Tip for: Oil light sporadically coming on and or Rough Idle
 

I had an issue where I was experiencing the oil light coming on fire driving it for a few minutes. It would happen immediately if I went on the freeway.

Background: I did a engine oil and fuel treatment. After I brought it home and drove it for a while I had a rough idle and a high idle. I went through the relearn process procedure several times and changed the PCV Valve, and oil pressure sensor located on the oil pan.

Repair shops said it was the oil pump. Oil pumps go out and they stay out. They don't come back to life after you let the engine sit or restart the vehicle.

Solution: I removed the lower oil pan and all the sludge from the oil that was removed by the chemicals accumulated on the oil pickup screen tube and so I soaked it in solvent and used a metal brush and cleaned out all the particles stuck in the screen.

I also used a scraper and scraped everthing in the upper pan I can see that was there. I cleaned all the sludge out of the pan. That solved the engine oil pressure light coming on. It would clog and starve the engine at high rims because it tried to suck more oil.

Secondly, I romoved the VVT Variable Valve Timing solenoids. Very easy to do and let them soak in Lucas engine treatment and then used a toothbrush, solvent and q-tips to clean all the little openings. Then re-installed them.

My car now idles at 450 RPMs and is like the first day Inbought it. Oil light isn't coming on any more. Since I was at the pan I replaced the engine oil pressure sensor. Very easy to do.

I hope this helps someone from replacing a perfectly good oil pump.

If you have a hard time removing the pan like I did, remove the passenger front tire and use a thin long head flat screw driver and with a rubber mallet tap in gently between the gasket and the pan edge wise. Then once you see it separate, work the front of the pan from the tire side too and drive the long screw driver with the mallet from the side along all the way across the front of the pan. Remove the screw driver and hit it along the bottom sideways towards the tire from underneath and the pan will break loose.

Use non hardening gasket sealer for now on instead of the factory crap.

Anyways good luck, I will post before pics of how bad that sludge was from engine cleaners.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....c880e9f211.jpg

Oil pan with sludge

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....cea8c9b257.jpg

This is what fills up after using engine cleaners

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....261d55701d.jpg

Sludge

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....832cb54d61.jpg

Pickup tube

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....938172d54c.jpg

Pickup tube

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....6c2008a4d5.jpg

Pickup tube, remove it

That's death for a motor! Do you remove the baffle assembly and reseal it too?

The only thing I removed was the oil pan and the oil pickup which had no gasket. It would get oil at first and pressures were 10-12psi. When I removed the VVTs I put a new gasket on the intake manifold besides 4 oil changes after applying cleaners with new filters. The engine runs great now and compressions are really good. I might change out the timing chain and bearings since I'm there.

Yeah thats what I meant the pick-up tube.
They call it a strainer or baffle tube too.

Looks like a microphone! :laugh:

How long have you owned the car? How much of it's maintenance history do you know, specifically oil changes?

Those pics make me question whether the oil has been consistently changed at recommend intervals and the quality of oil and filters used.

I would be concerned about the impact that all that gunk and low oil pressure had on the timing chain guides, too.