2012 500c. My wife's car.

Last Sunday the oil pressure warning light came on and she parked the car immediately. A short while later she started the car and the light did not re-appear. A day later the light came on with the check engine light as well.
Again, she parked the car. The next morning she took it into the dealership. They had it for a few days and reported.

- oil pressure at idle 7-8 psi measured with an analog gauge.
- metallic popping sound coming from top of the engine.
- no odd sounds from the bottom end.
- oil level good.
- after discussion with Fiat Canada the mechanic could only offer a new Multi-Air system/whatever for $3500. and no assurance that the problem is fixed. They admitted that they don't have a clue.

One coincidental thing: The car had just been serviced with oil change the previous week.

Any experts in the crowd, or at least someone with some incite.
Thanks for reading and replying.

What oil did they out into you know?
These multiair engines can be sensitive to the wrong oil's

First guess clogged oil pick up pipe in sump or failing oil pump?
Sounds like it's been starved of oil if the top is knocking perhaps?

chris3234 said:

What oil did they out into you know?
These multiair engines can be sensitive to the wrong oil's

Click to expand...

I presume 5w-30. I asked the question and the mechanic figured the same. He did not do the oil change himself. Can you give me more information regarding sensitivity to the wrong oil?

Please understand, at present, this car is a write-off at 50K miles. We are hoping for some miraculous remedy because right now it can't be driven and the dealer can't guarantee any fix, even at $3500 for a new multiair system.

John202020 said:

First guess clogged oil pick up pipe in sump or failing oil pump?
Sounds like it's been starved of oil if the top is knocking perhaps?

Click to expand...

The mechanic doesn't agree and I asked him about idle pressure reading. 7-8 psi is ok, he says. I've read that 5 psi is a problem.

When you remove the oil cap, oil sprays aggressively. Doesn't appear to be a problem.

Might be worth looking at the “Alfa owner” forum, there are multiair problems threads on there, are there any fiat/Alfa Romeo specialist garages near you.

WetCoast said:

I presume 5w-30. I asked the question and the mechanic figured the same. He did not do the oil change himself. Can you give me more information regarding sensitivity to the wrong oil?

Please understand, at present, this car is a write-off at 50K miles. We are hoping for some miraculous remedy because right now it can't be driven and the dealer can't guarantee any fix, even at $3500 for a new multiair system.

Click to expand...

I assume it's the 1.4 multiair engine in the car?
If so it should really be 5w-40 oil
That being said it shouldn't cause any noise like you are describing
Allthrough some running issue's have been reported before

Officina red said:

Might be worth looking at the “Alfa owner” forum, there are multiair problems threads on there, are there any fiat/Alfa Romeo specialist garages near you.

Click to expand...

I'll look into Alfa shops. Fiat shops seem to be dealership only at this time.

chris3234 said:

I assume it's the 1.4 multiair engine in the car?
If so it should really be 5w-40 oil
That being said it shouldn't cause any noise like you are describing
Allthrough some running issue's have been reported before

Click to expand...

Yes, 1.4. I'll check on the oil change, to be certain of the oil spec.

I found one thread in a youtube comments section that talk about multiair oil filter and a technique to reset oil delivery. I plan to show that to the mechanic at the dealership for discussion. Interesting video and reading.

This forum won't let me post a URL yet, so if anyone is interested, I googled "multiair variable timing oil screen". The first video choice is the youtube video I'm referring to.

I sure hope I can figure this out. A very sad and expensive loss if we can't fix this 70K kilometre car. If it's toast, we'll be yelling at Chrysler/Fiat to compensate.

Re: Oil Pressure Warning Light On. SOLVED! MAKE NOTE.

Eureka! Success! We were SO close to paying $3500 for a new multiair system or trying to get a new engine from Chrysler. The dealer was even going to go to bat for us as they couldn't figure out why the oil light was on, the oil pressure low, or what the noise was coming from the top of the engine. 67k kilometers on the engine.

I found a vid on Youtube that had a comment listed from an owner named Julio Torres.

"I found a check-ball when you remove the oil filler cap. When you're car sits for awhile like about a month or two and then you try to start the engine and it sounds like you have lost compression then you remove the oil cap and you depress the check-ball with a long pick while a friend cranks the engine then you will see the trapped air escape and you will regain the oil charge pack into the brick."

Unbelievable! Thanks to Julio Torres we have our car back and didn't waste huge money for no reason.

A note to all modern fiat500 owners: if you have an oil pressure warning light, free up the check ball first. They do get stuck.