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Recently I have noticed that when starting my 1997 Honda Accord in the morning (so that it has not been driven in at least 8 hours), the oil light will blink an extra time, as shown in this video. If I start my car within a few hours of the last time it was driven, then the oil light will act normally, as shown in this video.

I checked the oil using the dipstick, and the oil level was fine. That seemed to cure the problem temporarily, as over the next 3 days, the oil light never had an extra blink on cold starts. But then it went back to having an extra blink.

What could be causing this extra blink on cold starts?

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The problem is, there isn't a problem. The engine is getting a little older (at 158k miles, I'll assume), which means clearances have opened up a little bit and oil will run off the parts. There's still an oil film there, though, which will protect bearing surfaces during start up.

Realistically, the oil pressure comes right up and stays up within a second of engine start. I wouldn't worry about this at all. This is good oil pressure. As long as the light doesn't come on while it's running, everything should be just peachy. Yes, it's a little different behavior, but really nothing to worry about.

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  • About 5 months ago, my oil light started flashing and I continued driving for about 6 minutes before stopping and seeing no oil on the dipstick. I added some oil and never had any problems after that. Could this new behavior be a consequence of that incident?
    – pacoverflow
    Sep 11, 2019 at 14:58

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