So I'm driving home like any other night. I enter the highway via the onramp and proceed to accelerate in 3rd gear. For whatever reason I decide to run it out a little bit more than normal, shifting into 4th at 4-5k rpm instead of the normal driving I usually do.

I look down a few seconds later and notice my oil light is on. I'm immediately concerned, but I don't hear any knocking or any symptoms. I pull the car over to check the oil level. Oil is full. I don't notice any leaks or anything out of the ordinary. I start it back up, the light goes away. I take off again, thinking it was just a fluke from accelerating harder than normal or something. A couple seconds later it comes on again. It goes on and off intermittently.

At this point I am thinking it's the switch that has gone bad since it's flickering occasionally. But then it goes on solid. I figure I will drive less than a mile ahead to reach the next exit so I can park the car on a safer spot. Before I get there the engine starts to lose power, a knocking starts to become noticeable, and I already know the engine is basically destroyed at this point.

So with a full pan of oil, no noticeable leaks in the bay, did the oil pump go bad and stop working? I've never heard of an oil pump failure on a daily driver. Is there anything I can check to figure out what exactly happened?

New engine here on Thursday. I can't say I am surprised. This engine was a re manufactured engine I bought 2 years ago. I put 80,000 miles on it, but it's had problems. Headgasket leaked after 10k. Rear main seal leaked after 40k. I don't trust the parts it was re manufactured with. Could a poor quality oil pump be to blame?

EDIT: I've read the oil pickup can become clogged with metal shavings from damage that occurs when the engine overheats. Previously it overheated very badly twice. The first time the upper radiator hose blew. Second time it was a headgasket issue. In both occasions I fixed the issues and compression on the engine was normal and that was many thousand miles ago. Could the "out of the ordinary" sprinted driving finally clog the screen, causing me to lose oil pressure?

 

Doubtful. I'd point towards your oil pump before I pointed at your pickup.

 

what motor is it? y8?

 

D16Y5

 

Oil light = Oil pump failure in my experience.

D16y8 / Y5 worst of the d-series cranks period. Pretty much I feel all OBD2 D-series cranks suck. The have less oil passages than the Z6, and y8/y7/y5 pumps flow less as well. To add insult to injury if your engine was rebuilt by any shop other than a shop of honda guys, chances are they reground the crank, and thats a no no!

 

The Z6 and A6 cranks are the only ones worth **** in the D series world.

 

A.) something blocking oil suction
B.) oil filter might be fudged
C.) oil pump got fucked, which is a rare thing to me

How many miles? Where is the oil on the dipstick? Are you boosting? Any mods?

 

Somebody probably rebuilt the engine using an "economy" oil pump.

 

why would you keep driving when you saw the oil light flickering then drive a mile with it on? never just assume it's the switch, it might have been but you might have been able to save the engine if you had gotten it towed, and get an oil pressure gauge

 

oil pumps go bad.

 

How often is that?

 

when the hatch is on the road it will have one of those high brightness warning lamps for oil pressure, the tiny one in the dash is too easy to overlook in bright weather

 

leds will do the trick.

 

I thought about using one of those red brake light bulbs and machining a nice housing for it, I can make one just as nice as the high dollar warning lamp housings, having the integrated control unit and it's oil pressure flasher, it's also possible to add an audio warning

 

The problem isn't the brightness of the bulb, it's the sensor behind it, which isn't really a sensor - it's a switch. Either you have pressure, or you don't. An aftermarket, proper pressure sensor with a gauge would solve the problem.

 

I went with a 20 psi warning light switch, ditched the 4 psi one, and I have a good gauge, light is in case you happen to overlook a drop on the gauge,