Exhaust Oil problem
 

Hi all, whilst out for a drive last night, I hit a rabbit, that seems to have blown the welding done on my service. but this morning when driving into work the oil pump light came on, could this simply be related to possible gasses around the engine and the added vibration or do I have two problems do you think??

Also drained my battery last night for some reason.


well these things come in 3's.

What car? What welding?
Oil light is either broken wire or sensor or terminal engine damage.

it's a bugeye sport.

Welding was done on the exhaust before i bought it, not sure where as I only got it at the weekend. Could it just be low oil level???

Hope it's not terminal damage, that will be a bad day!!! and how could it be?? Everything seems to be running fine. Despite the blowing from the exhaust, the engine seems pretty pucker. Could the hot exhaust gas be affecting the wires/signal possibly??

It's difficult to understand exactly how hitting a rabbit could have blown good welding. Where exactly on the system did you have this done?

Also don't immediately see how this chain of events could directly or indirectly cause the oil light - the likeliest scenario is that this is a coincidence and totally unrelated to your encounter with the lagamorph. Unless the welding you've had done is on the exhaust manifold, there shouldn't be any hot gases blowing anywhere near the oil pressure switch or its cable.

Even if you have had the manifold patched, all of that is on the underside of the engine while the switch, and its loom, is on the top. About the only way a blowing exhaust could affect that is if it causes a full-on underbonnet fire! :eek:

As Butty says pretty much the only explanations for seeing the oil light while the engine's running are either a broken wire, broken switch, almost total oil loss or a pump/pressure relief valve failure.

You can rule out one of those potential explanations by checking the oil level immediately, but that still leaves the other causes on the table - next to check would be the connections between the pressure switch and the dash. As has already been said, if you've run the engine dry of oil or the pump's failing, it's almost certainly living on borrowed time.

cheers gents, well I'll be driving home very safely and pulling over if anything comes on, I don't know what welding has been done as I only got the car last friday and not had the chance to get under the car to take a look. As for it being GOOD welding, I'm with you, my suspicion it was a quick 2 minute jobbie to pass the MOT and not done with any care or attention. Who knows, maybe the back pipe is so riddled with rust it's blown a new fresh hole (at least the trader I got it from have agreed to replace any exhaust part blowing)

As with the oil, I know I need to check everything which I'll be doing tonight, I'm only 17 miles from work so hopefully nothing will go bang in that time. I'm hoping and praying it's just low oil as it's not had a service for 20k mikes (at least going on the service history I have got). But time will tell, thanks for the replies folks. Looks like I'm working all night to fix the car.

Like I say, everything seems to run ok and the engine light only came on with in the last 5 minutes of my journey and less than 500 metres from work, so I should be ok (touch wood!)

I may be back on later asking for opinions on any crap I find underneath the car.

I'd check your enjine oil level before you start the car to head home.

If you're reading this prior to leaving work, I would check the oil before you start it up and refrain from doing so if you don't see a good (i.e. between the two holes) level on the stick. "Only" 17 miles is more than long enough to well and truly knacker the engine - assuming it isn't at the moment of course.

If the sump's empty, I wouldn't start it until you've filled it up with oil - although it may already be too late.

If there is a good level, try driving home but, as you say, pay close attention to what it's doing and stop if in doubt.

well, I did check the web before leaving for home and did go out at lunch to buy oil, it was slightly low (justunder the min twist in the dipstick, so threw in half a litre.

But having got home and double checked my manual it's not the oil, it's 'general malfunction' light that has come on, reading my book it seems this is to do with emissions, so I'm going to attribute it to the exhaust. Am I wise to do so??? I cannot feel anything in the engine when driving (although it rocks the car a little more today) and I'm going to jack it up to check where it's blowing from.

Or should I also probe other areas of possible fault?? Or am I now in a position of elimination, do the exhaust and if it's still there, move on???