96 SC2 oil pressure problem

A friend has a 96 SC2 with 168,000 miles on it. Up to this point, the
car has had very few problems. She has owned it since new and kept up
with oil/filter changes.

However, 2 days ago, the oil light came on. Nothing really seemed to
be wrong so she kept driving. Now, it is making a tapping sound from
the top of the engine (most likely a valve lifter).

The oil was maybe a quart and a half low the other day, but it's been
filled up now. The oil light is no longer on, but the tapping hasn't
gone away.

My question is- since the engine didn't seem to run out of oil, that
doesn't seem to be the cause here. What are common causes of low oil
pressure on Saturns? I read somewhere a while ago that somehow the
timing chain is related here and if something goes wrong with it, then
it can cause low oil pressure. Can anyone with some knowledge shed
some light on this?

Thanks.

 

This doesn't make sense. First you said nothing appeared to be wrong
then you said that it was a quart and a half low. Both scenarios can
not be true.

The engine does not need to run out of oil to loose oil pressure. A
quart and a half low could be plenty to cause problems on turns or in
high speed operation if the drains back to the pan are starting to
clog up. I would imagine that whatever is tapping was damaged by a
lack of oil during the low oil pressure event and will now need to be
repaired / replaced. When the oil light comes on one should stop the
car as soon as it is safe to do so and not run the engine again until
the problem has been diagnosed and resolved. A tow truck is much
cheaper than a new engine.

Steve B.

 

Do an oil and filter change and if you are lucky the tapping noise will go
away. If not, then you ran it too low and have shortened your engines life.

Saturn engines are known to burn oil and it is critically important to keep
it checked and filled. By the way, at 1.5 quarts low assuming a 4 quart
fill, you were down nearly 40%! If the sump is dry then you lose oil
pressure and no lubrication gets to the valves so nasty things happen (and
you hear valves tapping).

Bob

 

Luckily changing the oil DID cause the tapping to go away.