High oil light comes on on highway

cjeftmt

New member
I recently bought a 2006 freightliner sprinter, on my first major highway drive the high oil light started flashing after about 10 minutes on the highway. I pulled off and it turned off within a few minutes and stayed off while I drive home on surface streets. I tried getting on the highway again with the same results. Has anyone had this problem? Should I be concerned about an oil pump failure or some other major issue or could there just be slightly to much oil?
 

Cheyenne

UK 2004 T1N 313CDi
Have you checked the oil level with the dipstick?

If you have a red handled dipstick it should be checked at full operating temperature and approx five minutes after switching the engine off.
If you have a yellow handled dipstick then it should be checked when cold, before starting.

Keith.
 

sailquik

Well-known member
Cheyenne has it right!
Check your oil level (and the oil for water or fuel contamination if it’s been a while since your last oil change)
with the dipstick!
You can buy an inexpensive oil extractor/pump to allow you to extract enough oil from your engine to bring
the level to a little below the full mark on your dipstick.
If you recently did an oil change you simply added too much oil when you refilled it.
My dealer did it once (when the OM-651 4 cylinder engine first came out in Sprinters) and I'm pretty sure
they won't make that mistake again. I pitched a major fit when I go the "HI" notification about 1/2 hour/35
miles after my first oil change.
The oil level cannot be higher (on your dipstick) than the “full” line or your engine management will notice
and give you the “HI” notification!
Hope this helps,
Roger
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Last edited:

220629

Well-known member
What they said +.

... Should I be concerned about an oil pump failure or some other major issue or could there just be slightly to much oil?
There is absolutely no OEM oil pressure monitoring on a NAS aka NAFTA Sprinter T1N 5 cylinder.

There is a monitor for low and high oil level in the sump. If your oil was recently changed then the high warning is not a panic situation.

The high warning can be critical in that an extremely high oil level can result in diesel runaway. Diesel runaway is not very common in Sprinters.

:cheers: vic
 

autostaretx

Erratic Member
More on the dipstick... if you have the (usual) red handle, and use it with cold oil during a fill, you'll put in 1/2 quart too much.
(when the oil is hot, it reads higher on the stick).

When i fill mine, i drain it, plug it, then put in 9 quarts. (i also change the filter during the "drain" time).

Then i drive around to bring the temperature up, and check the dipstick.

It usually (as it should) reads a half-quart low, which is what i add ... that's the rated 9.5 quart capacity.

--dick
p.s. if you KNOW you didn't overfill it, but now the stick reads "high", then you may be leaking fuel into the crankcase ... usually caused by a leaky injector. Jump on that quickly, since the fuel washing down the side of the cylinder removes the lubrication which leads to severe ring/cylinder wear.
 

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