What is a oil switch used for in your car?

Question

i have just had my car checked cause the oil light comes on for no reason and the oil is at the right level. They said they need a new oil switch. Just woundering what this does?

Answer 1

It tells the computer when your oil pressure rises to a minimum threshold level. If the sensor fails, it can incorrectly indicate a low oil pressure even though the pressure has risen above the minimum threshold level. Of course your owner's manual tells you to pull over and not drive the car if your red oil light comes on while driving because you could cause severe damage to the engine. So in your case, you were lucky since the oil light switch itself failed instead of having a real low oil pressure engine problem. You might not be so lucky next time!

Answer 2

Don't rely on the pressure switch as an oil level indicator. If the light comes on when you are driving then either the switch is defective or the pressure is too low and damage is already occuring to the engine. Now if you have an oil 'level' light, that is a completely different matter :-)

Answer 3

Your car has an oil pump that pushes the oil up into the engine to lubricate the moving parts. If this pump stops working, you could ruin your engine (think $$$$$$), so there's an oil pressure switch that constantly checks the pressure from the pump. Obviously, if the pump stops working, the pressure will drop, the switch will sense it and the light will come on on your dashboard.

Unfortunately, the same will happen if the switch itself goes bad.

They're usually cheap to replace.

Answer 4

depending on the make and model, it will either turn on the warning might in case of low oil pressure, run the indicator in the oil pressure gage, sometimes it is wired into the fuel pump circuits to shut the pump down if the engine stalls for safety reasons such as a rollover. usually they are not connected into the engine control module but i have found a few vehicles that were.

Answer 5

its what tells tells the computer that the oil pressure is ok in the car,if this goes bad the computer thinks the oil is low on it,and will make the light come on,it will also in some cases shut the car off,some cars have a fail safe built in to them to shut the car off if the oil pressure becomes too low,or even if the computer thinks it low it can shut it off,its called an oil pressure sending unit or an oil pressure switch,sometimes newer cars have both on them ,good luck with it hope this helps.

Answer 6

you may have oil but if the pump packs up then there is no circulation of oil and no pressure=end of engine very soon

Answer 7

thats what you need allright dear, the oil sending unit is bad. a oil sending unit reminds the driver that its low on oil.

Answer 8

IT FITS IN THE SUMP AND DOES EXACTLY WHAT YOU SAID, WHEN OIL IS LOW IT LIGHTS THE WARNING LIGHT