I do not know how long this condition has existed with
my
standard 87 Nissan Maxima [~~60K miles].

There is an oil can symbol that blinks on and off ONLY AT IDLE in the electronic dashboard oil/water guage. The guage shows zero psi at idle with a hot engine. The owners manual says 2.8 psi is normal for idling. Driving pressure is 55 psi.
There is plenty of oil per dipstick but oil is a bit dark.
Not really certain what weight oil was added at last change.

Is this a problem?
Should it be diagnosed by a mechanic?

Thank you, regards, Dave

 

Well, you didn't mention if the pressure goes up to normal while driving, or not. However, in either case, it could be the oil, a bad filter, the oil pump and/or pickup, or the crank / rod bearings could be going bad. All of these things could result in a low to 0 psi pressure reading. The cheapest possible fix, of course, is a good oil change, using an appropriate weight for you region, and a good, high quality oil filter - NOT a Fram. The research I've conducted shows the AC-Delco brand oil filters to have the best construction and filtering capability, but the Nissan OEM filter is also very good.

Also, when you say the oil is very dark, have you smelled the oil. I have seen very dark oil smell like gas, indicating a bad fuel pressure regulator, bad rings and / or a faulty injector. If this is the case, that could cause it also. However, I believe you mentioned it seemed a little thick. If that's the case, it's won't smell like gas. If gas contaminates the oil, the oil becomes very thin, like water.

If anyone finds anything I've said to be erroneous, please let me know - this is based on my experience.

I hope this helps...

 

In my first post the oil pressure info was not completely understandable.

The oil pressure at idle shows zero psi and increases to 55 psi when engine is speeded up.

Will change oil and oil filter immediately and then recheck oil pressure. Many thanks, Dave
====================

 

Another reason why you may be getting false oil pressure readings is due to a bad sending unit. If it's supposed to be around 2-3 psi, a reading of 0 isn't that far off if the sending unit is slightly inaccurate. Unfortunately I don't have the digital gauge cluster, so I can't tell you what mine says exactly. But sometimes the needle on my oil pressure gauge looks like it's on 0 when idling.

-C-

 

Charles, Thanks for your helpful thoughts.
I just checked my IDLING IN PARK "oil PRessure" again.
Oil Pressure shows 60 PSI when engine is cold.
Oil Pressure shows 0 PSI when engine is normal temp.

I have a question for any 87 Maxima owners with DIGITAL Dashboards and Digital Oil Pressure gauges.

When your 87 engine is IDLING in PARK/NUETRAL at normal operating temp, does your DIGITAL Oil Pressure gauge display ZERO?

When gauge shows ZERO does the "OIL CAN" symbol BLINK or just remain showing without BLINKING?

Owners manual says while idling 2.8 psi or higher is normal for hot transmission oil. The DIGITAL Oil Pressure Gauge can only display 0 PSI, 10, 20, etc. Any pressure less than 10 psi will read as ZERO and is normal.

Nissan added the BLINKING "OIL CAN" symbol to alert that ZERO INDICATED [but some small not-zero value] oil pressure was REALLY below some MINIMUM pressure. I do not know below what pressure causes
BLINKING?

Does anyone know below what oil pressure causes
"OIL CAN" symbol to BLINK?

Thanks for any help. Dave

 

Can someone tell me where I can buy an oil pressure gauge kit with adpaters that fit an 87 Maxima so I can remove my "oil sensor/sendor" and measure pressure at the block on an analog pressure gauge, NOT DIGITAL gauge?

Many thanks, Dave