My 96 Tacoma 4x4 is havng a weird problem. When I first start it in the morning, the oil ligh does not come on..nor does it come on until about 20 minutes int my commute..and then only at idle. If I give it some gas while idling, the light begins to flicker and then it goes off as the RPM's gradualy rise....any ideas?

 

could be a bad sending unit, or it could be your oil pump going, or your oil is too thin, or the oil filter.....

how long ago was it when you changed your oil last?

i would change your oil and put in a new sending unit, if it still does the same thing then hook up a mechanical gauge, if your oil pressure is getting to low then you need to find out why before you blow your engine.

 

How many miles on engine?
What brand and weight oil are you using?

 

The engine has been rebuilt..it had 200,000+ but I just changed the oil about two weeks ago..with 10/30 and a Fram ph3614.

 

If you didnt get any specs with it, they could of left the bearing clerance to much. It doesnt take much to cause low oil pressure once it gets warm.
Do you have a guage so you can see numbers ?

 

It just started....I am about to do the 02 front end swap so while I have the front end off I will replace both the pump and the sending unit..the oil pan is also leaking, so I guess I will drop the pan and clean the screen, replace the gasket while I'm in there.

 

What part of Georgia are you?

 

In mIlner...about 30 min south of AMS. Near Griffin/ Orchard Hill/Barnesville

 

Cool,Ive been around there before.

 

I ordered a new pump today.....maybe that will help it...the sending unit replacement sure didn't.

 

Junk the fram.

 

have people been having problems with frams?

 

I never have...all the way from my 82 2wd, my 91 4wd, my 95 2wd, and now my 96 4wd, all had the 4cyl, and used the same number filter..PH3614! No problems..but I guess it wouldn't hurt to swap out once in a while.

 

Why the hell does the online repair manual say to remove the cylinder head to change out oil pumps?

 

seems kinda odd, i would probably try it without doing that and see if you run into a problem where you need to remove it

 

STOP THROWING PARTS AT IT.

DO SOME TROUBLESHOOTING.


Get a mechanical oil pressure tester. Hook it up and see what PSI your actually getting, not just what the gauge tells you. Refer to the FSM as to what the pressures should be at idle and at RPM.

 

Really not answering my question here...why does it say to remove the head to change the oil pump?

--also hooking up a gauge AFTER repacing the switch(and light still comes on) won't tell me if its the pump or excess bearing clearance..so I might as well "throw" a pump at it....

 

wow, good info on that page

 

Fixed it!! Changed the pump, cleaned the screen, checked the high pressure relief valve operation, changed the oil pan gasket while I was in ther (duh) and fired it up, when it warmed up and the idle came down..it was pretty tense just waiting cuz I was gonna be pissed if the light came on, cuz then I just knew it was the bearings. But nope! NO LIGHT!! I now a gauge is better, but hey at least the thing is off!

 

thats good, i hope it stays out for you