K its hitting -20 c up north here. And when I start the engine, oil light pops on but then but once warm went off. Scared the crap outa me when I saw it as I was just letting it warm up. I'm running 5 40 full synthetic. Gonna get it in to check oil pressure. In the morning. Question, do you think that damage is already done? I talked to a guy from the rover shop and he said not a big deal. Just cold......I don't buy that.

 

He is not exactly correct. Oil light come on at startup, and goes out when pressure climbs to beyond 7 PSI. Down here in the flatlands, that can take like three seconds with 15W50. Where it is cold, will take longer, even with 5W40. But not 15 minutes. IMHO you should not move or rev truck until light is off. Once truck is warmed up, does this repeat during the day? What brand of oil filter are you using (might be a problem with that as well)?

Light staying on until warm up is a real question. In addition to oil pump question, if your truck is equipped with engine oil cooler (some D2 had them) it might be restricted. The factory oil cooler is located between the radiator and the AC condenser. There are two coolers in there, one for tranny, one for oil (if equipped).

Mechanical oil PSI a good thing to do.

Specs from RAVE:

Low oil pressure switch opening pressure 0.24-0.41 bar (3.5-6.0 lbf.in2)

Pix of cracked oil pump, souce of tick noise and low oil PSI.

 

So what have you done or found out regarding your oil pressure light?

 

I got it booked in for thur morning to get the oil pressure tested, earliest I could get it in. Talked to the guy at the indy shop and he said that upon startup your oil pressure is at its highest cause its cold. The oil filter was put on by the shop that did my head gasket. I took a quick look and I think its a Bosch High performance filter. Actually not sure as I had a very restricted view, lol. But it was black and started with the letters BO and said High performance. lol When I got more time tomorrow I'll get at it.
As for the light coming on during the day, no not at all. I just noticed as it got colder it would at first stay on for a couple of seconds and this morning it was -20 and It stayed on for about 5 mins tops.
Well get the oil pressure tested and start from there. I'll check the rave and see if its got an oil cooler, just no time tonight tomorrow forsure.

 

NEVER let your engine run for more than 10 sec with the oil light on.
You should have shut it off and then restarted it, I bet the light would have gone out after that.
Oil gets thick when it gets cold, and harder to pump.
Now you say -20, is that "F" or "C"?

 

Oil cooler - only up to VIN 756821, will be two stacked coolers between main rad and condenser, with both in there it is still like four to six inch lower than top of main rad.

Oil has a cold cranking viscosity rating, and a number of oils can be rated the same in general, but actually have a wide range of results. So one oil might test close to the minimum, the other close to the maxium, both will still be sold as the same "W" rating. The test is ASTM D5293. Some oils that have better ratings for this include Pennzoil Synthetic, Amsoil ATM, and Mobile 1 Super Syn. These have a rating that is only about 60% of something like Valvoline, and in cold cranking, lower is better.

 

OMG 5 minutes. Wow. I really hope you didn't do any engine damage and it was just the sensor being funny. You may want an experienced mechanic to cut open the oil filter and evaluate for damage.

Prior to switching to Rotella oils, I ran Mobil 1 5W30 (had stuck with what the PO ran). Had a couple of early mornings in the single digit Fahrenheit temps which left the oil light on for more than I like, but that's like 5 or 6 seconds.

Makes me consider a 0Wxx for winter time around here.

 

Well, while we gather at the Church of the Painful Truth, I ran mine with oil light on for like five minutes plus. I had installed a used radiator, and reached in and cranked it up, then went back under the hood to look for coolant leaks.... the oil cooler was plugged up and the oil light never went out, but the truck warmed up. No wild noises, so I wasn't 100% out of oil. I did have to change my Depends. No damage as far as I can tell, but I have not torn anything down, got out a micrometer, etc. Lucky I didn't give it to my kid to test drive.... a few thoussand miles have passed.

 

Just to make sure, you did check your oil right? I know that sounds dumb but things like that happen. I've had the oil light stay on for maybe 1-3 seconds after cranking. But that was usually because i just changed the oil.

As the others have said don't ever run the truck with the oil light on for more than a few seconds. Did you hear any bad noises?

I would guess your pump is getting weak or you are very low on oil (which is very dangerous) and you have a leak some where. If it's option B then I think it would have blown up and you would have noticed. Maybe you lucked out, keep us updated.

 

Yep - there was a poster a while back that found he was four quarts low..... and that's oil, not coolant!