Never ignore the oil pressure warning light

Being a good driver is one thing but understanding how a car works and taking good care of it is quite another. It’s easy for kids with a new license to get by without any knowledge of how their (usually old and battered) car works. Mums and dads have enough experience to check oil levels, tyre pressure and the other essentials but it’s important for everyone who has a drivers license to appreciate what can go wrong with a car and recognise the warning signs before it does.

One sign that should be understood is a knocking noise coming from the engine. This can be caused by several things but among the most serious (and if it’s caught early enough) easiest to fix is a lack of oil pressure. You don’t have to have an oil pressure gauge to tell if this is occurring, in fact not may cars have oil gauges like this, but your car will definitely have an oil warning light that comes on and sounds a beep when the oil pressure has fallen too low. This is frequently caused by not having enough motor oil and can often be fixed by adding more motor oil to the oil pan. (Oil pans are the reservoir for motor oil and are topped up from the cap in the engine). This warning light should never be ignored.

If motor oil pressure falls then oil cannot lubricate the moving components of the engine. This means the wear each other out and not only damage themselves in the process (and these components are very hard to replace due to their function and location in the engine) but in extreme cases they can become welded together. This type of weld is known as a friction weld and occurs because of the heat and rapid rubbing causing the part to melt together.