Mandatory oil pressure light?

It's my opinion that we should all be mandated to have an low oil pressure light to alert us to potential problems, which would help avoid oiling the track, and help save our motors.

Recently, a racer lost an oil line and flew off the course. He had been troubled with a coolant issue earlier, and presumed it was a coolant related problem. He drove the car back to the paddock, which wasn't in this case an issue as the day was over. Another time, I was behind a guy who lost an oil line and drove from Lime Rocks Big Bend to the uphill (half the track) before figuring that the smoke in his cockpit was him! The result was a 2 lap qualifying session for our the big October NASCAR support race, as the clean up took all of our alloted time..

Stories of blown/loose oil lines/coolers are legendary. Everybody knows of one!

What are some opinions on whether this would be a good rule or not. What are some pitfalls I may be missing?

Should it be in effect only for cars that run any kind of external line leading to a cooler or other oil system?

If it is a good idea, how should it be written?

Bad idea? Why?

Thanks for the input.

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Jake Gulick
CarriageHouse Motorsports
ITA 57 RX-7
New England Region
[email protected]

Mandated or not, we run them on our cars, primarily because we'd rather shut down than oil the track and ruin the motor.

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Doug "Lefty" Franklin
NutDriver Racing

An oil pressure warning light makes perfect sense, but it may not prevent the problems mentioned. Depending upon where the sensor is mounted, it may not light until all the oil has already left the engine. In which case, we could call it the "hey, you just oiled down the last 1/2 mile of racetrack" light.

For a purpose like this, an oil level indicator might be more effective. It could be set to warn you if the oil level drops below a predetermined level.

Jim

You're right about the oil already being gone. The light is just another backup in the system. The oil pressure gauge is a better guide, but might not get noticed in the heat of the moment. We try really hard to keep an eye on all of the gauges, but humans are, well, human. :-)

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Doug "Lefty" Franklin
NutDriver Racing

Or we could use diapers like the IRL yuck ...they make depends in extra large dont they? har har! http://Forum.ImprovedTouring.com/it/biggrin.gif

I'm having a hard time coming up with possible unintended consequences but wonder why it's really an issue: All of our cars came with an oil light from the factory...

Kirk

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Endure 13 hours at VIR with PhilsTireService.com Team GTI - Tuned with Cobalt Friction brake pads, KONI racing struts, and quality OE Volkswagen and racing parts from Bildon Motorsport


TOYO and HOOSIER Racing Tires available at Phil's Tire Service

Right On, K!!!

Reading down the thread, I couldn't quite figure out what the controversy was. Also, for drivers who do not pay attention to the mechanics of their car during a session, what would you propose? They are not going to look at their gauges!

Cheers.

I am fully in favor of oil warning lights. Sometimes though, our best intentions aren't enough. Last weekend, between turn 1 and 2 on the pace lap at IRP, the rod came out through the side of my engine block. The car filled with smoke and the oil left the engine so quickly that everything was over long before my VERY bright oil light (set to go on at 30 psi) ever illuminated. Fortunately I was on the inside of the track and dove straight onto the grass, but still managed to lay down enough oil that the first three laps of the race were run under caution as the corner crew cleaned up my mess and the rest of the drivers in the field cursed me. I still don't know why the bottom end came apart (at 3500 rpm), but the car was in good shape and running fine in the previous sessions. Sometimes stuff happens and there just isn't much you can do about it...

Kevin
85 VW GTi

I see this as useless. If oil leaks out of your engine, generally the driver will know right away, especially if it is leaking in any quantity.

And for the drivers that don't notice? They won't notice the light either.

Alan

oil warning light = closing the barn door after the cows are already out

at least with respect to trying to prevent oiling down the track and the associated lost session time.

They're definitely worth it if you're concerned about saving the internals of your engine should a low pressure situation occur, but worthless when it comes to preventing said oil from being spread around the track during the lapse in time from when the failure occurs to when the driver notices the light, realizes the situation, and shuts down. By then, the cows are out of the barn.

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Richard Floyd
'86 Acura Integra LS #90
SCCA ITA / NASA ECHC H5

What to do about people that don't pay attention to their panel?

Many short tracks mandate (for safety purposes) that the fuel pump be wired through an oil pressure sensor: Lack of oil pressure cuts the fuel pump. Maybe there are things in our rules preventing us from doing this...

Maybe some of the ECUs already have this feature?



[This message has been edited by Quickshoe (edited May 11, 2004).]

My car does have the feature in the ECU to cut the fuel when there is no oil pressure. However, I have still managed to oil the track with catastrophic engine oil (or lack of) failures.