7AFE AT200 Oil Light On? Options

[Scootworth]

Hey all,

PREFACING THIS BY SAYING THE AREA WAS WIDE EMPTY ROADS. Now then...

It's been snowing as of late in my area so my world is simply a skid pad for me and my 95 Celica ST (169k on the clock). I had the day off today and took the long route to the post office hooning about in corners. After doing a skid where I lost control and ended up almost stalling out, my oil light came on as if I did stall but I ended up keeping the car moving with a little push of the gas.

Since then, the oil light comes on when I cruise in neutral to a stop or press on my brakes but disappears when I am idling at the stop. My RPM's have been normal (750-800) and I've yet to notice anything weird. The dipstick came up short when I checked it right after turning it off so I'll check after posting, but I did just perform an oil change two days ago so it shouldn't be low oil.

I feel it could be a faulty sender unit or by the lateral forces of skidding and sliding it may have offset the readings of the unit.

Thoughts?

[Scootworth]

Update: I brought it into my local shop after filling it with fresh oil. By the time my 25 minute drive was up, the oil was gone. I checked and saw it sitting in the plastic brim below the engine on the right side (under the oil pump). Engine was running fine, but letting the shop do their thing to give a diagnosis as I've no garage at the moment and with highs in the teens and snow, I'm afraid I don't wanna work on it so much.

[Box]

When you lost control did you go off the road any or bottom out? Could've dented the oil pan and it's choking the oil pickup. The sender just measures pressure so it wouldn't care about the car being slung around, and I find it highly unlikely it'd go out at that exact moment. It's also possible the forces were enough that it slung all the oil away from the pickup and starved the engine momentarily. If the oil level seems fine after sitting check the oil pan for damage. You can double check the sender, but again I find it highly unlikely for it to have failed at that exact moment. Oil pump could also be weak if it's the original, and temporary starvation was just enough to do it in.

Might find it worth to borrow or rent an actual oil pressure gauge if you don't have one and that way you can see for sure what the pressure is.

[Bitter]

So it's puking the oil out somewhere?

[Box]

If you're losing oil that quickly and this just started after the oil change, I'm going to ask the obvious of if the oil filter is on properly?

That and if the drain bolt is properly tightened.

[Scootworth]

Just got word back from my shop:

Crankshaft seal went.

They'll take care of it along with the timing belt and water pump. I guess my clutch job will have to wait

[Scootworth]

When you lost control did you go off the road any or bottom out?

No, I stayed on the road and didn't feel or hear myself hit anything other than some body roll from regaining traction.

[Box]

Hmm... Don't see how the crankshaft seal just up and went at that given moment... That and the oil wouldn't collect on plastic trim in the engine bay, it'd be all over your clutch and flywheel. If it was losing all that oil through the crank seal the clutch would be ruined and you'd have noticed it when driving. I'm highly suspicious... Seems like to me it's something simple like the oil filter or drain plug since this just happened right after you did the oil change, and this shop is saying it's the crank seal because that's a big money job and in reality they're just throwing on a new oil filter and crush washer for the drain plug. Of course I'm highly suspicious of shops since many won't hesitate to **** someone over that doesn't know any better.

Here since they're saying it's the crank seal and you need a new clutch then the labour to do it will be included in the job since it has to come off anyway for the crank seal, so ask about doing the clutch at parts cost and see what they say.

[Scootworth]

I know, I'm a little skeptical myself, but I've done oil changes for 10+ years and I've not made a mistake like that for a quite a while; that being said I could've definitely slipped up that day since it was so cold I wanted to get inside ASAP. I didn't loose any oil for 100 miles, but during the snow day suddenly I saw oil being dropped in the path I took.

Regarding the shop, I usually tend to stay away from them unless we REALLY need to, but my dad and I have been going to a local shop since before I was born to current day for any work too big for us so we've built some trust in them. They've serviced everything from our MR2, GS300, etc... that being said, they charged me $800 flat for cam seals, drive belt, water pump, timing belt, crankshaft seal, belts, and oil/antifreeze job.

I bought the car at about 167k and knew the car would need this stuff pretty soon seeing the owner didn't remember the last time any of this stuff was serviced despite having the records for the past 5 years.

The cold front in my area should be finished this week, so I'm going to be looking around and cleaning my engine bay while it's warm enough. At least now I have a 3000 mile or 3 month warranty on the work so if it acts up again, I can just bring it back to them at no cost.

and Box, I should've done that but I've already my car back. clutch isn't slipping too bad, so I guess I'll just wait a bit longer.

[Box]

Well so long as it's all working again properly I guess there's that. I suppose it's possible it just happened to let go at that time, coincidence and all that. Generally main seals only blow from crankcase pressure(though age of the seal and bearing wear don't help), so if you haven't replaced the PCV valve in some time would look at it and make sure it's working properly. $800 isn't too bad for all the work and parts, shame I didn't see your reply sooner(it didn't show up in my new posts) as you could've gotten the clutch added in. I'm surprised the shop didn't say anything about the clutch being it all had to come off anyway, and given the reason for going in. Oh well... It's not too hard to change the clutch if you're good at following instructions, might make for a nice Spring time project for you.

[Bitter]

Sounds like they did front crank seal not rear, so no trans R/R needed for that.

[Box]

Yeah that's true, should've noticed it dumping all that oil out of the front of the engine though.