Driving over 700 miles in 20 hrs yesterday (Las Vegas to Payson, AZ, and back) when, on the way back with about 450 miles in and on the highway at 90, I heard a beep. Looked down, and no idiot lights were on. Then I noticed that in the odometer (possibly trip odometer) window the numbers were gone, an oil can graphic was present, and next to it, it said "Hi" (not "high"). Stopped the car and while idling the graphic went away. I imagine that it meant that the oil pressure read too high momentarily, but could find nothing in the manual to even acknowledge that such a message was possible. What was this? Is it anything to worry about? What would cause this other than my guess? Thanks for any help.

 

Oil LEVEL too high.

 

Oil level too high is my guess. Engine oil, like trans fluid will expand when it gets hot. You may be just a tad over full when the engine is cool. Check the engine oil color closely. Be sure it does NOT have a chocolate milk look to it. If it does, check your coolant level also. A bad head gasket or cracked head could cause coolant to leak into the crankcase causing the oil level to rise over time.

James

 

and that would not be good !

 

A long and hard drive with too much oil added at your last oil change is my guess. It is a warning your level is high for sure. So, I assume it went back to normal after you slowed and let the engine cool a bit. This car is full of sensors...

 

Definitely means oil capacity is "HI"
We don't have an oil pressure display on our odometer display

 

Thanks for the answers. That was the culprit. Is this anywhere in the owner's manual? What other unknown messages might appear? Incidentally, all work is dealer service with the last oil change about 2k ago, so the heating up might have been part of this. But I thought one of the attributes of our 0-0 synthetic oil was a lack of any effect on volume by heat.

 

THis is the reason I only put in 8 quarts, not 8 1/2... I was getting this alarm all the time when running down a steep onramp with a hot engine.

 

Using this site :
Thermal Expansion - Volumetric or Cubic

I calculate that 256 fl oz of oil ( 8 qts ) at 80F will expand to 278 fl oz at 185 F
That's 22 fl oz, about a pint an a half .......

HOWEVER!
Don't forget that when you measure the oil at 80 F, it's probably already all drained back down into the crankcase, and when the oil is at 185 F with the engine running, some of it is in circulation, so the oil level sensor does not see this quantity.
Basically, a crap-shoot. ( keep the level at 8 - 8.5 quarts and you should see no problems )

 

There is another message that you do not want to see, it's 'BI' and when that comes on the engine is just about to seize up.

'HI' and 'BI', very polite these engines.

 

BI should be BYE, been nice to know ya

 

No room or 'HI' would be 'HIGH YA BEEN".