Oil light comes up when braking or stopping

Hello, I recently bought a 2002 2.7 prerunner with 250,000 miles. The first couple of days the truck drove good and smooth, but then the oil light started popping up when I came to stop or idled. The previous owner said it could be a oil sender switch, while a local mechanic shop said I might need a new motor. Does anyone know what this might be? I spent most of my money buying the truck so I’m scared of the idea of needing a new motor.

 

is it low on oil ? buy an 18 yr old vehicle with 250k miles and NOT expect to have to do some maintenance or repairs ??? pull the codes, if any...don't trust someone guessing it's nothing but a sensor, nor a garage that just says it needs a new motor. Last time i checked...motor runs off of electricity, engines run off of fuel....(typically gasoline) 2.7 is an engine, not a motor

 

light comes on stopping or idling? check the oil level. its probably not even on the stick.. then figure out why youre losing oil.


other possible cause is failing oil pump not putting out enough pressure while at idle. Have it looked at ASAP. if the motors saveable now, driving around with oil pressure issues will make it much more expensive to fix when it does completely fail

 

The oil is good and all, I use 10w-30 fully synthetic

 

Then I would have the oil pressure checked. Or replace the sender and see if it fixes it.

 

Definitely I’m going to have it checked out tomorrow by the previous owners mechanic so we can get it fixed. Will it be fine to drive about 55 miles on the freeway?

 

I would have put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on the first time the oil light came on.

Just for peace of mind !!

Your truck if it quits your repair bill

 

Engines get sludged up over time.
Degrese engine, pull valve cover to check how gunked up the oil drain journals are. Takes time for oil to move from top end to pan in clean engine.
Takes longer in sludged engine.
I had a 22R that gunked up at 289,000 mi. Hand cleaned what I could and flushed with Kerosene. Ran another 100,000 mi. W/O oil light coming on.
Crank seized at 399,891 mi.
Turns out Quaker State had high parrafin content.

 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/motor

 

I'm guessing Tesla engines are a thing now.
Maybe not
Who cares?

 

My motor blew out y’all

 

Sorry for your loss

 

Ya, purchasing an old vehicle with a quarter million miles on it is risky business. Sorry for your loss, maybe you can find a lower millage engine at a salvage yard. Good Luck

 

This helps a lot

 

Slow night in the 3rd gen forum?

 

Ok.

 

It’s a real pain in the ass to deal with but shit happens, gonna get up and running asap. I’ll post here again soon. Thank you guys for your help

 

Sounds like previous owner knew something was wrong with it. Drag city.
Good luck and keep us posted with what you are going to do.