Oil pressure light came on

[zukmeista]

Was out 4WDing last weekend, had a couple of goes at a steep rutted hillclimb (over 45 deg) and the oil pressure light came on. Backed down and turned it off to check oil level, it was full. When I started it up it turned off but came back again, went away if revved above 3000rpm. Kept driving it stopped at the end of the day to pump up tyres (about 15min) and when I started it up the light went off as it normally does and has not come on again. I was thinking maybe some gunge floating in the sump managed to find its way to the oil pickup? Due for oil+filter soon so thought maybe chuck some oil flush stuff in and pull sump off when changing oil to give it a clean inside, what do you guys think?

[slidenyo]

what style sump?
hitting something that's 45 degrees with nice hot oil in the sump will surely make the oil run away from the oil pickup.
you could look into a high volume sump or simply gating your sump may fix the problem.
revving the engine to clear the oil light may not be the best policy as you may have air locked your pickup and be starving your bearings.
My Pop always said if the red light comes on shut it down, pull the wire on the injector pump so the fuel cut solenoid won't open then crank it to see if oil pressure returns before re starting it.
Arguably an engine with low oil pressure will do less damage to itself cranking than running as there will be no combustion to slam the bearing surfaces together until oil pressure is regained

[oldblue]

Is it a Prado? These motors have an "oil level" sender unit in the sump, so the light comming on has nothing to do with oil pressure.

[slidenyo]

pretty sure its a Daihatsu running a 3L?

[zukmeista]

Sorry, Daihatsu 2.8 DL diesel. @ slidenyo yes I realise that there are likely to be oil starvation issues at those sorts of angles but surely the light would have gone out after a while? Hence why I am thinking blockage as the problem went away after stopping for a bit.

[slidenyo]

so its a 3L model yota diesel then,
yeah it could be a blockage or an airlock,
if theres crud in the bottom of the sump and you start agitating it it will just suck up to the oil pickup screen and cut the pumps intake of oil giving a low pressure.
if you air lock the pickup the same applys, just like trying to suck up the coke from a glass with the straw out of the coke you have to get enough vacuum going in the tube before it will grab the liquid,
giving it a rev to 3k probably achieved that.
We had a 3L in a 4x4 hiace van with nearly 500k on it,
I would do the routine maintenance stuff first, oil and filter,
if it repeats itself i'd drop the sump and insure the pickup screen is clear and the sealing oring/gasket from the pump to the pickup is intact as it could possibly suck air especially if the sump has been dented and disturbed the pickup in any way.
if all your ducks are in a row that should be it unless you wanted to gate the sump whilst it was off for good measure, as simple as 4 door hinges and a bit of tin folded into a square works well

[zukmeista]

Nah it's not a 3L, it's a DL, bit different, non-crossflow head. I might drop the sump anyway, it's a piece of piss to do there is heaps of room under there.

[slidenyo]

ah cool did the later ones get the 3L then?
yeah drop the sump an have a look for your prosperities sake,
it'd suck to have had an early warning then ignore it to just have to pay for or perform a rebuild later.

[zukmeista]

No they did not come out with the 3L motor, only the DL and the 3Y. The badge engineered Toyota Blizzard came with the 2L.