Another thanks to Ray Norton for reviving a 9 year old thread . Not sure what I am going to do with the info that a Garage door opener can turn on a Low oil pressure light on what ever vehicle he has.
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All the advice you have received thus far is on point and valid.
Let me ask this⊠Did your engine ever âclatterâ upon startup prior to this oil light incident?
The answer will probably be the most telling in so far as did something occur from that incident or not.
After that⊠follow the advice given and see if you can proceed without hearing clatter upon startup or any other oil issues, if so⊠keep goin.
I wonder if the OP still owns the vehicle after ten years?
Tester
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I have been pondering over how a garage door opener could trigger the oil pressure light. Could the radio signal from the transmitter somehow interfere with one of the carâs computers?
I have my Toyota Sienna set up so that pushing a built-in button on the rear view mirror transmits a signal to the receiver in the garage door. I can open my garage door from half a block away.
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@Triedaq yea right⊠next you will try to tell me that you can check your tire pressures while driving the car.
Tighten up T âŠenough joking around
@Honda_Blackbird. I can roughly check my tire pressure while driving the car by the way it feels and handles. At least, I can tell if a tire is low. Years ago, I had snow tires mounted on separate rims for my 1965 Rambler. I took the snow tires off and put on the regular tires. The car didnât drive right. It then dawned on me to check the tire pressure. The rear tires were about 5 pounds low. I now always carry a tire pressure gauge in my glove compartment.
As for my garage door opener, the road perpendicular to my street dead ends in my driveway. I can trigger the opener from about half a block away since there are no obstructions using the system built into the Sienna. There are buttons on the rear view mirror that can be programmed to send the signal to the receiver on the garage door opener. However, using the transmitter supplied with the opener which we have to do with our 4Runner, we have to be in our driveway before the signal is received by the opener.
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Yeah I canât see how that would be either, but I donât know about these new fangled openers. Iâve got one sitting in the garage that I havenât installed for months yet because of the hassle of getting all my door buttons to work, (another story), so who knows? They also said that LEDs can interfere with the signal and I have all LEDs in my garage.
Go ahead and throw the cream pies, but one morning starting out to work with my 86 Riv, the oil light went on. It was just a few blocks to the Buick dealer so I stopped in to inquire. No noises, etc. The dealer sent me on my way and just said to change the sending unit. Now I could have lost half a day for them to check the pressure or a full day to have them put a sending unit in, or could have lost the engine I suppose on my 100 mile drive, but hey life is a risk and at least I asked the dealer. I suppose I had 150K or more on the engine at that time. Sure the safe thing to do is shut it down, tow it to a garage, and do a manual check.
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Since everyone else is commenting on this old post I will add my two cents. I had a 2004 PT Cruiser 2.4 and a 2002 Town and country with a 3 .3. Both developed lifter clatter upon starting after sitting overnight with either a Fram or Mopar filter.
I read a tip on a Chrysler Minivan forum to use a Motorcraft filter because they used better anti drainback valves and it worked for both of them. Both cars needed new oil pressure sending units. I was pretty sure that was the case because I could get the light to go out by simply shutting off and restarting the engine and it would stay off for the rest of the trip.
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I was on a trip in my 1971:Ford Maverick when the oil pressure light would come on when I would stop for a traffic signal. As soon as I would accelerate away from a stop, the light would go off. The engine had hydraulic lifters and the lifters werenât clattering. I took off the oil cap which was on top the valve cover. With the engine idling, I could see that oil was flowing through to the rocker arms. I continued the trip and had the oil pressure switch changed which solved the problem.
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Ive said this before and I will say it again as food for thought. You can learn a lot about people, their character and even their outlook on life when you hear what they do when the dreaded low oil pressure light illuminates.
I always find it interesting to hear peopleâs reasoning, especially those who understand what the oil light is and what it means⊠and yet continue driving.
Best part is⊠each and every person will spell out the reasoning they put into play for the event.
