aldob

Oil pressure is 1-3 bar during operation and level is at max on dipstick. Dash oil level light comes on momentarily only when turning left and goes off when wheel is straightened. No light at all when turning right or during idle or acceleration. I'm curious. 1987 300TDT with 213K.

aldo b.

shdoug

Sounds like an instrument cluster relay problem. Here's an excerpt from the service manual. There must be a 60 second time delay.

loubapache

Oil level sensor is faulty.

It is on the left side of the oil pan. When you change oil next time, replace that sensor.

myfirstbenz

your right rear tire is out of balance

shdoug

According to my post above, which is directly from the service manual, the sensor is supposed to show low oil level when turning left. The circuitry in the instrument panel, a, is supposed to suppress the fault for 60 seconds. So unless he is making a left turn that lasts 60 seconds, there should be no light. The problem is in the circuitry, not the sensor.

loubapache

Your reasoning is right but 90% of the time it is the sensor, not the circuit. Here are the three probable causes (in decreasing order of frequency):

1) bad sensor. Easy to check. Pull off electric connector and measure the resistance of the sensor. Should be very small (0.1 Ohm).

2) The electric plug resistance is too high. Spray some contact cleaner on it. You can also check using an Ohm meter but that require the measument of a pin on the instrument cluster.

3) If the above are OK, then the cause could be the cluster and the 60 s circuit.

3) is expensive and also less frequent. 1) and 2) are pretty cheap and more frequent.

respite

Mine was a leaky injector diluting the oil. Changed the oil and it stopped doing it for a while. I eventually fixed the injector and have not had the problem.

Smell the dipstick just to be safe.