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Drove my 1952 Packard 200 around today; medium heat; noticed the oil light came on at idle. Let the car sit for a few hours to cool, then drove again. No oil light. Didn't know if it was the beginning of a bad oil sending unit, sensor, etc. Only seems to come on after an extended drive. Any help would be appreciated!

An occasional flicker at idle is OK according to Packard but if it gets worse then several things could cause the issue. As you said the sender could be getting tired or could be the oil is thinning a bit more because of the heat or maybe something has contaminated the oil. With thinned oil any bearing clearance that is getting a bit at the higher end of spec could be allowing more seepage. Possibly a different oil or viscosity would help.

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If you need to replace the oil pressure warning light sender, there are two things to consider.

Generally, the units can be had with different pressure ratings. If you choose one with a low pressure rating, then you may not get some flickering of the light at idle with a warm engine. Which is what you are experiencing now.

If you choose one with a higher pressure rating, you may have the light come on all the time at idle. But, the higher pressure switch offers a benefit. It will come on sooner than the low pressure one which will give you more of a warning for low oil pressure.

We used to say that if the oil pressure light came on when driving the car at speed it was called "Your Engine Is Junk Light".

I would go with a high pressure rated switch and suffer the light coming on at idle.

(o{}o)

Thank you, Howard for the info. I'm changing the oil this weekend, so a grade change will be in order! I appreciate your response.