low oil pressure light is on.

[kevinleek63]

I have an 07 cobalt ss 2.4 with about 167,000 miles.

recently the low oil pressure light has been flashing on and off. at first I noticed it in stop and go traffic about a month ago. for the last couple weeks it will go on and then back off briefly. I installed a new oil pressure sensor. the light continued to go on briefly. A couple of days ago I took it on a 2 hour trip and since then the low oil pressure light has been coming on more frequently and longer periods of time.

today I took the car into the chevy dealer and they hooked up something to tell me what codes are in it. they said it wasn't missing, and was running smoothly. the engine runs quiet and no noise that you would expect if the oil pressure was low.

the dealer said the oil pumps rarely go bad on these cars. they did recommend replacing the oil pump. they also said it could be the engine bearings.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be the root of the problem?

 

[YelloEye]

Oil level OK?

 

[kevinleek63]

yes it is consistently at the correct level. no leaks anywhere.

 

[YelloEye]

Any previous problems pertaining to temperature or loss of oil?

 

[kevinleek63]

The car has never leaked oil, and barely uses any oil. As far as the engine temperature....very rare that I am in stop and go traffic. Never experienced the oil light on before.

I am going to clean the contacts from the wiring harness to the oil pressure sensor. If no good, I will have a new oil pump installed in the morning.

 

[YelloEye]

That's really odd. Worth a shot at your mileage though.

 

[kevinleek63]

couldn't really clean the wiring harness contacts, it is a plug in plastic end on the end of the harness. but I did notice a little bit of oil on the exposed end of the sensor. cleaned the oil as best I could.

tested the car and drove it for about 45 min. the light never came on.

took the car to the chevy dealer and they check the pressure. it was 35psi at 1000rpm. the range is 30 to 70. so I will leave it alone for now.

 

[YelloEye]

Might be worth buying an aftermarket gauge to have that displayed so you can keep an eye on it. I plan on getting one.

 

[kevinleek63]

I have considered it.

 

[onedoughboy]

Did the dealership use a mechanical gauge to verify the 35 psi? Has anyone changed the oil pan or timing chain, or timing chain cover. The oil pump is in the timing chain cover, there's two gaskets between the cover and block. There's one gasket area in the oil pan to the block. These could be easy to over look, along with a whole list of other problems. Mechanical gauge would help verify no internal problems, otherwise maybe just sensor or wiring problem. I would not take issue lightly.