When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Hey folks. Happy to be here. So here's my question as I cannot find much online:
key in ignition, set to ACC, GEN and ENG lights illuminate, that's Pretty normal from what I can tell. It's always done that.
Fire it up, it stalls. Carb needs to be tuned, so that's fine and besides the point. While cranking, my HOT and BRAKE lights illuminate and dim with each crank, and i forget if the GEN and ENG lights dim too but oh well. (normal, the starter is drawing that current), upon stalling, the GEN ENG BRAKE and HOT lights remained on until I cycled the key back and got it to idle. Is this normal or do I have a problem? (Other than the carburetor hating cold starts) I just have never noticed this before, the car drives fine and once hot runs fine, just wanted to make sure I'm not looking at more problems that's all. Thanks for any help or suggestions, again nothing stays illuminated unless the engine cuts out after running for about 10-20 seconds.
Disregard the status of your dash lights while cranking. As you mentioned, the lights on the dash illuminate as a test when the key is in the RUN position.
Do you have an Oldsmobile service manual for your car? If not, buy a paper copy. Digital copies are scanned and images often loose resolution.
Disregard the status of your dash lights while cranking. As you mentioned, the lights on the dash illuminate as a test when the key is in the RUN position.
Do you have an Oldsmobile service manual for your car? If not, buy a paper copy. Digital copies are scanned and images often loose resolution.
^^^This! The OIL light relies on the fact that there is no oil pressure before you crank, so that causes the light to come on. Once you've started cranking the switch in the sender opens as soon as there is 4-7 psi, which extinguishes the light. The GEN light similarly relies on 12V output from the alternator. Once turning, alternator output will extinguish the light.
^^^This! The OIL light relies on the fact that there is no oil pressure before you crank, so that causes the light to come on. Once you've started cranking the switch in the sender opens as soon as there is 4-7 psi, which extinguishes the light. The GEN light similarly relies on 12V output from the alternator. Once turning, alternator output will extinguish the light.
Hmmmm... slightly concerning now that you mention it then, I never actually see the OIL light come on when cranking. Nor have I ever seen it come on in general. Unless the ENGINE/ENG light is the oil pressure light in my particular model.
Disregard the status of your dash lights while cranking. As you mentioned, the lights on the dash illuminate as a test when the key is in the RUN position.
Do you have an Oldsmobile service manual for your car? If not, buy a paper copy. Digital copies are scanned and images often loose resolution.
I may order a haynes manual for the car seeing as it's helpful to have. Thanks for the reply, I'm a young fella with not a ton of experience with these older vehicles.
Invest in a used GM manual, Hayne's is sort of generic IMO. You can get some info from a Hayne's but I'd take a factory manual every day.
You can test your oil light by disconnecting it and grounding the wire with the key on, the light should illuminate.
I'm not sure if it has an OIL light, as far as i know and when i checked all the lenses in both the left and right banks of warning lights, closest thing I have is an ENGINE light so maybe that's the one for oil pressure?
Get an actual factory service manual. A Haynes or Chilton manual is nice to have as well as sometimes they have diagrams that the factory manual doesn't have. But start with the factory manual.
Here's one on ebay at a reasonable price. You can get it at the same time you get the owners manual you're looking for in the other thread.
Rest assured that there IS an oil light. If it doesn't light when the engine is cranked, the bulb could be burned out, or, more likely, the pressure switch on the engine is bad and needs to be replaced. It's also possible that the wire connection at the switch is bad or disconnected altogether.
Oil pressure switches are about $10 at the local auto parts store or less than $8 (plus shipping) for an ACDelco brand unit at Rockauto.
Rest assured that there IS an oil light. If it doesn't light when the engine is cranked, the bulb could be burned out, or, more likely, the pressure switch on the engine is bad and needs to be replaced. It's also possible that the wire connection at the switch is bad or disconnected altogether.
Oil pressure switches are about $10 at the local auto parts store or less than $8 (plus shipping) for an ACDelco brand unit at Rockauto.
Well, we drove the car hard about 480km/~350mi with no problems so I'd suspect the oil pressure is fine, I'm going to just run a mechanical pressure gauge into the cabin of the vehicle and be done with it, I don't feel like replacing the sender or troubleshooting all that. We are running our ride in the BC Gambler 500 race as it has done two of them now so we bought it for cheap and are doing some modifications and such to get it ready. I'm going to assume everything is fine since it made a long trip and didn't skip a beat at all. Here's a picture lol. Got it on truck tires with a welded rear differential currently. Mad max style! I appreciate the help I'll check and see how much an oil sender would be and if it's even worth it compared to just routing an oil pressure gauge.
Make sure you get a quality gauge. It'd probably be cheaper to troubleshoot the OE gauge.
you're not wrong, ill double check this weekend if it even has an "OIL" light because I'm almost 100% certain it doesn't. If it helps its a Holiday88 Coupe. Where is the "OIL" lamp supposed to be located in the banks of warning lights, like beside the left of the "GEN" light? Because that is the "ENG" light and my assumption is that it doesn't say "OIL", but serves the same purpose. It's also the Canadian model so perhaps there are differences between the two.
I learned to drive in my moms 83 Olds 88. If I remember correctly, the oil light is in the lower right corner of this square of lights. You could probably use a flashlight to read the lens.
Assuming the car has the olds engine, the oil sending unit on top of the engine in the front. Look for the sending unit with a blue wire. Once you have found it, turn on the ignition, unplug the wire, and ground it. The light should come on. If so, replace the sending unit. If not, then either the bulb is burned out or there is a wiring issue.
I learned to drive in my moms 83 Olds 88. If I remember correctly, the oil light is in the lower right corner of this square of lights. You could probably use a flashlight to read the lens.
The lenses are as follows:
LOW COOLANT | SECURITY
LIGHTS ON | NOTHING
LOW FUEL | CHECK ENGINE
on the left side of the vent, we have:
GEN | ENGINE
HOT | BRAKE
and the bottom two appear to be empty, will try to find them and update the thread. They're hard to make out.
The lenses are as follows:
LOW COOLANT | SECURITY
LIGHTS ON | NOTHING
LOW FUEL | CHECK ENGINE
on the left side of the vent, we have:
GEN | ENGINE
HOT | BRAKE
and the bottom two appear to be empty, will try to find them and update the thread. They're hard to make out.
Sweet okay that clears the whole thing up. Thanks brother I appreciate it, it must have varied from year to year, causing some headache for us all.
Followup question then. On the 307 olds small block, where's the best spot to plug a nylon oil pressure line into?
The best and only spot is the oil pressure port at the front driver side of the block, above the water pump. You will need to unscrew the sender for the idiot light and either replace that with the fitting for the gauge or use a brass tee fitting to connect both.
The best and only spot is the oil pressure port at the front driver side of the block, above the water pump. You will need to unscrew the sender for the idiot light and either replace that with the fitting for the gauge or use a brass tee fitting to connect both.
The best and only spot is the oil pressure port at the front driver side of the block, above the water pump. You will need to unscrew the sender for the idiot light and either replace that with the fitting for the gauge or use a brass tee fitting to connect both.
Couldn't seem to find a wrench or socket that will fit that plug. Whats the size for it? I figure it's 1 inch but doesn't seem to be like a normal hex, has odd ridges on it.
You need an oil pressure switch socket. If you are very careful, you could probably remove it with Vice grips. I’ll emphasize CAREFUL, because it’s very easy to break off the sending unit in the block. Then you will be buying an easy out to extract the remains of the sending unit.
