# Oil Level Sensor warning (YELLOW OIL CAN WITH THE WORD "SENSOR")



## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

I just started this rebuilt motor this week and I also changed out the coil pack harness about 4 months before the rebuild (including the oil level sensor connector). Every time I start the car I get the yellow oil can warning with the word sensor in the dash display. A quick google search led me to the sensor at the bottom of the oil pan. As far as I know, the sensor worked fine before the rebuild, and that was with the new harness installed because I never got the yellow oil can indication before.

I took a reading of pins #1 and #3 on the connector and got a solid 12 volts, and I read on another forum that you can jump pins #1 and #3 together to get rid of the annoying light, but that didn't work either. Is there another method to test the harness and/or get rid of the yellow oil can light?

Also, am I looking at the right sensor to isolate the problem? Is there another sensor or connector that I should be looking at to troubleshoot the root cause of this oil light? Any help is appreciated, thanks!


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## cri-cri (Sep 27, 2009)

Make sure your hood latch microswitch is there and is working properly.


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

It's working fine, I get the hood open warning when it's running, and it goes away when I close the hood. What does that have to do with the oil level sensor light? Man I wish I had a wire diagram in front of me....


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## cri-cri (Sep 27, 2009)

> What does that have to do with the oil level sensor light?


Too lazy right now so I'll just copy&paste from here:



> 1. The oil sensor is very short and sits under all the oil when the engine is off. It is only designed to measure the oil level when the engine is running.
> 2. Engine started, the level in the sump goes down, and now the sensor sticks out of the top of the oil. It can accurately measure the oil level.
> 3. Oil gets low, yellow light comes on to warn you.
> 4. You switch off engine and the oil once again covers up the sensor completely.
> ...


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

Thanks for that post! 

However, after trying to mess with the micro switch, I still have the oil level sensor light. Here's some of the different scenarios that I tired to get the oil level sensor light extinguished:
1. I tried to cycle the switch after cleaning... No change
2. I disconnected the hood latch connector, disconnected/reconnected the battery... No change
3. Jumped the two pins on the connector, disconnected/reconnected the battery... No change
4. Disconnected/reconnected the jumper on the pins to the hood latch connector... No change

Neither of those worked, but I did noticed that the oil level sensor light would come back on after I shut the driver side door, and after it had been running for a moment. So I tried one more time, but this time I left the jumper installed, disconnected/reconnected the battery, closed my driver side door, and started the car. No oil level sensor light!!! I even went for a drive around the block and still no light, but as soon as I got back home, with the engine still running, I opened the drivers side door, and the damn oil level sensor light came right back on :banghead:

So I'm at an even bigger loss on what to do next. The drivers side door switch works fine, I get the door open icon when it opens/closes on all 4 doors and the hatch. 

Should I be looking back at the oil level sensor itself? Is there a better way to troubleshoot and/or jump the pins on that connector to isolate the problem?


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

So now I have another problem, my speedometer isn't working.

On Sunday, the speedometer went out. At first, I though maybe the speed sensor went bad, so I ordered a new one on Monday, it came in on Tuesday, and I just installed it, but the speedometer still does not work. The next logical thing would be that the gauge cluster is bad. 

But could these two problems be somehow related? The oil level sensor connector and the speedometer sensor connector both run off of the same coil pack harness. Is it possible that the 4 month old harness is bad again? I'm getting even more lost in his car...


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## Nevaeh_Speed (Jul 9, 2004)

Still need to bypass this on a buddies car. Jumping 1 and 3 didn't work for his car either. Will have to check his hood switch though to make sure thats not the issue. Also heard someone saying that you could recode the cluster to remove that function but wasn't successful in locating the right coding.


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

Well I got the speedometer figured out, I must have blown fuse #7 when troubleshooting the oil level sensor. Replaced the fuse and now the speedometer works again, but still no luck with the oil level sensor. I can't figure out how to get that damn light to go off! I tried jumping pins 1 and 3 from the connector but that didn't work for me.


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## Nevaeh_Speed (Jul 9, 2004)

Did you check that hood switch like they said above. I'm gonna see if thats my buddies issue.


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

Yeah I already tried messing with the hood switch in many different configurations.



MEDEL514 said:


> after trying to mess with the micro switch, I still have the oil level sensor light. Here's some of the different scenarios that I tired to get the oil level sensor light extinguished:
> 1. I tried to cycle the switch after cleaning... No change
> 2. I disconnected the hood latch connector, disconnected/reconnected the battery... No change
> 3. Jumped the two pins on the connector, disconnected/reconnected the battery... No change
> ...


I also shot for continuity from the oil level sensor connector pin 3 (signal) all the way to the gauge cluster harness, T32a (green) connector, pin 15, and I got about 0.6 Ohms of resistance, so the signal wire is reading great continuity all the way up to the gauge cluster. I think I've ruled just about everything else out. I just wish that I could bypass the sensor and get rid of the light for now, a new sensor is $100, I don't need that to tell me how much oil I've got...


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## MEDEL514 (Jan 12, 2002)

So after all of that troubleshooting, it ended up being a bad sensor. I didn't buy a new one for $100, but I lucked out and found one in the junkyard. Swapped it during the first oil change and now the light is gone. 

I didn't want to change it at first because it was working fine before the rebuild, but it seems as though the sensor was damaged when I put the oil pan in the parts washer when I was rebuilding the motor. I (we) didn't think there would be an issue since the top side of the sensor is normally submerged in hot engine oil, and the bottom side is exposed to the environments of the road. Boy was I wrong. 

:beer:


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## Alec's TT (Jan 28, 2013)

I ordered one of these. its a very good fake if its not real

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221387722932?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649


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## Chayton24 (Aug 10, 2014)

*Here is what I did....*

My oil level sensor light came on and I checked my oil, it was fine. My oil pickup line was cleaned previously so I figured that wasn't it. I went ahead and bought a new sensor for around $50 and gave myself a needed oil change and replaced the sensor. The light still came on though and only when it was in gear. The car did not need to be started for the oil level sensor to be stuck on the low/min light. I popped my hood and noticed while in gear (started) that my hood sensor wasn't telling my dash that the hood was open. I looked in through the top, cleaned off the two brown wires where they connect to the latch and wrapped them in tape and my sensor for my hood started working and my oil level sensor light went off. If you have checked all harness wires and everything else has checked out I would recommend going this route. (The two brown wires are noticeable here. They are next to the nut marked with blue.) I was considering a new hood latch, but a 1 minute job fixed all my problems. Wondering now if i never had to spend that $50 :/ I hope someone can use this info for at least a guideline or test! Good luck!


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