91 and Oil Light

[tonyurban]

So, I was driving my new-to-me 91 Rover tonight. The temp gauge doesn't move and there's no heat... so, I figure it probably needs a thermostat. I keep plodding along and I note it has a high idle... not sure why, maybe because the engine is running cold. I'm not sure.

Anyways, so I get about a mile from home and my check engine light comes on. I think "oh great" and keep plodding along. As I slow down, my oil light starts to flicker on and I can hear my lifters tapping. It sounds like they are starved for oil. I lightly rev the engine to keep moving and the oil light goes out and the tapping noise stops. The only time the oil light comes on is at idle.

So, I made it home and I shut it the truck off immediately. I run to open the garage door and go back to the truck and it won't start. Could low oil pressure cause it not to start? I left the truck sit for about 40 minutes while I cleared the snow and it did start up and I pulled it into the garage.

I figure that I'll check the oil tomorrow morning and change it this weekend. I'll do the thermostat too. But, why the oil light came on suddenly troubles me... could I have overheated? Maybe my water pump has failed? I don't detect any leaks or anything from the engine.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Tony

[ArmyRover]

Originally Posted by tonyurban

So, I was driving my new-to-me 91 Rover tonight. The temp gauge doesn't move and there's no heat... so, I figure it probably needs a thermostat. I keep plodding along and I note it has a high idle... not sure why, maybe because the engine is running cold. I'm not sure.

Anyways, so I get about a mile from home and my check engine light comes on. I think "oh great" and keep plodding along. As I slow down, my oil light starts to flicker on and I can hear my lifters tapping. It sounds like they are starved for oil. I lightly rev the engine to keep moving and the oil light goes out and the tapping noise stops. The only time the oil light comes on is at idle.

So, I made it home and I shut it the truck off immediately. I run to open the garage door and go back to the truck and it won't start. Could low oil pressure cause it not to start? I left the truck sit for about 40 minutes while I cleared the snow and it did start up and I pulled it into the garage.

I figure that I'll check the oil tomorrow morning and change it this weekend. I'll do the thermostat too. But, why the oil light came on suddenly troubles me... could I have overheated? Maybe my water pump has failed? I don't detect any leaks or anything from the engine.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
Tony

check the coolant level could be a thermostate, check the oil level.

The oil light will flash when it's low on oil but if it was accompained by a tapping sound is generally a bad thing. I would recommend anytime in the future though that the oil light comes on followed by what you describe as sounds of oil starvation that you shut it down and check things out rather than rev it but thats just me. Could be the oil pump heading south or you could be out of oil since you said its not leaking anything. That statement on a Rover means your out of fluid.

[hermanpj]

my concern, as I'm sure yours is, would be that without a functioning temp gage you really had no way to know whether it was overheating... so there could have been damage. I'm a newby when it comes to the drive line, but i consistently hear that overheating a rover engine is worse than overheating an engine on a traditional iron block. As you said, replenish oil and check for severe leaks. Somebody else could tell you what components to check for damage as well as what to suspect as root causes.

[tonyurban]

I gave it some more thought and I noted that the flickering oil light came on at idle, it did not come on at the higher idle. I've searched around and noted some conditions that can cause this problem. I'm going to do the oil and thermostat this weekend and get rid of the non-LR oil filter. I popped the hood last night and noted no leaks anywhere, but I am worried that the malfunctioning temp gauge may have mislead me.

The check engine light did come on... can someone tell me if the 91's have the code readouts under the passenger seat like a 94?

Thanks,
Tony