... I know this one has been discussed before, but for the life of my I couldn't find a previous thread in search.

Ever once in a blue moon, when I'm going around a left-hand turn quickly and slightly downhill, the low oil pressure light flashes for 2 or 3 seconds. The oil pressure gauge remains at 3 bar (2.5 bar if I'm not on the pedal) the whole time. I recall hearing other people say the 603s did this sometimes, and there was a reason for it.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

There is no oil pressure light on your car. The oil can with the "waves" underneath it is low oil level. If the oil is full, it's a faulty sender.

That's what I originally thought ... then somewhere on the line I decided it was oil pressure. You'd think I would have picked up the owner's manual.


Was it the later models that had the pressure warning?

Oil checks well within the acceptable level, even though I'm nearing my 3k oil change.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

Yes, you probably have a weak sensor. Later models starting with the S-Class had a low oil pressure light right below the 1 BAR on the pressure meter.

My old 300SDL (same engine as yours) would occasionally exhibit the same behavior.. I just lived with it.

Cool ... it's been doing it for years, since I started driving it in high school 10 years ago. The closeted physics nerd in me was just curious.

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

What year did you graduate? I had an 83 300D my senior year in 2000.

I was a '00 graduate, too. My '87 300D was still a family car then, though (I got to drive it sometimes, but was usually relegated to our Dodge Caravan) ... my dad officially gave it to me during the summer between my junior/senior years in college (summer of '03). But some of my earliest driving lessons were behind the wheel of the Benz ... can't find a better teacher than that!

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1987 300D, arctic white/palomino--314,000 miles
1978 240D 4-speed, Euro Delivery, light ivory/bamboo--370,000 miles
2005 Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, light khaki/slate--140,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze diesel, 6-speed manual, satin steel metallic/kalahari--19,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4-speed manual, blue/blue, 130,000 miles
1995 S320, black/parchment--34,000 miles (Dad's car)

My sender is bad on the SDL, I have to order the two o-rings before I install the new one and needs a vac pump before that.

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I'm not a doctor, but I'll have a look.

'85 300SD 245k
'87 300SDL 251k
'90 300SEL 326k

Six others from BMW, GM, and Ford.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty.[/IMG]

that your sensor is bad.

the oil is just swaying away from the sensor on hard cornering.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

You can safely ignore the oil light coming on during left hand turns. It has been doing that on mine for 14 years. I took mine to the dealer many times and it resulted in much part changing but no fix and no answer. Then, I read a post from Dave M/gsxr who had tracked it to an electrical component behind the cluster. This was supposed to prevent the light from illuminating when the oil momentarily slushed away from the sensor. The delay was something like 30 seconds so that if the sensor continued reporting low oil after the specified time delay, you would get a valid oil level light. Dave had worked out the repair but I decided not to make any more left turns -or to keep my eyes closed until the light came back on. There is no damage to the engine.

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87 300D 265Kmi
Factory rebuilt crate 603.96x engine at 200K

why benz hadnt made some type of a delay mechanism. so they did. but apparently it is a little short lived.

tom w

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

My oil light only acts that way when the oil level is below the half way mark on the dip stick. I add in half a qt of oil and every is rosy again.

The light is a low oil level light. My 87 300D has it and it would come on every now and then. The biggest headache I have is my oil pressure gauge likes to drop to zero. I thought I had a bad sender, but found after punching the cluster in the right place, the needle jumps back up where it needs to be. One of these days I'm probably going to bust the cluster plastic cover or my knuckles.

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DJ


84 300D Turbodiesel 190K with 4 speed manual sold in 03/2012