At idle, the oil light sometimes blips on and off. It sporadically flickers. When Im driving it usually isnt there. I think I saw it a couple times when cresting a hill.
Any ideas?
Engine idles fine, sounds normal. Oil level proper.
-Jesda
Oil Light Flickering
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kblast523
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IMHO it sounds like you may have some internal troubles, I am guessing this is on the Q...Possibly worn bearings, pump, or combination of any of the above. Was it hot? Has it ever been hot? (Like overheated?) What grade oil do you run? How "slow" is the idle, and did you recently replace chain guides? I have seen some of your other posts, and can imagine you may have schrapnel (garbage) in the sump which is restricting oil flow into the pickup, or some of which may have passed into the oil pump reducing its capacity. The last vehicle I was able to drive any distance at all with the oil light flickering at idle was a 1966 Ford pickup with a 352 engine what was WAY past due its expire date. I replaced mains and rods in it, put in a high volume oil pump and timing chain. After that it used oil profusely, (a quart every 300 miles) as it had NOT been properly oiled for the last 40k miles and had worn the whole mess out. The oil whirling around under the pistons (keeping them cool) had been absent causing anything and everything that moved to wear out...with new found oil preasure, it was so loose the oil just rushed right on by...and out the exhaust.Granted, the Q and a 1966 Ford truck are worlds apart, but the basics are the same-oil me now, or oil me later...
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Q45tech
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1995 G20t 5 speed 334,000 miles 16" 2002 wheels - 205/50/16 Sr20ve vvl
Immediately make sure the crank bolt is tightened to oem spec!!!!!! seen it happen more than once after guide and front bearing replacements replacements. "Goot en tight" isn't enough!
Hopefully your guide tech just missed the mark a little.........otherwise you know the pan drop drill.Also make sure the oil pressure wire is not grounding out [never seen one do this but it could].
Don't drive it a mile. As 2-3 psi oil pressure will wipe the old 185k bearings in a minute.
Hopefully your guide tech just missed the mark a little.........otherwise you know the pan drop drill.Also make sure the oil pressure wire is not grounding out [never seen one do this but it could].
Don't drive it a mile. As 2-3 psi oil pressure will wipe the old 185k bearings in a minute.
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Q45tech
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1995 G20t 5 speed 334,000 miles 16" 2002 wheels - 205/50/16 Sr20ve vvl
The oil chain gear on the crank is turned by friction [no key way on crank] if the crank pulley is not {{PERFECTLY}} tight the oil chain gear will slip and not turn the oil pump or not turn it at full rpm. Designed that way so that a jammed oil pump won't destroy the crank.
Common mistake by Non Infiniti certifed techs: 270 FT/LBS required.
Been discussed here and warned here numerous times!
Common mistake by Non Infiniti certifed techs: 270 FT/LBS required.
Been discussed here and warned here numerous times!
kblast523 wrote:IMHO it sounds like you may have some internal troubles, I am guessing this is on the Q...Possibly worn bearings, pump, or combination of any of the above. Was it hot? Has it ever been hot? (Like overheated?) What grade oil do you run? How "slow" is the idle, and did you recently replace chain guides? I
It had been running a little hot (see thread "Running Hot" in online mechanic forum) and overheated once last year very briefly after a belt/pulley failure.
It idles around 500-600rpm, as usual. I run Mobil 1 5w40.
-Jesda
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ScottJackson
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Chain guides and torque
I think that if it isn't oil sending unit wire that the old chain guide pieces are probably to blame. There was probably about half of the old chain guide NOT recovered when the guides were done. As for the crank bolt, it may not be exactly 270ft/lbs but for what it's worth, it's substantially tighter than the crank bolt in my Q45 when I did its guides. I used a large metal handle strap wrench on the crank pulley which my dad held firmly and I used a 2ft long 3/4" drive ratchet on the crank bolt and whilst putting pressure on both wrenches, I hit the end of the ratchet handle with a hammer to get it extra tight. I didn't get the crank bolt nearly this tight on my Q and have had no oil light coming on or any indication of anything wrong. I would say that it shouldn't be driven until it's determined if there is a sensor / sensor wire issue or chain guide plugging oil pickup. If it needs the pan drop, it needs to be TOWED to a shop with a two post lift asap.
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ScottJackson
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One other note. I would think that it would require a severely undertorqued crank bolt to cause the oil pump to slip at all at low rpm when the light is flickering. I know the bolt is tight. As for what Q45tech says that it needs to be exactly 270ft/lbs... I kinda doubt that but I completely agree that if one were to just tighten the crank bolt until the crank turns with the bolt, that's gonna be too loose, and I imagine that that's been done before. Jesda, does the light flicker when the motor is in gear with car stopped only or does it do it in park? If it does it in park, how high does the rpm need to be for it to go out? If it is directly related to rpm, pan drop time. While the pan is off, you should probably have the shop remove one rod cap for bearing inspection.
