What to Do When Your Dashboard Oil Light is on?

Your car’s dashboard is a display of the health of all the systems of your car. Whether it’s speed, check engine light, or oil light, all of these are indicators of possible issues within your engine.

When your oil light on the dashboard turns on, it can be a matter of urgent concern as there could be a possible issue with your engine oil. Furthermore, since engine oil is imperative for your used engine’s health, you need to address the reason immediately.

What does it mean when the oil light is on?

To get to the root cause of the problem, you must first understand what it means when your ECU turns on the engine light on your dashboard.

Usually, it means that your used engine suffers from low oil pressure. Without enough oil pressure, the engine won’t be lubricated thoroughly and may possibly. There’s even a possibility that the engine may stop abruptly and cause an accident.

Additionally, it’s worthwhile noticing that even if you manage to avoid an engine seizure while the oil light is on, you’re still inflicting damage on your engine by running it without proper lubrication. The consequences of such actions can expose you to major repair costs in the future.  

That’s why you must take the warning light seriously and pull over as soon as the oil light comes on. Perform an oil level check using the dipstick and look for any signs of a leak. If there are no leaks and the oil level is below recommended, you should simply top up the engine oil. However, if the low engine oil level is not the issue, there could be a bigger problem underlying your engine.

 

What triggers the engine light alert?

 Any of multiple plausible things can trigger the oil light alert. It usually means that the ECU has detected something off with the engine oil level or pressure, but there can be other reasons too.  

Following are three common reasons behind this alert.

 

• Low engine oil level: In this case, you can add some engine oil and see if the light goes off. If it does, you’re good to go.
• Faulty pump: If you check and find that the oil level is okay, but the engine is making a noise it could be due to a faulty pump. It’s advised to not drive your vehicle until it is fixed.
• Oil sensor: If everything from the oil level to the pump is okay and the engine is running smoothly but the oil alert is still on, it could mean that your oil sensor could be faulty. In that case, you can safely drive and get the sensor replaced.

 

How Do I Increase Oil Pressure?

 If you diagnose the reason for your engine oil alert as low engine oil pressure, here is how you can increase it.

• Prepare your car with hoods open and parking brake applied.
• Drain the oil and replace it with new clean oil.
• Clean the oil pan.
• Replace the oil pump if needed.
• Fix the mixture of engine oil and additives.

 

Reset The Engine Oil Light

After you have successfully fixed the issue, it’s now time to reset the engine oil light back to neutral so that it can again do its job when needed. To do so, insert the key into the ignition and turn the vehicle to “on” without starting it. Put your foot on the gas pedal and press it three times within ten seconds to depress it. It will reset the engine light alert.

 

A Lubricated Engine is a Healthy Engine

Lubrication plays a key role in the life expectancy and efficiency of a used engine. Without oil, an engine can easily succumb to overheating and malfunction possibly. Proper lubrication can help mitigate this problem, keep your engine healthy, and extend the life of your motor.

 

Conclusion

 

If you see that the engine light on your dashboard is on, try to diagnose the reason behind the alert and fix it as soon as possible. To stay on the safe side, always buy a used engine with a warranty as it secures you can against future problems.

 To buy a quality used engine with a warranty, connect with us and get a free quote.