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Oil Light After Adding Oil

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Old 08-17-2015, 10:35 AM
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Default Oil Light After Adding Oil

Been browsing a while now but first post. My 2001 burns oil so I have to add about .5 qts every month or so. Added it yesterday, as I normally check fluids on Sundays and when I woke up this morning the oil light was on. Checked the oil level and that's perfect. Drove around the block a few times to see if I'm leaking or spraying oil anywhere and I can't see anything. The engine is perfectly clean.
What am I missing? Noob to the forum and my first Volvo as well
 
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Old 08-17-2015, 11:20 AM
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The oil light is not an oil level warning it's an oil pressure warning.

If you're driving around with the oil light on you're making a potentially expensive bet that the problem is a faulty oil pressure sender and not an actual low oil pressure problem.
 
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Old 08-17-2015, 12:01 PM
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Originally Posted by migbro
The oil light is not an oil level warning it's an oil pressure warning.

If you're driving around with the oil light on you're making a potentially expensive bet that the problem is a faulty oil pressure sender and not an actual low oil pressure problem.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I will not be driving it today then, lol. It just turned on this morning. Hoping that the couples of blocks I drove it didn't kill it or cause major damage.
First things first. I guess I'll be changing the oil today.
I just searched and found several reasons for this. How
 
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Old 08-18-2015, 02:38 PM
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Hopefully its just the pressure sending unit - but to be sure don't drive until you can put a pressure gauge on it and drop in a new sending unit. If you can't find a pressure gauge you can try replacing the sensor first then crank to see if it goes out. If the light remains on, time to pull the oil pan and inspect for debris in the pick up and pan. Just had this done to my 2012 VW CC with 48K miles for an intermittant oil light. After replacing the sensor and measuring oil pressure at various temps and engine load they got the light to come on... Turns out there was debris in the pick up and VW dropped in a new $9500 long block and turbo under warranty... Hopefully your's is way simpler than that!
 
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