No oil on the dipstick

ANSWER : The fuel pump will not stay on if you loose oil pressure. This is why it is shutting off. The loss of oil pressure may be from bad crankshaft bearings or camshaft bearings. The engine oil pan should be removed and the oil pump needs to be checked to ensure that you put in the pick up tube seal to the pump and connected the pump to the block. Then remove at least one main bearing cap and inspect the bearings for excessive wear and crankshaft damage. If you need some help with this, consider YourMechanic, as a certified technician can help diagnose the issue with your oil pressure firsthand and help you fix it accordingly.

ANSWER : Hello. If you are checking the oil at the dipstick and it is being added to the correct area then you more than likely have a serious internal sludge issue. If there is a lot of sludge then the oil cannot properly return to the oil pan. I typically remove the valve covers to inspect for this as there should be no other reasons why the oil would not return to the oil pan. If you need to have this problem checked out, consider having a technician from YourMechanic come to your home or office to diagnose the low oil level and make the necessary repairs.

ANSWER : Hi there, thanks for writing in. The valve stem seals are the most common cause of this on your engine. When they fail, it requires that the cylinder heads be removed and rebuilt to fix it. The piston rings can also cause this but they are not as common. Unfortunately there is not anything, not even heavier oil that will fix this. You will need to have the heads rebuilt.

ANSWER : My first recommendation is to NOT START this engine until there is sufficient oil showing on the dipstick. Even if there was excessive sludge in the area of the valve covers, after an hour or two, most of the oil should drain back into the crankcase. A bad oil pump would not prevent the oil from coming to the correct level on the dipstick. Be sure to check to see how far down the dipstick goes into the motor. Sometimes new and fresh oil can be tough to see registering on the dipstick as well. If you need help having this addressed, a qualified professional from YourMechanic can come to your car’s location to inspect the oil problem and resolve the issue.

ANSWER : This light will usually come on when one of two things are happening. Either the motor is in fact low on oil or the oil pressure sending unit is not working properly and may be producing a faulty reading. I would recommend first, to check the actual oil level in the motor by using the dipstick. Be sure the oil level reaches the "full" mark. If this registers as "full" then you likely have a faulty oil pressure sending unit. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to take a look at your vehicle to determine what may be causing your low oil pressure light to come on.

ANSWER : It is possible that they put in the wrong viscosity oil. In rare instances, a defective filter will also cause low pressure. If there is too much oil, it will aerate and cause low pressure. Be sure the oil level is really not above "max". The P2187 code will appear if the oil fill cap is not tight but it will also appear due to a myriad of causes because that code only "generally" identifies a lean running condition. Consequently, numerous parts would have to be tested including the O2 sensor, gas cap seal, manifold air leaks, any vacuum leak anywhere including PCV and EVAP systems, exhaust leaks, and fuel system faults such as failing fuel pump, clogged filter and more. Since the car has relatively low mileage, you would not expect a failed oil pump, although the pressure sensor (or switch) could be bad. However, the occurrence of the oil pressure warning light is quite coincidental to the oil change, thus I would suggest bringing the car back and asking them to redo with a new filter and double check the viscosity of the new oil that they use. If the problem persists after that, you will have to test actual operating oil pressure (at idle for instance) as well as the oil pressure switch. Finally, if the oil pressure warning light comes on continuously, unless the warning circuit itself is malfunctioning, that means the oil pressure is too low to operate the engine without damaging it. Anytime the light comes on for more than literally an instant, you should shut down the car and thus an issue like this obviously has to be repaired.

If you’d like, a YourMechanic certified mechanic can come to your home or place of business to inspect the vehicle and perform an oil pressure light is on inspection to diagnose the vehicle and suggest potential repairs.

ANSWER : Hi There,
It sounds like you may need to replace the oil cap o-ring. If you haven’t done this before there are two O-rings to replace; a small green one on the base of the filter cap stem and the large black one that seals the filter cap (which seems to be the one you are having issues with). The large O-ring sits in a small square-shaped groove that is at the base of the oil filter cap. It is very easy to not properly seat the large O-ring because the threads for the oil cap are quite large and will accept the O-ring if you are not careful. I would suggest having a professional from YourMechanic come to your location to take a look at your vehicle.

ANSWER : Unless there is an imperfection (e.g., serious pitting or irregularities) on the engine mounting base for the filter gasket, the leak is probably not at the filter. There are other adjacent potential leak spots such as the oil pan gasket, oil pressure sending unit and so forth. If the leak is significant at all, merely thoroughly cleaning the suspect area and running the engine while looking for the leak should be sufficient. If you still can’t find the leak origin, a UV visible dye can be added to the engine oil which will then make the leak point visible using a detection light. If you want these steps performed by a certified Mechanic, dispatched by YourMechanic right to your location, please request an oil leak diagnostic and the responding certified mechanic will get this taken care of for you. If you have further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to re-contact YourMechanic as we are always here to help you.