Chrysler Repair: Oil pressure light at Idle, pan gasket, oil increase

Question
Hi Rolland,

I have read many of your responses to problems where a Sebring shows a oil pressure light on at idle. I have a similar problem too. My Sebring 2001 LX has 106K on it. It runs perfectly. No noises or weird smell under the hood. But when it halts at lights and stop signs and when the RPM falls to around 550 or 500, the oil light turns on. Also note that this does not happen all the time. Only after car has run for some time and engine is fully warm. I showed it to the mechanic and he dint find any problems with oil level or anything else.It does have a minor pan gasket leak, but that hardly affects the oil level. I end up adding an additional 1 quart for every 2K miles or even more miles.

I have read many such queries with same problem. And you tell people not to be concerned unless this occurs at higher RPMs. I just wanted to know, is it safe enough to drive this car around or is this a sign of potential problems?

Thanks,

Karthik

Answer
Hi Karthik,
It is a common question so here is my 'common' answer:
This is fairly common with all makes/models. Your idle rpm is a little on the low side which means the pressure is going to be low enough to turn on the light after the engine warms the oil, which also lowers the pressure a bit. The actual minimim oil pressure is 5 psi so if you wanted to check this out you could have it measured with a gauge at a shop or buy a gauge and substitute it for the oil pressure light sensor located next to the oil filter.
But in my experience I would not be concerned for the moment, but rather the next time you change the oil increase the 'weight' by one step*, which increases the viscosity and thus will raise the pressure at idle so that the light will usually not come on anymore. Another approach would be to buy a new sensor for the light and replace the present one which may be off-value, but it may perform exactly identically with the present sender unit.
Either of those approaches don't have any labor charges if you do it yourself.
The only time you really have to be concerned is if the light comes 'on' when you are driving and the rpm is higher than about 1,000 rpm as that could mean there is insufficient oil reaching all the moving parts.
Roland
*If you have been using 5W-20 try instead 10W-30 for example.