Oil light intermitent on cold days
 

When I started my 2005 Chrysler Town and Country the other day, the oil light came on, stayed on and chimed to alert me it was on. I turned the car off and promptly check the oil level, which was fine. I restarted the car and everything is running fine and the light went out. I have noticed this would happen if the car has been sitting outside in cold weather for 6-8 hours, but it does not always happen. When it does, if I turn the car off and back on, does not come back on.

I have noticed two things. On days when everything is going to work fine upon start (or the car is warm) up, the oil light flashes briefly like it normally would on the diagnostics, and then go out.

Anytime the oil light is going to give me problems, the oil light comes on and stays on during the system diagnostics, and then alerts me it still is on. When that happens, all I have to do is turn off the car and back on.

My question is do I have an electrical issue or an issue with the oil pump and related components?

My car has only 80,000 miles on it.

Could just be the oil thickening up due to the cold?

check the oil pressure switch see if its leaking

When this first started happening, it was below freezing (30F).

There are no visible leaks that I can see. How would I go about checking the oil pressure switch?

look at it with a flash light see if its leaking oil

Same Problem
 

I have a 05 TC and I have noticed it doing the same thing to me. The oil light will come on usually the first time I start it up in the morning, and as soon as you shut it down and restart it, the light will be off. The only time it comes on is if the car has been sitting for 8+ hours or so. The oil level is fine and I have no leaks.

I have a '04 T&C, runs great, occasionally, when I come to a stop or slow to low rpm, the oil light comes on. If I rev the engine, maintain rpm above 1200-15--, the light goes off & stays off, till the rpms drop below 1000 or so.
While driving the light goes out.
Maybe the oil pressure sensor?

Mine also seems to be a bit slow to go out when it's very cold - have to blip the throttle once to get it to go out, whereas when it's warmer weather, it goes out as soon as it starts. Possible warmer weather next week, so I'll see if it stops doing it then.

The issue finally went away. The only thing I can think of that I had done was replace the battery, which was very weak at the time. So maybe it was in issue with the battery not producing the correct voltage or something like that since it happens more on cold does. None the less, problem has gone away with out any major issues.

Mine is behaving exactly the same way...
 

Did you ever find a real fix, or did the problem just go away forever?

The problem went away, but then eventually came back when the weather turned cold again in December. My mechanic diagnosed and replaced the Oil pressure sending unit which seems to have resolved the issue.

Did you replace the battery AND the weather warmed up? This problem just arose yesterday for me. On and off again with a restart, but my battery is also running low.

New sender seems to have fixed mine as well. Pain to change, you need a special socket.

At first it seemed appeared to have gone away when I replaced the battery in the Winter of 2011. The problem resurfaced again in December of 2011. At that point I did have the oil pressure sending unit replaced by my mechanic and have not had any problems since. The down side is that it has been a very warm winter here in the midwest. Otherwise it seems to be fixed at the moment.

2005 T&C with Oil Light staying on IN FL (NOT cold)
 

I also am starting to have trouble with my oil light and I live in FL, so it is definitely not a cold weather issue. But this did start after I had the battery replaced last week at a Sam's Club. At first it was intermittent, it would come on the first start of the day, but might go off after a stop and restart. Also this car does not get a lot of use. So then today it just came on and stayed on after several restarts and -- worse yet -- after an oil change at the Chrysler dealer!!


You would think that the dealer would have noticed any major problems while doing the oil change and their 20? point check but I'm wondering if I should be driving this car and it's about a 35 mile trip back to the dealer? I haven't noticed any strange noises -- the oil light is just ON! I would appreciate any help or advice as to what could be causing this problem and whether the car is safe to drive.