1990 Acura Legend Low Oil Pressure

KIMBOV

MEMBER
1990 ACURA LEGEND
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
83,000 MILES

I just got this car from someone that passed away and I have little background on maintenance of the car. The man that owned it had it sitting for many months.
I drove it about 50 miles to my local car repair shop and they found that the oil was overfilled by almost 3 qts. The oil was changed and car serviced without any major problems detected. The oil light did not light up during my drive to the shop but now after the service it comes on intermittently. The sensor was changed out but it is still doing the same thing.
My concern is that when it was overfilled the pressure was ok but now the pressure is too low at proper level, and this may indicate a serious problem. The engine seems to be running well, no noise or knocking etc, but I don't want to drive it until I know for sure what it is. I can't afford a rebuild.
Any ideas of what it may be? Does it sound serious?

1 Reply

MMPRINCE4000

MECHANIC
8,549 POSTS

Have the oil pressure checked with a mechanical gauge.
Run a compression test on the cylinders. It is possible the oil pump is bad, If it still reads low from the mechanical test, the engine may need to be disassembled to check bearing clearence, or the pump itself is bad, they can check the clearence on the pump also.