I just bought a dodge Dakota 2000. The oil light came on and I can smell oil through the vents. I know the oil light is due to the oil pressure but I need to figure out what else could possible be wrong.
You have an oil leak. Have you checked the oil level? More than likely a valve cover, but you will need to check all around and see where the burning oil is going. Likely dripping on exhaust. Also, you need to check oil pressure. You can screw a manual gauge into where the sensor goes to check pressure.
The smell may be coming from oil leaking onto a hot exhaust component, likely the exhaust manifold, and burning.
The fact that the oil pressure light has already come on is ominous. You may have made a bad purchasing decision. The only thing I can suggest is to have it looked at by a trusted mechanic. He may be able to tell you just by looking at things like buildup under the oil cap and looking at the residue of oil having weeped out. He may even be able to smell and see oil burning as the engine runs. He may want to do a compression test.
It needs a hands-on look-see, but don’t get optimistic. I hope you didn’t pay much for it.
I’ve seen posts before describing these symptoms and the culprit was a leaking oil pressure sensor.
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It would be great if it’s just the sensor. That’s an easy fix.
I don’t know about Fiats but on GMs, the oil sending unit is a weak point and can leak a lot of oil in a short period of time. It also is the switch for the oil light. Check the oil level and have a look around underneath. Was there not oil leak when it was checked before purchase?
Fairly common problem with these vehicles.
[quote=“Bing, post:6, topic:100263, full:true”]
I don’t know about Fiats but on GMs, the oil sending unit is a weak point and can leak a lot of oil in a short period of time. It also is the switch for the oil light. Check the oil level and have a look around underneath. Was there not oil leak when it was checked before purchase?
[/quote]Fiats? Fiat had nothing to do with Dodge in 2000.
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Hopefully – keep your fingers crossed – this is just aminor oil leak along with a problematic oil pressure sensor. If not, you are probably looking at some type of expensive repair there OP. Keep an eye on the oil level on the dipstick in the meantime, and let us know if the oil pressure sensor until checks out ok, but the shop gauge shows you actually have low oil pressure.
Since you just bought it, you may have two problems. An oil leak AND a bad sending unit. Bad sending units were quite common on Chrysler products of this vintage. For your sake, I sincerely hope it is a bad sending unit .
You have to check the oil level before you do anything else. If the oil level is fine, change the sending unit. That is much cheaper than having a mechanic check the pressure.
If the level is fine and a new sending unit fixes the light, check the valve covers for leaks.