Oil light and alarm came on at the end of an autocross run this weekend. I immediatley shut the engine down an check it visually. Nothing out of the ordinary - no leaks, full of oil. I figure going around a corner no oil was getting to the pickup and that set it off. I start the car, runs fine, rev it up a few times - oil light/alarm back on. Repeat 3 times. I drive the car with the light/alarm on over to my parking spot, let it sit, pack the car up, start it, let it idle for about 20 minutes, the alarm/light never came on, it has lifter ticking on and off - not normal after motor is warm. I go to the awards ceremony and pick up my 2nd place trophy (beat by a Focus by .10 sec). I have no phone and no way to get home so I said screw it and I drove 45 miles at about 50 miles per hour with the light flashing and alarm sounding. Car ran fine, no problems other than on and off lifter ticking. I immediatley drive to Autozone and pick up necessary items to change oil. I had 10w-30 mobil one synthetic in there - when I popped off the drain plug the oil was thinner than water. It had only been in there for 1000 miles. I put in Valvoline 10w-40, lifter ticking stopped completly after 1/2 mile of driving. Engine sounds fine, no light, no alarm.
Any ideas what happened? is the Valvoline 10w-40 thick enough? Any permanent damage I should look for?
Today the car got hotter than it's been so far, but not abnormally hot. I think that oil broke down too soon and got so thin it couldn't build up enough pressure to get to the top of the engine and it was triggering the alarm.
Let me know your thoughts and what I should do next if anything. It seems to be running fine now.
-Jim
Any ideas what happened? is the Valvoline 10w-40 thick enough? Any permanent damage I should look for?
Today the car got hotter than it's been so far, but not abnormally hot. I think that oil broke down too soon and got so thin it couldn't build up enough pressure to get to the top of the engine and it was triggering the alarm.
Let me know your thoughts and what I should do next if anything. It seems to be running fine now.
-Jim