96 SC2 oil pressure problem

A friend has a 96 SC2 with 168,000 miles on it. Up to this point, the car has had very few problems. She has owned it since new and kept up with oil/filter changes.

However, 2 days ago, the oil light came on. Nothing really seemed to be wrong so she kept driving. Now, it is making a tapping sound from the top of the engine (most likely a valve lifter).

The oil was maybe a quart and a half low the other day, but it's been filled up now. The oil light is no longer on, but the tapping hasn't gone away.

My question is- since the engine didn't seem to run out of oil, that doesn't seem to be the cause here. What are common causes of low oil pressure on Saturns? I read somewhere a while ago that somehow the timing chain is related here and if something goes wrong with it, then it can cause low oil pressure. Can anyone with some knowledge shed some light on this?

Thanks.

Reply to
njot
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This doesn't make sense. First you said nothing appeared to be wrong then you said that it was a quart and a half low. Both scenarios can not be true.

The engine does not need to run out of oil to loose oil pressure. A quart and a half low could be plenty to cause problems on turns or in high speed operation if the drains back to the pan are starting to clog up. I would imagine that whatever is tapping was damaged by a lack of oil during the low oil pressure event and will now need to be repaired / replaced. When the oil light comes on one should stop the car as soon as it is safe to do so and not run the engine again until the problem has been diagnosed and resolved. A tow truck is much cheaper than a new engine.

Steve B.

Reply to
Steve B.

Do an oil and filter change and if you are lucky the tapping noise will go away. If not, then you ran it too low and have shortened your engines life.

Saturn engines are known to burn oil and it is critically important to keep it checked and filled. By the way, at 1.5 quarts low assuming a 4 quart fill, you were down nearly 40%! If the sump is dry then you lose oil pressure and no lubrication gets to the valves so nasty things happen (and you hear valves tapping).

Bob

Reply to
Bob Shuman

Luckily changing the oil DID cause the tapping to go away.

Bob Shuman wrote:

Reply to
njot

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