I was out driving around today and I noticed that the low oil pressure light flickered on and off a few times. I was close to home, so the first thing I did was just the oil level. It was full...right where it's supposed to be on the dipstick. So then I took the car for a ride again....everything was fine at first, but then after a few minutes the low oil pressure light started flickering again. I noticed that if I let off the gas it would go out, then if I got back on the gas it would go on. I shut the motor off, pulled over, and fired it up again.....no oil light. So I started heading home again, and the light started flickering on and off again...almost like some sort of electric problem. I let it sit in the driveway for a few minutes...fired it up, no light. I even let it idle for 5 min, reved it up a little...still no light. It's almost like driving it around, and the bouncing of the road is making some wires short out or something.

I did a litter searching here on the forum at it sounds like lots of people have had problems with the actual sensor...or the wiring harness that goes to the sensor.

Can someone tell me where these are located so I can start doing some trouble shooting. I'm afraid to drive the car until I find out what's going on.

Thanks!

 

Since you just changed the bypass valve....go back and check the wires in that area...
I'm assuming you don't have the chro pack or aftermarket guages....so tread carefully till you either get an actual guage on it to check the actilual psi or find the issue.

 

Yeah, that's a great point. I never saw the flickering until after I installed the new BOV. But are there any wires in that area that have anything to do with the low oil pressure sensor? The only wires I even rememeber seeing are some to the right of the throttle body....but it was just a harness and connector...and I never messed with it at all.

Are there any other wires or connectors in that are that would have anything at all to do with the oil pressure sensor?? Thanks!

 

Wife had a PT Cruser that did that same thing, finaly found the oil sending unit wires were grounding out on the heat shroud. Have not piceed up the Mini yet, just bought it 2 days ago, but might be something as simple as that.

 

That's for the tips and suggestions for things to test. I'm pretty sure that it's not a weak oil pump....because if it was, it would give me low pressure at idle, but when you reved it up the pressure would build and the light would go out.

I'm guessing that I either bumped some wires around when I replaced my BPV and installed the boost gauge (did them both at the same time).....because I noticed that even when I hit a few bumps in the road, or tapped the brakes hard....the light would come on. Almost like a wire is bouncing around and grounding on something. The strange part is that every time it's done it...it hasn't done it until I've driven it for a mile or two....maybe as heat builds, something is expanding or moving around.

I never saw the light flicker, or ever come on a single time since I've had the car.....not until I replaced the BPV and added this boost gauge. Drives me nuts!!

Any good way to test the pressure sender? I guess I will start my troubleshooting today after I get home from work...looks like I'm driving the truck today

 

Well, I went and bought and oil pressure testing gauge....pulled off the oil pressure sensor on the mini, and screwed the gauge into it's place. I crossed my fingers (hoping that I didn't actually have low oil pressure), and fired up the car. The gauge shot right up to 40psi.....and held it for a few minutes as I let it idle. As I revved up the motor a little, it shot up to around 60-70 or so.

So that clears up the low oil pressure problem..it's got plenty of oil pressure.

So then I decided to drive it around the neighborhood again and see if it started lighting up the low oil pressure light again. Low and behold, as soon as I got out and got on the gas a little, the light lit up.....got off the gas, light went again, on and off.....so basically, when I get on the gas and the motor torques over a little, something is rubbing on the oil pressure switch wire and sending a false signal to the light.

Just one more test I did was let the car cool back down, and while it was idling in the driveway with no oil light.....I put the emergency brake on, and let off the clutch a little and gave it some gas. As soon as the motor developed enough torque to squat the back down a little the light came on ...let off the gas, light went out, on and on.....

So it's definitely a wiring issue.....now I just have to track the darn thing down and find out what it is! I guess I'll have to start pulling the heat shields off and seeing where the wire from the sensor goes, and what it's rubbing on.

At least my HUGE fear of a bad oil pump has been put to rest

 

***FIXED IT!!!!***

Well, I started taking by taking the heat shield over the header off...then I took the heat shield under that off. I started tracing the wire from the pressure sensor and followed it to where it was tied into some other wires...then followed that bundle across the top of the starter, and then over to the right towards the airbox. Right where the lower heat shield lays on the wires, it was rubbed though...right into the wire going to the pressure sensor!

So I tapped up the wire, rerouted it away from the heat shield, and added some protective covering over the harness in that areas. BAM....problem solved!! It was grounding out on the heat shield when the motor what move and rock around under acceleration.

Problem solved!!!

 

If the motor is rocking lots (a bit normal in a mini) you might want to take a peak at the motor mounts....worn or failed ones can make the rock worse...possibly causing you rubbing issue...

 

I'm having this same issue, I only noticed the light in the dash on hard right turns after installing my Forge BPV. Where is the oil pressure sensor? Any pics, or link to a diagram?

Thanks!