when i start my car, i hear sort-of a grinding sound for about 3 seconds and it starts very weakly. i have to give it a little gas in order for it to maintain a steady idle or else the rpm's will drop down and it will stall out. after a couple of seconds after i start it howvever, it's fine and idles fine with no problems. i noticed recently that simultaneously while this starting problem and grinding noice is happening, the red "engine oil pressure" light flickers on the dash while this problem is happening and stops after a couple of seconds and then it's fine. at first i thought it might be that i don't have enough oil in the car, but i checked it and it's fine. the manual said that the oil light refers to the oil pressure in the engine and doesn't necissarily mean that theres an oil LEVEL problem. so my question is this:
has anyone else ever had this problem, and if so, what do you think it is? could it be something as simple as an oil pressure sensor gone bad? or do you think it's my oil pump? my oil filter? any clues? it's not throwin any ECU codes either. HELP! thanks guys

 

the oil pressure dummy light will come on supposedly when the oil pressure falls under 7psi. The fact that you have to give it gas for it to go away is a sign that there is ubber low presure at idle/ start up. I dont know how mechanically enclined you are, but what I would do it start simple and rule out variables as I go.

- Concider changing the oil pressure sender, since it often goes bad once miles build up on the 4th gens. It's cheap so no biggie there
- What filter are you using? OEM filters have an anti-drain back w/e valve to keep oil in the filter to lessen dry start-up
- What viscocity oil are you using? The thinner the oil, the lower the oil pressure. But of course dont use that to fix the problem, lol. If your motor doesnt burn/ leak oil, 5W-30 or 10W-30 is what you should be rurning
- Take out the lower oil pan and check the strainer on the oil pick up for any debris that may be collected on it. If its clean...
- I would take off the upper oil pan and replace the 2 o-rings that go between the upper oil pan and the block. If one is leaking, pressure will be lost there
- If that STILL doesnt fix it... http://oem.thepartsbin.com/parts/the...0Pump&dp=false

Best of luck

 

hell yea, thanks for the detailed reply. if i leave it like it is now, for while, is it bad to drive it like that? like is it adding wear and tear to my engine?

 

yes because you're having metal-to-metal contact with no lubrication, think of what happens when you do *certain things* with no lube... that's whats going on inside your motor during and for a few seconds after start up... not cool.

 

do yourself a favor and install an aftermarket oil pressure guage like Autometer. My first motor in my max died due to losing oil pressure and the dummy light coming on way to late.