Thread: Do I believe my oil light?

if the oil light came on and you didnt stop immediately to inspect for damage, then you might as well just go ahead and drive it the 1200km home :/ but make sure you join nrma or racq etc first.
sorry, but the warning light is there for a reason, to let you know something is wrong, its not a suggestion or a hint. same with the overtemp on gearbox. should be looked at immediatley to ensure nothing major is about to lunch itself.

More than likely if you havent stopped by now in a catastrophic way due to the fact you have no oil pressure, then its simply that the wire has come off the sender while you were thrashing around.

What vehicle is it?

It has been known for the pressure releif valves of v8's to stick open dropping oil pressure and bringing the light on. A sharp tap in the right place can sometimes fix this!

The vehicle is a D2 2001 TD5. How long would a vehicle run without oil pressure?

How long did it take you to type that??

It does sound like it could be simply a wire come off or pressure switch failure or something, but there is no way I'd drive 1200k home with it like that.
If for some reason you do have an issue on the way home (major leak etc) then you have nothing to alert you and you'd definitely trash the motor.

Years ago a mate of mine had an old Morris 1000 that had the oil light came on. Thinking it was just a failed sensor he drove it the 300k back home - and amazingly made it. The motor never siezed (probably due to well worn bores and pistons, but the main and bigend bearings were all extruded out the sides of the crank journals!!
The problem turned out to be a broken oil pump drive. Fixed by swapping the engine for a spare he had in the shed.
Whats the cost of a replacement engine for yours?

My advice - get it sorted before you drive home.

Guys, I agree with all of you. I am however at a coal mine just outside of Clermont in QLD. The nearest reasonable town is Emerald some 110km away. I need to confirm whether the electronics is correct or not.

What is the quickest way to visibly check if there is oil pressure eg by loosening the feed to the turbo? or does someone have a better location to loosen?

Gee I wish that I had fitted an oil pressure gauge

Easiest would be take the rocker cover off.
If you had no oil pressure and you have been driving it with none then you should hear big end bearing knock when you lightly rev engine and listen for knock on trailing revs.
Check on side of engine where the oil sender is and see if the wire to the oil sender is connected, properly, Regards Frank.

I can't see easily how you are going to be able to tell what the oil pressure is, even if you diconenct something to see if it is being pumped round.

Can you hear the rotor filter spinning when you shut down the engine..?

To be honest, it doesnt sound like you look after the car particually well....?