpm ranges like 3K. If your oil press. reads are lower then what Toyota calls for then you'll have a prob but if they are within spec, then you're good to go.

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that's how im looking at it
ill eather find out somethings wrong or it all ok
eather way I end up with a cool looking gauge in my car
what range shouldn't oil psi be in?

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that's how im looking at it
ill eather find out somethings wrong or it all ok
eather way I end up with a cool looking gauge in my car
what range shouldn't oil psi be in?

Would there be any specific brand you would recommend? I'm looking to get an electrical one cause I'd rather not run a line into my car lol

just picked up a oil an volt mini gauges at harbor freight for 10a bucks

I've used the mechanical 'Sunpro' one, which I bought well over a year ago at my local Autozone for about $30. I did run a line through the wall and into the car but it's no big deal and I believe they are more accurate then the electric ones (I understand that the much more expensive electric ones are more accurate and are priced over a $100).

Any mech. oil pressure gauge should be fine though as they all work through actual oil pressure pushing the indicator needle. A brand name one though probably has a better quality build and stronger or longer lasting material. I've been planning to swap my Sunpro one out for a better brand name one but haven't gotten around to it.

I would just rather not have to run a line filled with oil into my car, especially cause it could start leaking. I don't need it to be 100% accurate, but pretty close

well thought I was all set ti hook mine up but my t fitting wont work
I think its the wrong tread guessing the head hole is metric an my t is standard

so hopefully naps will have what I need

my nova has had the same sunpro mech oil gauge for 10+ years now and has never leaked (my gandpa done it before he died when I was 12) so I don't think leaking is a problem imo

I bought my T at Robbins. Maybe you have one local to you? I also don't think leaking is a prob for mech gauges either. I've had them over the years and have never had probs.

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I've never heard of robbins lol hopefully napa will have the right part
im probably going to have to wait till my next check but I should be able to make a mounting plate an hook up volt meter atleast an run the line for the oil gauge

little off topic how do I put pictures in a post?
( I do everything on my DROID x )

I also say nothign to worry about at all. My Ranger did it, my celica does it. I also have a small leak, its just the oil sitting in the bottom of the pan. You're prolly just barking up a tree that is perfectly healthy

a few seconds for it to turn off is ok. it takes longer when it sat a long time, and longer the colder it gets outside.

i would imagine 2-3 seconds on after the engine catches would be a bit too long.

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nice to hear it from someone else in Ohio

I was starting to think the cold sir had something to do with it

where in Ohio do you live?

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it seem to me 2 seconds tops
I've tryed counting from start up to it kicking off im not even getting 2 out of ny mouth an its off
but figure since I got the gauges I might as well put them in an have a cool new look in my car
right now I think im mounting them in the little hole by the cig lighter
any other suggestion?

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I live is SE ohio. Currently in Athens at OU. Mine is about the same way. Sometimes it won't do it, other times gotta burp the throttle. It's just the oil pressure pilot hole thing taking its time. Prolly a little dirty. My old ranger was acutally getting to the point where sometimes the actualy oil pressure gauge would hit flat bottom zero (first time I thought i lost all oil and that my truck was gonna blow up lol) come to find out, it was just some oil sludge around that sensor causing intermittent problems when it was cold. Same thing here. When mine starts going longer than 2 seconds I check the oil, add the half quart-1qt I'm low and it's right back to .5 seconds. Def not much to worry about.

On a side note, how far are you from athens? On a second side note, we should get an Ohio/PA/WV meet set up

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I think 2 hours tops but im not 10% sure where athena is lol
ill have to google it later
im all for a meet
even if it just me an you meetin on a weekend lol I went to a meet in north Ohio about 2the weeks ago

I ran an electric Sunpro gauge from Advance Auto Parts with the matching sender and it was cheap, accurate, and doesn't risk running oil into the cabin.




Hard to see the T on there, but it's also from Advance Auto Parts. It's a standard 1/8th NTP. The issue is that our cars are british NTP not american NTP and it's threads are deeper. Just take some 800 grit around the threads a few times and it'll spin in with no problem.

Also, it's normal for the car to have the oil light stay on a little longer on cold days. Keep in mind, our filters are angled down. All the oil settles to the bottom and gets thicker in the cold, therefore it takes longer to get to the top. If you are worried about it, run 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 in the summer. 10w30 is the recommended weight for our engines all season simply because of how high RPM they run in these cars. Protects longer.

A nice thing about the oil pressure gauge is the fact that you can tell when it's to change it due to breakdown and not just dirt/milage. I actually have to change mine before 3k miles sometimes due to how hard I push my car and I wouldn't be able to tell without that gauge.

This post has been edited by RabidTRD: Oct 3, 2011 - 7:04 PM

now kno why my t wont work ill fix that tomorrow