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Q45tech
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FSM say 260-275 lb/ft.........we have seen a few that were greater than 150 that were slipping.
But the knowledge that guide pieces were in the pan is pretty conclusive any way don't drive it.
Would be nice to graph the rpm vs oil pressure hot and cold.......should never never go below 10 psi as the factory spec is 14 psi really hot idle with brand new oil and filter.
Really hard to have enough wear for low oil pressure because of tight intial tolerances and capacity of pump but oil starvation from the pickup clogging is much much more likely.
But the knowledge that guide pieces were in the pan is pretty conclusive any way don't drive it.
Would be nice to graph the rpm vs oil pressure hot and cold.......should never never go below 10 psi as the factory spec is 14 psi really hot idle with brand new oil and filter.
Really hard to have enough wear for low oil pressure because of tight intial tolerances and capacity of pump but oil starvation from the pickup clogging is much much more likely.
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ScottJackson
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yup. Jesda and I were hoping that it'd be fine long enough for him to get it to a shop with a lift and some way to support the motor while doing the pan drop. Actually, we were hoping originally that the guides were intact before the guide job. I told him that if the guides weren't intact, I had no way to drop the oil pan. It wasn't the end of the world when we found a guide was broken up because the pan drop is a seperate job from the chain guide job except for 4 little oil pan bolts. Man, I gotta get a shop built with a lift.... and paint booth, and wash room, and engine assemly room, and dyno, and heated floor.
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Touchdown038
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Oh well! No biggie, I'm going to be out of town a lot this summer, so the Q will be parked until late this summer when I get the pan dropped.
I assume that once the pan is dropped, any crud that got into the sump or anywhere else wont take terribly long to remove. And while I'm at it, I can get my rack bushings done. I'm also due for a thermostat.
Definitely good timing for parking the Q.
-Jesda
I assume that once the pan is dropped, any crud that got into the sump or anywhere else wont take terribly long to remove. And while I'm at it, I can get my rack bushings done. I'm also due for a thermostat.
Definitely good timing for parking the Q.
-Jesda
ScottJackson wrote:Jesda, does the light flicker when the motor is in gear with car stopped only or does it do it in park? If it does it in park, how high does the rpm need to be for it to go out? If it is directly related to rpm, pan drop time. While the pan is off, you should probably have the shop remove one rod cap for bearing inspection.
Well, I went out, started up the Q.
Heard a weird rubbing sound. Baffled the heck out of me, then it turns out I was low on PS fluid. Replaced the high pressure hose last year, so I assume the other hoses might be due. Added more leak stop/fluid, and that did the trick (for now).
The light does not seem to flicker in neutral. Only when I switch from neutral to drive (when RPMs drop a bit) or slow down to a full stop does the light start to flicker.
There's a faint sound, almost like a knocking. I dont know what engine knocking sounds like, but thats my guess. My camera's mic doesnt pick up small sounds very well, so I'm going to try using a proper recorder.
I understand there's a normal injector sound, but this was a little bit louder. The oil light came on briefly under normal operating temperature in drive. It was very difficult to duplicate the problem.
I didnt mention it yet, but two days before when I was at work, I started up the Q and it was shaking terribly. The problem simply went away after a couple minutes. I assume that I had bad gas that was clogging an injector? That problem never came back. Maybe bad gas is why I'm still getting a faint knocking sound?
Man, I wish my folks were like everyone else around here -- a new M45 would do the trick.
-Jesda
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maxnix
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1995 Infiniti Q45t
2000 Infiniti Q45
Missing Chain Guide Pieces
The former condition implies the latter. There are no easy or cheap short cuts.ScottJackson wrote:There was probably about half of the old chain guide NOT recovered when the guides were done..... I would say that it shouldn't be driven until it's determined if there is a sensor / sensor wire issue or chain guide plugging oil pickup. If it needs the pan drop, it needs to be TOWED to a shop with a two post lift asap.
Screw waiting. I cant enjoy a vacation with this lingering over my head.
Dropped the Q off at Bommarito Infiniti. They said the bolt was loose, retorqued it, and did a Bilstein engine flush. Problem solved.
George and Patrick at Bommarito are, as always, extremely patient, timely, knowledgeable, and reasonably priced. There's a good reason Bommarito is the #1 Infiniti dealer in the state.
Total with oil, filter, engine flush, tax, misc parts, and retorquing (1/2 hour labor) was $193.
Plaza Infiniti didnt even bother giving me a rough estimate.
-Jesda
Dropped the Q off at Bommarito Infiniti. They said the bolt was loose, retorqued it, and did a Bilstein engine flush. Problem solved.
George and Patrick at Bommarito are, as always, extremely patient, timely, knowledgeable, and reasonably priced. There's a good reason Bommarito is the #1 Infiniti dealer in the state.
Total with oil, filter, engine flush, tax, misc parts, and retorquing (1/2 hour labor) was $193.
Plaza Infiniti didnt even bother giving me a rough estimate.
-Jesda
