Ariel.Club Forum

Hello all
New owner of a 2018 Nomad Tactical in the US.
Absolute riot of a car to own, and threatens to get more miles than my Aston…
Bit of a concern about the low oil pressure light coming on during long sweeping left turns. I contacted the US rep I purchased from and he assured me that it wasn’t unusual. However, I took it out on a cold night for a doughnut run recently (4C) and the light came on more frequently and under normal driving. I again checked the oil level and it was spot on.
The dealer I bought it from performed an oil change before delivery, but put in a heavier oil (5-40 I think) as it was in Phoenix AZ.
Oil viscosity issue or somewhat normal?
Very disconcerting to see that while driving!
I’m planning an oil and filter change this weekend before driving further.
Thanks in advance and let me know if any manuals are available for download as well..
Nolan

Oil surging in the sump away from the oil pickup on left hand corners with moderate G has always been a bit of an issue, especially if the Baffled Sump option wasn't ticked at build time. - worth asking TMI to confirm if yours has it?

The best advice is to fill the oil at least to the maximum level on the dipstick and preferably slightly over.

Having said that, I haven't heard much about the oil pressure light coming on under normal road driving (donuts not being normal of course!).

You may have a point about the oil viscosity. Tom Siebert was Ariel UK's General Manager at the time (User TomS below) and posted that he had experience where oil viscosity and being fully synthetic caused oil pressure anomalies and thoroughly recommended sticking to Magnatec 10W-40.

Interesting historical post you found there John.

Thanks Nick - there’s so much rich information collected on the forum over the years.

It’s a pity that the forum software has a pretty crude and basic search facility.

Thank you!
That helps.
I do have a pdf manual put out by TMI for the Atom 3s. It’s recommending Mobil 1 0-20 for this engine..
I’ll try your suggestion and see if that cures it.
Thanks again!

I thought the oil warning light wouldn't normally illuminate until pressure was well below 1bar - probably more like 0.5bar? And if that's the case with your car then I'm afraid I'd be pretty concerned for the health of my engine. What the lowest kind of rpm that the light has come on at? If idle rpm only then perhaps not such a problem and a change of oil viscosity might help, but otherwise I suspect not.

Even stranger update on this one….
I’ve noticed a correlation with the fuel level..20 ltrs or less in the tank and it’ll come on with oil press going from 1 to 0 on left accelerating turns… More often as the fuel depletes.

Well the ‘real’ oil pressure cannot be affected by the fuel quantity left in the tank !

It’s sounding like a false reading maybe caused by a poor ground/earth somewhere - as the fuel tank level sensor ( a variable resistor) varies it’s resistance as the fuel level decreases, it’s perhaps causing the spurious oil pressure reading.

It would be good if you could hook up an alternative oil pressure sensor and analog pressure gauge, if only temporary, to get a confident oil pressure reading.

For what it's worth, there is some evidence to suggest that oil pressure can drop, albeit briefly, on sharp left handers taken at speed ie as on track. At the very least I'd try overfilling the sump by at least 1/2ltre.