Help!..oil warning light on my 61 Clio dci on!!

[lastminute]

Just been out for a short drive when the oil warning light on my 61 Clio dci came on, plus the Stop light!
..will check level first thing tomorrow...is it wise to drive to garage if level is ok?
Drivers handbook is useless...doesn't mention type of oil to top up..

Any advice welcome.

Gerry

 

[Baldhead]

Don't drive to the garage, even if there's sufficient oil in the sump, you could have a defective oil pump, your oil pressure gauge could be set as low as 12PSI which is significantly lower than the pressure required to safely lubricate all the bearings in the engine.

Baldhead

 

[Deejay]

Morning Gerry

Have you checked the oil level?

If you need to buy some, Halfords have an oil finder here ...

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine ... ogId=10151

Cheers

Dave

 

[DiscoStu]

The oil warning light is normally oil pressure and not the amount of oil in the car. Firstly check the level. If it is ok then it is most likely to be the oil pump that has failed. Is it still under warranty? It either will be or will be just outside. What mileage has it done? If it's below 36,000 (assuming 12,000 a year will be the warranty mileage) then contact the main dealer and explain what's happened they should sort it under warranty. If it has just expired and your mileage is low you could and should argue that it shouldn't have failed. Whatever you do don't drive it. Get the AA etc out to it. A new oil pump will be a couple of hundred quid a new engine will be quite a bit more!

 

[lastminute]

Hi all...checked level...no sign of oil!!!...assume its ok to check while cold....on start up it says top up oil...hoping that's the only prob.
..off to Halfords.

Regards and thanks!

Gerry

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi all...checked level...no sign of oil!!!...assume its ok to check while cold....on start up it says top up oil...hoping that's the only prob.
..off to Halfords.

If there was no sign of oil on the dip stick, I hope you didn't drive the car to Halfords!!! There will be minimum and maximum markings on the dip stick and the oil level should be between these. If there is no sign of oil on the dip stick, your engine has virtually no oil in it and it is dangerous to drive the car in that condition - it could cause serious damage to the engine.

You should always check the oil level when the engine is cold in order to get an accurate reading. Best to check the level once a week.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[lastminute]

...on checking underneath before buying oil...discovered oil pools!!!
..main dealer collecting it soon!

 

[DrPhill]

Oil pools are good..

No, seriously. It means that you lost your oil mostly where you are or close by. No oil and no oil pools means you lost it somewhere else entirely and may have been traveling with little or none. That could be expensive. Let us hope it is a loose sump plug, and that most of the oil was lost while stationary.

Fingers crossed.....

 

[DiscoStu]

I'm guessing it will be under warranty - so let the dealer worry about it.

 

[lurker]

I'm guessing it will be under warranty - so let the dealer worry about it.

Not if he drove it after the stop light came on!

 

[DiscoStu]

I think the fact that it is a 61 plate car, then it shouldn't have lost any oil in normal use between services and as such there is something wrong that should be covered under warranty.

Having said that you shouldn't drive any car with an engine oil light on, but it doesn't sound like that's been done anyway.

 

[lastminute]

Latest...
...dealer says a blockage in a pump filter caused the oil to back up into the oil filter and over spill!..
does that sound feasible? (I'm not arguing!)
also Renault are footing part of the cost...for some reason the 2 mounting bolts have to be replaced, meaning the original ones cannot be re-used??

Relieved.....Gerry

 

[Hitch]

I had nothing but trouble with my renault dci.
Renault uk thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable for an engine with 70k to loose 500ml of engine oil.....every 500miles. Yes, i havn't miss typed, five-hundred miles.
Had various things done to it, over £1500 spent on numerous things, including new piston rings. Was better for a couple of thousand miles and gradually got worse again #-o

Had enough of it in the end, pulled it apart for salvage myself. Biggest money pit i have ever owned :roll:
Finished the job off with the engine block used as a wrecking ball.
I gained a lot of satisfaction from that exercise.

 

[blackrodd]

Sorry to hear you're problem with Renault engine.
My experience of Renault has always been electrical faults, as in no ignition working on a Renault Espace, this happened many times and at various parts of the country.
End up catching the train home and change my employer!
Then Renault 5 Starter kept going until it caught fire, That spoiled the paint work! sold on after 7, or 8 weeks.
And yet, my 02 Citroen Berlingo, currently on 168. thousand odd and never any trouble, 2 or 3 batteries, tyres and servicing, probably more Peaugeot than citroen.
Regards Rodders

 

[DiscoStu]

It's not unusual for bolts not to be reused. Bolts don't normally cost much and it's often sensible to replace them. I guess the cause sounds possible, so the oil is pumped around the engine in a circuit but if you get a blockage then the oil will still be being pumped but with nowhere to go - a bit like containing to run water into a sink but having the plug in.

My question would be what caused the blockage? I've heard of similar before where the AA used some rag to temporarily block a leak, however by the time the car got home the rag was gone. It was assumed it had fallen off, in fact it got sucked in and blocked the filter. New engine needed! I know about it because it was in the press and the AA eventually paid up. Anyway I'd want to know why caused the filter to get blocked and how it got there.

What's the warranty situation with the car? Why are Renault offering to help but not foot the full bill? I'm guessing it's a good will gesture but not related to any defect of theirs!

 

[Baldhead]

Latest...
...dealer says a blockage in a pump filter caused the oil to back up into the oil filter and over spill!..
does that sound feasible? (I'm not arguing!)
also Renault are footing part of the cost...for some reason the 2 mounting bolts have to be replaced, meaning the original ones cannot be re-used??

Relieved.....Gerry

Gerry can you tell me

1. Is the car still under warranty?
2. Mileage?
3. Does it have full service history?
4. Have you owned the car from new?

In your shoes I WOULD be arguing, something doesn't appear to be right.

Baldhead

 

[undergroundhunter]

I had nothing but trouble with my renault dci.
Renault uk thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable for an engine with 70k to loose 500ml of engine oil.....every 500miles. Yes, i havn't miss typed, five-hundred miles.

I am a warranty manager for a Kia dealership and Kia state that then engine can use up to a liter of oil every 1000 miles, it was the same for Fiat when I worked for them.

Matt

 

[Baldhead]

I had nothing but trouble with my renault dci.
Renault uk thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable for an engine with 70k to loose 500ml of engine oil.....every 500miles. Yes, i havn't miss typed, five-hundred miles.

I am a warranty manager for a Kia dealership and Kia state that then engine can use up to a liter of oil every 1000 miles, it was the same for Fiat when I worked for them.

Matt

That's a lot of oil for not a lot of mileage, so I assume if your Kia is using a litre/1000 miles then at a service you wouldn't need to change the oil, just the filter.

Baldhead

 

[finneyb]

I had nothing but trouble with my renault dci.
Renault uk thought it was perfectly normal and acceptable for an engine with 70k to loose 500ml of engine oil.....every 500miles. Yes, i havn't miss typed, five-hundred miles.

I am a warranty manager for a Kia dealership and Kia state that then engine can use up to a liter of oil every 1000 miles, it was the same for Fiat when I worked for them.

Matt

Matt,

But that is Kia/Fiat's backstop position, there must be a consumer criteria of acceptable use of oil from say Which, AA, RAC etc, what do they say? As Warranty Manager you will know the 'opposition' criteria. I have a BMW , now 8 years old and I have never had to add oil between annual services.

Brian

 

[DiscoStu]

It's just a fall back position. Most engines shouldn't use anything like that. The only exception I would say would be for rotary engines as they do use a lot of oil.