Oil light delay

Since I did an oil change on my 2012 Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dci the warning light ‘-=’ stays on for three seconds on cold starts and about two seconds if left for an hour. Any other time, such as being left for up to 15 minutes, it is immediate. I use genuine Nissan DPF 5W-30 ACAE C4 oil and a Halfords oil filter. Since I changed the oil, the car has had a service performed by an independent garage, which used Pro-plus oil of the same spec, but this made no difference.

I'm concerned because three seconds seems a long time – with my previous cars the oil light went out in one second on cold starts. Could there be a problem with the oil switch or worse, like worn bearings? Nigel Cope

You haven't stated the mileage of your Nissan, but three seconds is quite long and I would expect the light to extinguish earlier than that. Because this occurred since you changed the engine oil, I suspect the fault may lie within the metal canister oil filter. This could be draining down when the engine is standing, which would explain the delay before the oil pressure rises. This delay would be while the filter fills back up with oil. If this is the case, I would fit a new oil filter.

You don't mention if the sound of the engine is different before the light extinguishes but, if it is, this may confirm that the pressure is slow to build up. If there is no noticeable difference in the sound of the engine, the fault may be that the oil pressure switch is sticking.

If replacing the oil filter doesn't rectify the problem, I would get the oil pressure checked using an external gauge to confirm the situation. If the oil pressure is slow to build-up, the problem may be due to wear in the engine or oil pump.