I just purchased a 1994 Rice Burner,(Mitsubishi Diamante), for my wife. After it warms up and I'm stopped at a traffic light the oil pressure light begins to "flicker). There is also a ticking sound coming from the engine. Once I take off, the oil pressure light goes off and most of the ticking sound goes away.

Any ideas what the problem is? The engine has 109,000 miles. The oil I'm running is Castrol 10W-40 and is clean.

Any cheap solutions? I just got layed off from my job, (actually the business shut down for good), and money is tight.

Any help would be appreciated.

Larry

Just a guess but it sounds like either a weak oil pump, or something partially blocking the oil delivery to the upper parts of the engine. An oil additive like SeaFoam (or something similar) might clean out some sludge and let more oil to get up top. Might be worth a shot before tearing things apart.

Switching to a slightly lighter weight oil might help a little also (like 5w-30 or 10w-30).


Jim O.

|UPDATED|11/5/2002 12:44:53 AM|/UPDATED|

Jim,

Thanks for the reply. I got such a good deal (1800.00) on the Diamante I couldn't pass it up. It has every option that was available in 1994 including power moon roof and 6-disk cd changer, and everything works! Even has automatic climate control.

I have never heard of Sea Foam. Is it a cleaner or an additive that goes in with the oil?

I keep hoping that its NOT an oil pump. The car was running great and still does except for the ticking and the oil light flickering. Mife wife took the car out of town, (180 miles), and when she returned thats when the problem started. Go figure

Do you think Auto Zone or Advance Auto sells Sea Foam?

Thanks again

Larry

Larry,

Years ago (don't ask me how long) I had an old Chev truck that was doing the same thing. I checked the oil pressure and found that it was dropping to less than 3 lbs at idle...that was causing the light to flicker. The ticking was probably the lifters. Since I was just a kid in high school, and didn't have any money, I switched to a heaver grade oil. That stopped the problem. I continued to drive the old truck for several years, just changed the oil when the problem came back. If memory fails me right...I was up to 50 weight racing oil when I traded the truck in on my '73 Z-28.

You may want to give 20W50 a try and see if that helps.

Good luck....let us know...

Larry,
Sounds like a great buy, especially when everything works...!!! The SeaFoam I'm familiar with is an oil additive to help scrub the upper reaches of the engine. And just being in the crankcase it would find its way through the oil pump. I'm sure that Justice Bros., or other name brand engine additive makers, have a similar product on the market if you can't find SeaFoam in your area. I'd think that any of the national auto parts chains would carry something like it.


Jim O.
Save the Wave...!!!

Jim,

Thanks for the info. I will let all of you know the outcome.


Larry