Oil pressure light/car stalls at low speed

[Angi]

Hi,
I have a 1999 Grand AM SE with 136k. While driving today I heard chimes and my oil pressure light blinked and then my car stalled. I was able to start it back up, however, car had little get up and go. Luckily, i made it home, but car died at every stop sign. It is now in my driveway and will not start anymore.

Both Oil Pressure light and Charging System indicator light is showing. Please help! Is there a cheap solution to this problem? THis car has to last me until Feb.

Thanks!!

[sunrunner_pei]

It is NOT safe to drive the car with low oil pressure.

I'm going to assume that your profile information is incorrect, as the 2.3L Quad4 was not offered in 1999, and that you have a 2.4L TwinCam. I'm not sure, but it is possible that the 2.4L has a low oil pressure engine cut-off to prevent damage. That could be one explanation for your stalling.

Before doing anything else, check the oil level. If that's OK, it's time to check the electrical system. Perform the simple battery cable maintenance from this entry in the FAQ: http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/faq.php?faq=maint_repair#faq_batt_serv

Once that is done, and you're still having troubles, it's time to go to a shop and have the battery and alternator load tested, and have the oil pressure checked with a mechanical gauge.

[Angi]

Thanks so much for quick response. Yes, you are right, it is a 2.4L

New alternator was installed about 8 weeks ago and battery (at that time) was fine.
Thanks so much, and i will follow your suggestions! :o)

[Matt95GT]

If in doubt about oil pressure, have it towed to a shop to diagnose it. Running the engine with no/low oil pressure will damage it badly... it may already be too late to save the engine if in fact it was an oil pressure problem.

[Angi]

Thank you for your help.:)

[rixGAphx]

Definitely do the complete Battery Cable Service, including removing the rubber boots from the battery ends, cleaning/replacing those ends, and installing new, inspect-able aftermarket boots.

They may well have been the cause of the earlier alternator demise.
2 months is the standard time between failure of the alternator and subsequent failure of the battery (and vice-versa) due to an un-resolved problem like battery cables.
Sounds weird, but every seasoned mechanic has experienced this same 'tw0-month' phenomenon many times.

Yes, your 'Low Oil Pressure' light came on.
It ALWAYS comes 'on' when the engine stops running but the ignition is still 'on'.
Your engine *may* have shut itself 'off' because of low oil pressure (it has this 'safety feature').
But it may have shut-off for other reasons, and you merely observed the 'Low Oil Pressure' light as the first indication.

The fact that the engine then re-started indicates to me that there WAS oil pressure.

You haven't said so, but I'll bet you have an auto tranny.
The lack of 'get-up-and-go' when you restarted is a symptom of low battery/alternator power.
The tranny needs good electrical power for first gear (the valving is controlled by the computer and an electrical solenoid in the tranny), and when the power is bad, the engine just revs but the car feels like the tranny is slipping big-time.

The ABS light usually also comes 'on'.

The battery was prolly heavily-drained 2 months ago during the alternator problems; And it has again suffered heavy drain (due to lousy battery cables not allowing good re-charge).
A battery looses 5-10% of its capacity everytime its fully-drained, capacity it can never recover.
So your battery may need replacing at this time; or soon, before cold weather sets in.
* * *

However, since the 'Low Oil Pressure' was indicated prior to engine stall according to your description, I agree with Shawn that the engine should not be started until the lubrication (oil) system has been checked for appearance of the oil as well as level.
And then, only an experienced mechanic should start it, so s/he can be checking the oil pressure and listening for specific noises during the first few seconds of running.

I hope this helps,
-Rick

[Angi]

Thank you, all, SO MUCH for all your help and suggestions. I'll let you know what the problem is.

And yes, it is an automatic! :o)

[Angi]

I also was loosing oil pressure due to a some what mechanic said that my cams are going out, causing my engine to knock. The guy initialy changed my cam gasket, then i took it back to him and he realigned the timing chain due to stalls and knocking, then now he says the knocking is due to the cams worn out losing oil pressure?? Is the engine damaged or is it the safety feature of the engine not allowing it to start due to low oil pressure... Thanks ahead of time..

[rixGAphx]

OK, so you've had an ongoing problem and this is the latest manifestation.
And you've had some engine noises, like a 'knocking' sound.

Personally, I'd find a different mechanic.
Sounds like this one has been jerking you around, never fixing the deeper, true problem.
His little fixes have cost you money but done nothing, and now they've left you stranded.

You have a '99, 9-yrs old so about 110k miles? Please confirm.

What is the 'deeper, true problem'?
He may be right, that the camshaft bearings are heavily worn and caused a low oil pressure condition.
The short-term fix would have been to use very heavy oil, like 10w40. This causes the oil pressure to be higher even after it heats and thins. However, I fear that the damage this would have avoided has already been done.

The camshafts go round and round, and their bearings need good lubrication.
More importantly, the crankshaft goes round and round and the connecting rods from the pistons go up-n-down as they impart force to the crankshaft to turn it. IT is the crankshaft that requires lubrication the most.
When the oil pressure drops, it is the conrod bearings that suffer:
* Each downward 'pound' of the piston must be resisted by oil pressure within the bearing.
* If the oil pressure is low, then the metal face of the crankshaft touches the face of the bearing, and they wear each other raw.
* The space between these two pieces increases as metal is worn away, and you get the 'knocking' noise as the metal pounds against other metal (instead of being cushioned by a layer of pressurized oil).

Frankly, I don't know how the mechanic could have determined that the problem was worn camshafts, without having actually fixed the probem at the same time.
If he charged you for a valve cover gasket, that indicates he opend the top of the engine and examined it.
To identify wear, he would have had to remove stuff inside, and measure it.
At that point, the solution would have been simple: New cam shaft bearings, and prolly some slight machine-shop work on the camshaft s to 'dress' the worn surfaces.
There might also have been some wear on the cam lobes and the lifters, which *should* also have been addressed with machining and replacements.

It is very rare that camshafts wear so badly as to cause a low oil pressure condition.
They just aren't subjected to loads that are great enough to cause such wear.

I don't understand how he 're-aligned' the timing chain; unless he had done something wrong previously, there was nothing to 're-align'.

Anywho, at 110k the engine is a bit young to need a complete re-build, but I'm afraid that's where you may be at.
The cylinder head of this engine can fail, especially from overheating, at much less milage, but the rest of the engine is pretty durable and 150-200k miles is more the norm.
Had you ever had a major overheating incident (boilover) that might have damaged the head, or mabbe even a 'blown' headgasket?
Only a QUALIFIED mechanic can determine the current state of the engine for certain, and even then s/he will have to take things apart for further investigation.

-Rick

[Matt95GT]

I agree with Rick - something about this mechanic doesn't sound right.

A leaky cam housing gasket or worn valvetrain components shouldn't cause a serious drop in oil pressure.

[Angi]

Im gonna have the car towed to another shop tomorrow and see whats up. Hopefully i can survive with a temporary fix like you said heavy oil to get buy. The car has never overheated so thats a good thing. Spent $1,000 on this guy and he never fixed the right problem, but created more problems...:mad: Thanks for everyones help and i will follow up since you guys were so responsive.

[Coondog]

From your first post. It sounds like the mech did everything he could for the "cheap" solution.


Agreed though, it sounds like you have a serious problem in the crankshaft area of the engine and the only "cheap" fix is to replace the engine with a used one.