You drove it with the oil light on??? That light means stop the engine right now. After one minute serious internal damage has likely been done. It is possible to have nothing more than a sending unit problem but you also noticed an abnormal noise or vibration. First of all, check the oil level. If it's real low you must determine where it suddenly leaked out. If it's full, some potential causes include a broken oil pump, (rare), or some other internal problem, most commonly a "spun" crankshaft or connecting rod bearing. If that is the case, oil was still circulating to protect other engine parts but because of the massive internal leak it couldn't build enough pressure to turn the warning light off. You would determine that by measuring the actual pressure with a mechanical oil pressure gauge.

Answered by caradiodoc (expert)
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