rodcros

Our '05 es330 has 230,000 km on the odometer and it seems in generally good condition. This evening at 100 km/hr on a long, sweeping turn, I saw a flash of amber from the dash, just down from the green cruise control indicator. I shut off fifteen minutes later and determined that the amber flash was the oil pressure warning light.

Now I wasn't pulling much G-force on that corner, but has anyone had the oil light wink on in a hard corner? Is this an issue?

I usually drive that route in my Cayenne S, but we took my wife's car today.

PFB

Oro

That would worry me deeply. I'd have pulled over and checked the oil right away. IME, cars are dangerously low on oil before the light comes on; there isn't as much margin in them as most situations require.

If it was ok, then the two other options are a faulty oil pressure sensor, or the bad case of a clogged oil pick-up tube.

mnewxcv

this. Probably just low. When was the last oil change?

DanoATX

As everyone else has stated, check the oil level.

I have seen in once instance where the oil had not been changed in a LONG time, I mean 50K miles. The oil pressure light was on, and the dipstick showed the oil was at the right level.
When the pan was pulled, you could see grooves where the bottom of the crank had been swinging by. Most of the oil had turned into a gel, and the remaining oil had finally gotten low enough to trigger the light.
Believe it or not, only the crank bearings had been worn enough to cause an issue. Once changed, the engine ran fine with no smoking or sludging.

funcrusher

Why would someone go 50k miles without changing the oil???

DanoATX

I was a Honda mechanic at the time, and I asked the same question.

It turned out the customer bought the Accord new and thought it was maintenance free. I wasn't there, so either the person was stupid, or the sales person oversold and/or misspoke. Either way, she brought the car in with the oil light on.

As a courtesy, American Honda paid for a 1 time, engine replacement.