Potential Catastrophe or Sensor ? | FerrariChat

Potential Catastrophe or Sensor ?

Discussion in '456/550/575' started by Mirek, May 1, 2021.

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  1. Mirek

    Mirek Formula 3
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    #1 Mirek, May 1, 2021
    Last edited: May 1, 2021
    Yesterday two lamps appeared out of nowhere on my center screen after I parked the car. The big red BATTERY Image and the big red OIL CAN icon came on (back and forth).
    The car also chirped 4 times when I “armed” it. Odd.

    Normally I do not get too concerned BUT a low oil pressure warning is scary anybody seen this ?

    I noticed my oil pressure at idle was about where I have it circled on the image attached.
     

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  2. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    Have you been power washing your car again? :p

    Check your pressure sensor for dirty electrical contacts. Not sure what's up with your battery. How old is it? Do you have a voltage checker you can plug into your cigarette lighter to check the alternator is charging the battery properly?

    There is a round connector in the engine bay which carries both the signal from the alternator and from the oil pressure sensor. Make sure that is connected properly. i.e. plug 14C

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  3. Qavion

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  4. Mirek

    Mirek Formula 3
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    Qavion, thanks for the input. I have not been back to the powerwash much these days, with the ceramic coat all I really need to do is rinse it off !

    The AGM battery is about 8 months old, it was quite hot yesterday and the first time I have seen my coolant temp creep past 190 since I had the cooling system serviced last month or so.

    Odd that both lamps came on at the same time.

    Do you think it is safe to drive to the shop 6 miles or so away ?
     
  5. Qavion

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    Without further information, it's hard to say. Almost all oil pressure problems are related to the sender, so I'd at least try to clean the connectors on the sender to see if the pressure changes. For the battery, I would put it on charge overnight. If the light is not on constantly you should be ok to make it to the shop. The alarm chirping might be related to low voltage (?) or just the usual causes... a faulty door or hood/trunk/door switch.
     
  6. rhern213

    rhern213 Formula Junior

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    #6 rhern213, May 2, 2021
    Last edited: May 2, 2021
    I have yet to see any pressure sender related problems that result in lower pressure readings. All of the examples I've seen, including mine, have all been extremely high pressures when the senders go bad.

    Given that, I do not think the oil pressure on the first mark of the gauge is worryingly low, as long as it's after the oil is fully up to temperature, about 160-170 or above. 15-20 psi at idle on a fully warmed up engine should be normal. However if this is the pressure you're seeing on a cold engine then that is something to worry about.

    First obvious place to check is if you're low on oil.

    Regardless I would take it to the mechanic, the light is something to worry about. If the above all checks out I would probably be okay with driving it over to the mechanic if it's only a few miles away. If not then I would tow it, not worth the risk.

    For the battery, I would just get a volt meter if you don't already have one, check the battery gives you a full 12v with the car off to make sure it's still good. Then check it's over 13v with the car on to make sure the alternator is properly working.
     
  7. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
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    I defer to your practical (automotive) experience :D but, theoretically, any increase in wire/sender resistance will result in a lower pressure reading. That's why I suggested cleaning the terminal/s. I've seen quite a few oil contaminated plugs on aircraft sensors causing problems.

    On battery checking, the cigarette lighter plug-in testers are a good investment and don't involve messing around with battery terminals. Of course, it's always a good idea to check that your battery terminals are tight and clean.
     
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  8. rhern213

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    Certainly no argument there that's a fact. And correct many of the issues I've read about were just dirty contacts and not actually a bad sender.
    My note was just that at least in all of the examples I've read, even the dirty contact ones, the issues were always getting needles pegged over 140 psi.

    I am actually curious to understand why that's happening in these cases, like you said dirty contacts should equal less current flow / higher resistance, which should give a lower psi readout. Since the internal mechanics of the senders in these cases are working properly, the only thing affecting the readouts should be the the external wiring. Now the high psi readouts are also in combination with higher rpms, which could mean there's some electrical interference happening, but I don't see how that would explain the issue when just cleaning the contacts on the actual sender fixed it. At that point I'm at a loss of what else may be going on, unfortunately I changed my college degree from engineering to analytics, I should've stuck with the former. :(
     
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  9. Mirek

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    I changed mine from Marketing to Advertising, imagine where my head is at with all this. Hahaha, anyway car goes to Blackhorse in the AM and I will report back. Thanks for the inputs.
     
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