Q: Oil pressure gauge at zero

asked by on February 19, 2017

We just bought the used vehicle and as soon as we drove it off the lot a ding sound came on and it said check gauges specifically the oil pressure gauge. We noticed every time it would beep the oil pressure gauge would immediately drop to zero and it would go back to normal a few seconds later then it beeps again and drops to zero once more. It keeps doing it so we brought it back to the dealers they won't know what's going on until Tuesday. Did I just spend thousands of dollars for a crap truck that I didn't even get to drive home ?

My car has 133000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

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Hi There, This may not be as bad as it sounds. The oil pressure may drop like this when a few things could be happening. Either the motor is in fact low on oil, the oil pump could be failing or the oil pressure sending unit is not working properly and may be producing a faulty reading. If the engine is in fact low on oil, you may notice the temperature gauge reading above normal temperatures as a result of the lack of sufficient oil in the motor. I would recommend checking the actual oil level in the motor by using the dipstick. Be sure the oil level reaches the "full" mark. If this registers as "full" then you likely have a faulty oil pressure sending unit. Many vehicles also have a safety feature built into the vehicle’s computer system which will shut the engine down completely or trigger a “safe mode” of some kind which will drastically limit the vehicle’s engine power to avoid further engine damage until the oil pressure problem is corrected. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to take a look at your vehicle to determine what may be causing your low oil pressure problem.

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