Looking for some advice from people who may have seen this before -- I apologize in advance -- this will be long-winded.

Just got my eh3 put back together for spring (had it torn apart to paint), but had a little issue two days ago.

Idling in a drive through after driving about 20-25 minutes, my oil light started to flicker, then came on solid. I couldn't hear anything abnormal (it always ticked, has been overdue for a valve lash adjustment for a long time), but I shut it down anyway. I restarted it and revved it slightly to see if the light would go off (I had just changed the oil ~1 month ago and hadn't noticed any leaks, but who knows, it could have been low). Revved it to 3K before I shut it off -- no change in the oil light. At this point, the valve tick started to get a bit louder.

I checked the level and it was indeed low (barely registering at the bottom of the dipstick, so I limped to the auto parts store a few blocks away and poured about 3/4 of a quart in). Checked again and now the level was high. Obviously the low reading was from oil that hadn't drained into the sump yet. Oh well, running 1/2 quart or so high isn't too horrible, so I fired it back up. Oil light remained on for 3 seconds or so, then went off. A little longer than the normal lamp test at startup, but not too much. Valvetrain quieted down a bit too.

So, I figured it must have been a fluke. Car acted fine all the way back home (about 30 min drive), but I stayed safe and kept it below 3K anyway. Just as I was pulling into my garage, the oil light came on again. I shut it down, vowing to come back out the next morning and figure out what was up.

So...

Fast forward to this morning: After doing a little research on H-T last night, I went out and purchased an oil pressure test kit and returned home (I didn't drive the Civic, of course . I was planning on doing a valve adjustment anyway, so I cracked the valve cover open and discovered the nastiest collection of sludge and flaky black deposits I had ever seen. I took pictures because I hadn't seen anything this bad before.





Yuck. Obviously the previous owner of this car didn't treat it too well. When I pulled the pan after I bought it there was a little bit of sludge in the bottom of the sump, but nothing that would lead me to believe it was this bad in the top end. Anyway, I cleaned it up pretty well and went ahead with the valve lash adjustment.

After I got it cleaned out and the valves adjusted, I put the cover back on, and pulled the oil pressure sensor to install the test gauge. Once the gauge was installed and the extra oil I put in the day before was drained, I fired it up. It fired up immediately and the pressure gauge showed 75 psi of oil pressure! I let it run for 20-30 seconds to see if the pressure would drop, but it stayed solid at 75 psi. I shut the engine off.

Thinking the filter might be clogged (not likely as it was less than 1 month old, but who knows?), I replaced it with a new oil filter. I also poured a bit of oil into the valve cover just to get some oil up there. Fired the engine back up, gauge went straight back to 75 psi. I shut it down after another 30 seconds or so because the gauge wasn't dropping. It peaked in the mid 80s when I revved it briefly.

So... now I have a dilemma. What could be going on? Before I plugged the gauge in I had suspected that the oil pump might be failing or the pickup screen was plugged, but I don't think that is the issue anymore since the pump obviously isn't having trouble creating pressure.

I am afraid there is some kind of blockage in the oil passages. I am not sure oil is even getting to the valvetrain, although it doesn't sound too bad (it's actually quite a bit quieter since the lash adjustment). When I open the oil cap while the engine is running there is quite a bit of air pressure rushing out, but I cannot see any oil spraying (albeit my field of vision is pretty small looking in the oil cap hole). Hoping to dissolve any blockage, I poured some Seafoam in the valve cover, waited a half a minute or so for it to hopefully drain into the sump, then ran the engine for another 20-30 seconds to hopefully force it through the system.

Any ideas? I haven't pulled the pan yet since I didn't want to waste all of the oil, but I think that is my next step tomorrow. The oil I drained today didn't look too bad. It was black, but not chunky or anything.

Can high pressure be a symptom of pump failure? I wouldn't think so, but I don't know for sure. The odd thing is, I've had this car for over a year and have put 15,000 miles on it and done 4 oil changes. I always use Mobil1 full synth 5W-30, in case it matters. I use the OEM oil filters (the crappy Fram/Honeywell ones), but I have never had an issue with a blocked oil filter and I've used probably 15-20 of the things on the 3 civics I've had.

Anyway, I'm stumped so I'm throwing this up here for suggestions. Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

 

that is some nasty sludge...

that high of oil pressure is normal when the engine is cold...mine usually hovered around 80psi until it warmed up, then it settled down to around 35ish at idle.

as to why the oil pressure light comes on, that sludge is obviously anywhere that the oil goes. so the oil pressure switch is probably gummed up pretty bad. it's the little blue plug that's right above the oil filter. if anything, take that off (i forget the wrench size needed...it's like a 21/22mm....i just used an adjustable wrench.) and clear it out the best you can and clean the tip of the sensor off. i would say replace it if possible (it has a little orifice...it's probably gummed in there pretty bad and it won't be easy to clear out). if you don't want to replace it, you can always buy an oil pressure gauge and use that instead.

 

Thanks.

Yeah, I pulled the oil pressure switch (it's a 24mm deep socket btw :D) and of course, the wire was so brittle that it broke off in my hand, so now I have to fix that if I want to put the switch back in.

So, I just might not have let it idle long enough? I will run it again today and see if I can get that pressure to drop.

I'll also clean that sensor, although I might just throw in a permanent oil pressure gauge instead. I have a huge hole where my stereo used to be that could get filled with something and I got addicted to having that oil pressure gauge right in the cluster on miatas.

 

Yeah, definitely let 'er run until at operating temps. Definitely a good idea to have an oil pressure guage!

 

wow your valvetrain looks really scarry..
I think your motor needs some TLC

your lost motion assembly looks to be VERY gunked up... and this might be where your ticking is coming from. those things need to be able to move.

as for the oil pressure 75-90 psi is normal on cold startup.

If you are worried, it might be worth while to remove, clean and re-install the oil pickup and oil pump.

 

Yeah, I cleaned the lost motion assemblies as best I could, then hand-lubed them with some Mobil 1 before I put the cover back on. They were moving pretty well considering the amount of gunk in them.

I think I will drop the pan this afternoon and clean the sump and screen just for peace of mind.

Now I feel kind of stupid for freaking out at that high pressure. Of course cold oil is going to be more viscous than warm oil.

 

lol revival... could anyone give anymore insight on this?? I replaced my oil pressure sensor and the low oil light still stays on for 2-3 seconds at initial start up in the morning... and today it even turned on twice for about a second each while driving..

 

^Measure the oil pressure. Is the oil level low?

 

 

ive got the same prob with my 91 f22a6 motor, recently my oil psi sending unit took a crap so i replaced that and then the very next day i had to replace an o-ring gasket between the block and the oil cooler because of a new leak and after driving it for a half hour my oil light came on, so i putted home and checked my oil level which was fine because i did an oil change when i redid the o-ring gasket, so i started it an ran over to look into the oil fill hole in the valve cover and there was oil there.the light still remained on. so i took out my oil psi sending unit and hooked up a guage and it read 80 psi during warm up at at 2000 rpm it hits 80 psi again. now i have a pan gasket leak. and my motor has also had a ticking sound from the valve train at around 2300 rpm to 2500 rpm, i dont really have time to drop the oil pan but i picked up a new gasket so i may just bite the bullet and see whats happening there. i dont really have money for a new pump or a new pickup screen seeing as how there almost 275 bucks together =/ i was also thinking of taking apart the oil pressure relief valve and seeing if its gumped up but i also belive in if it aint broke dont fix it so i dont really want to mess with that!