I recently had the low oil pressure warning light come on in my car. After letting the engine cool down, the warning was gone and I was able to drive home (which was just a few km) with no issues. I took the car to a repair shop, who were unable to find anything. They suspected there was an issue with the oil pressure sensor and changed it.
I have encountered low oil pressure warnings three times before: first time was before I started driving, with my dad at the wheel (1988 VW Passat). The oil pump had gone bad, and by the time my dad managed to pull over and turn off the engine (he tried to start it once more after that), it had suffered serious damage and needed extensive repair. The second time I was driving that same car, and it turned out to be a false alarm due to a bad connection. The third time I was in my own car (2005 Audi A4, not the same car but same model and engine which I have now); here the repair shop found out the oil pump was clogged with muck that had accumulated over some 170,000 km and needed replacement.
Now I am wondering if OBD-II provides me with a way to find out more – for example, if the oil pressure is just occasionally below the limit or if it is significantly below the limit, how it changes with engine load etc. So the question is: does OBD-II have any way to report/monitor engine oil pressure (provided the vehicle supplies that data)?
