94 accord oil pressure light.. (sending unit???)

im driving a 94 honda accord LX. just the other day the oil pressure
light
lit up when i was sitting at a red light at idle, after about 20 minutes
of
driving in town. when i hit the accelerator, the light would turn off.
then after another 10 minutes the light flashed until i turned the car
off. im thinking it might be the oil sending unit, but i really do not
know....any ideas where that might be? and how much it would cost for a
new one? if thats not the problem, any ideas of what else it might be?
any help would be great, thanks a lot.

 

Item 12 at
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto/jsp/mws/prddisplay.jsp?inputstate=5&catcgry1=Accord&catcgry2=1994&catcgry3=4DR+LX&catcgry4=KA5MT&catcgry5=ENGINE+WIRE+HARNESS-CLAMP

Here's a drawing of its location and testing info for the
91-93 Accord:
http://media.honda.co.uk/car/owner/media/manuals/AccordManual/400/16-125.pdf

www.autzone.com has a pretty good free online manual for
your car that might help, too.

Under about $15 at online OEM parts sites.

I recall that there have been reports of this failing here
in the past. That is, it's not uncommon.

You checked your oil level, right? Find a way so you know
there's oil in that engine, 'cause, as you may be aware, a
few minutes of oil leaking onto the ground while driving
will destroy your engine. Standard counsel is to pull over
as soon as the oil warning light comes on.

 

The sender is right above the oil filter. Don't bother trying to change it
with the filter in place - it's hard enough with the way clear. A
replacement is reasonably priced, and you will also need the special socket
to change it.

I did the one in my daughter's '93 when the oil light started flashing. The
hardest part was removing the connector boot. In the end I used a padded
pair of pliers gently on it. It still crunched the hardened boot a bit, but
no pieces fell off :-}

As Elle says, don't drive it! If the light still comes on after changing the
sender there is a real oil pressure problem. If the light behaves okay with
the new sender - the odds are in your favor - you are ready to go.

Mike

 

not good news. about 20 minutes is the time it takes for the oil to
reach full working temp. if it's losing pressure at full temp, you've
got one of two likely situations:

1. crap oil that's losing viscosity. needs to be changed immediately.
2. motor's shot & the bearings are leaking too much.

sender units rarely fail, and if they do, it's much rarer for them to go
slightly out of spec like this. it could also be a failing oil pump,
but on a honda, if the pump's gone, pretty much the rest of the motor's
gone too.

change to good quality oil first and see if the problem goes away. and
please state mileage when asking questions like this - it has a bearing
on likely cause.

 

Do not drive it until you have it fixed. Can be as simple as oil pressure
switch malfunction or something else. I had a similar situation, drove it,
and I learnt a hard lesson. The mechanic changed the switch and the oil filter,
and the light is off now but the car runs very rough and haven't had a
chance to looked at it yet.

 

change the oil filter too.

 

thanks guys...my car has about 144k on it. it runs fine, it doesnt smoke
at all, not even when i first start it up. ive never had any leakin
problems. the car drives just as good as the day i got it about two years
ago. it still has the same get up and go to it and everything. i just
changed the oil yesterday, after seeing that the light was comin on.
thanks again