Its extremely entertaining to me⊠and Iâve taken both options over the yrs⊠stopping and not stopping. Lool
On YouTube and âFail Armyâ you can find video of people driving on 3 tires and a bare rim, sparks flying.
I have seen more than once someone driving on city streets with a completely flat tire.
I imagine there were truly heat wrenching scenes back when people used horses for basic transport.
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I didnât witness it, but the older faculty members at my school spoke of a former teacher who had deteriorated very badly (apparently some form of dementia), and who had been told to take medical leave. She continued to come to work, and on her final dayâbefore they permanently barred her from returningâshe reportedly drove her '53 Roadmaster into the school parking lot on 4 flat tires.
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I have seen a few cars driving up our street on a flat tire towards the gas station, I keep thinking they figure if they put air in it it will be fine.
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Well there are times. Some years ago I took my new trailer to the gravel pit to pick up a load of sand. It was new so untested and I still hadnât upgraded the axle, springs, and tires. At any rate the guy filled me up and when I got on the scale had 3000 pounds of sand. I had about 7 miles to go, 2/3rds on the highway and the rest on back roads. So about a half mile from the turn off to the back road, boom, a tire blew. So to avoid working on the thing on the highway I did continue to pull it to the back road where there was no traffic. Yeah tire was completely gone and the wheel bent pretty good. Because of the weight I had to try to unhook and then go rent a heavy floor jack to get it up off the ground. Took me a couple hours to swap wheels and tires but I had most of the upgrade parts at home. So yeah sometimes you just do what you think is best and you folks can just snicker all you want over your keyboards.
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I was definitely taught whichever portion of âMechanical Sympathyâ that i wasnt born with, but its definitely both natural and taught for me. Ive always been like this. I am unable to drive on a flat tire and destroy a rim⊠totally unable. I have too much mechanical sympathy and Iâm led to believe that this is âwrongâ. I act like i know and understand this wrongness just so i donât stand out any more than i already do or get labelled a weirdo.
I was raised by parents who were born in the early 30âs and both sets of Grandparents lived through Both World Wars (and every conflict after) as well as the Great Depression. So i was inevitably taught to respect what you had, handle it properly and also know and understand that someone took time to make xyz thing and that it was disrespectful to intentionally destroy or harm something that was perfectly functional or repairable etc. This applies to machines or tools etc⊠not newspapers or magazines (im not a hoarder)
These things i cannot un-instill or un-learn.
Maybe they taught me this because back then most everything could be repaired or was substantial enough to care for it to make it last⊠things were not disposable back then like they are now. I struggle with the disposable world of todayâŠ
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I hear you on the things were not disposable, had starter motors repaired, alternators rewound, not an option anymore it seems.
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Iâll always try to do what is safest for both me and others. Having a cell phone and roadside service is great but those havenât always been available.
Years ago I came out from work one evening. Iâd had to work late and was the last one to leave. It was getting dark but I could see that someone had let the air out of all four tires until they were flat but not down on the rims. To go back inside Iâd have been alone in a four story building with the only phone I could access upstairs due to what doors my building key opened. I also knew there was a creep in another office in the building whoâd been pestering me to go out with him and wasnât taking no for an answer. Nearest phone other than going back inside was at a full service gas station almost a mile away. Decision time.
I chose to get in my car, lock the doors and drive to the station at slow speed. I got the tires aired up, they checked with soapy water for leaks, put new stem caps on and called the police who gave me an escort much of the way home.
I chose safety at the risk of ruining the tires, rims, and suspension. I also found a new job rather quickly.
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Well @Marnet i cannot judge the decision you had to make.
I mean i dont usually have to use the âCreep Factor 5â in my mechanical abuse calculations.
Whenever you do have to factor that in, Id say its anything goes no problem no argument!
Yeah I think I have it too but I was throwing those Chinese wheels and tires away anyway. But I have to say driving on the rim folded the thing over the hub and it was quite a job bending the thing back enough to get it off the hub. Quite destroyed but I think eventually it became a Maytag dryer.
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