Discovery Oil light

[claire]

Hi, we recently purchased a secondhand landrover discovery 95, has about 200,000km on the clock. We drove this 8 hours home from purchase without any problems. Looked as though the previous owner had not changed the oil for some time so my boyfriend changed the oil ( put in 15W 40) changed the oil filter and changed the oil pressure sensor ( as there was a small leak there)

Since doing this, as we were driving up the range the oil light started flickering any time the car was under 1000rpm and goes out when we accelerated. We obviously turned around for home on the start of the trip as this wasn't a good sign. I took it to the local mechanic for an oil pressure test. He told me he ran it for some time and it all looked okay, lowest reading hot was something like 140KPA and highest 240KPA. He suggested it may be a faulty reader or something electrical?

I drove it home from the mechanics and of course the light came on when I braked or was under the 1000rpm. I know it tested fine but seeing the light still isn't good in my books.

I don't know the first thing about this, anyone have any ideas. could the oil be too thin? Oh, and the pressure sensor was bought from a landrover dealer. Is it possible he gave us the wrong one?

we have a petrol V8. Help? :) claire

[justinc]

140Kpa is about 20psi, so that is fine. I would suspect the sender switch, OR maybe he didn't run it until the engine was really hot to check the pressure. Still, 20 psi is very healthy at idle if engine was warm.

Maybe get someone else to check the oil pressure?

JC

[loanrangie]

Isnt the correct oil spec for a rover V8 20W/50 ? - its what i have always used except in high mileage engines where Penrite HPR50 helps .

[bee utey]

At that kind of mileage I would run at least 20W-50 or preferably Penrite HPR30 which is a 20W-60. Also the oil pressure switch may be faulty, try another one.

[claire]

thanks for the replies..., my friend asked the same question, whether the mechanic ran it until it was really warm.. this I don't know, they took two hours with no phone call and I ended up walking back to the shop to pick up the car, so I have to believe their word that they ran the engine for ages... mind you it takes a good 20 min of driving before the light comes on for me. I don't know anything about the oil except I thought 15W40 was the correct choice thru the manual? my question is... will the oil pressure test show a problem regardless of how hot the engine is? hopefully a mechanic knows it needs to heat up with this kind of test? car drives fine, just don't want to do damage... could a change of oil fix this?

[justinc]

If a 15w40 oil makes the lamp go on from lack of pressure, a heavier oil is not really the answer.....:( That is all we use in these engines.


JC

[V8Ian]

Talk to Collin or Gareth in Hartly St, both honest and competant.

http://www.hypertuned.com.au/ (http://www.hypertuned.com.au/)