The things that can destroy a good motor New or Old!.

External high pressure oil hoses are a big no-no. A mate totally stuffed his 6.2L Chev V8 diesel when he blew an external oil hose.
He didn't know anything was wrong until the oil light came on, and by the time he pulled to a stop, she was all over, red rover.

If you shut down as soon as the oil pressure light came on, the engine would be OK but you would have to react immediately.

A person I know used to drive their car until the oil pressure light came on and then top up with oil - they thought the oil pressure light was the oil level light. Engine survived OK.

The engine that currently resides under the bonnet of my venerable old Cruiser came out of an 80 series factory turbo. It has a level sensor in the side of the sump. I believe Toyota brought that feature out in around 1993.

(;=}}

Cheers
Pop

It does not matter what guage or light anybody comes up with...this is no substitute for regular underbonnet and underbody checks.

Modern vehicles beeing so damn reliable, daily checks are pretty well a thing of the past in the mind of most.....in fact there would be a very large persentage of vehicles that dont get oil and water level or tyre pressures checked between services.

In the world of the general public, daily pre-start checks are pretty well unknown....but in most regulated work places particularly heavy equipment environments daily pre-starts most certainly are the norm.

There is a lot to be said for the old habbit of looking under the vehicle everytime you get in and out....Is'nt that what saved you bacon, Axle.


I don't think oil lights that cut the engine are a good idea on vehicles.......oil surge particularly at low level is very much a reality in motor vehicles.
The last thing we need is an engine cutting out at an in-opportune time.

As for oil level sensors.....yeh I don't know how well that would work.....considering after start up a fair portion of the oil will be elsewhere than in the sump, and oil does slosh arround in the sump quite a bit in a motor vehicle.


BTW......remember to check the oil hoses leading to and from both the turbo and the alternator in diesel vehicles.

cheers

I seem to recall the diesel MQ Patrol we bought in 1987 had a low oil cut-out switch.
As I recall it caused mischief one time when my Bro and I were up at Fraser. The switch wasn't very well covered and salty sand plus squashed up jelly fish caused it to short out on a couple of occasions with the result the engine abruptly stopped on a number of somewhat less than propitious occasions.

Axle, I have to say it......you are in an older Land Rover and you spotted oil dripping everywhere from it.....I'm not sure why the alarm bells would be ringing? :-)

The Toyota Land Cruiser had a cut out switch in the sump operating through a timer to solve the surge problem when operating through extreme angles.
Saved an engine ounce when I did a service and left the vehicle without oil and the key in the ignition. Went for smoko and the vehicle was started without oil. Learnt a few lessons, never leave the keys in the ignition and always replace the oil before leaving the service even if you are going to be late for smoko.

Mal
PS the oil was replaced and no damage to the engine, just my pride.

Axle,

what sort of Landie?

My D2 popped an ATF connector at the front radiator and that sent ATF spewing on to the red dirt.

Needless to say, progress from there onwards was retarded.

They must use dodgy hydraulic connectors at Solihull.

Bob