newbie needs help with oil pressure problems
 

okay guys, new here. i own a 1996 lexus es300, bought it about 2 months ago knowing it needed work, but needed more than i thought. anyway, on my second day of driving it i noticed my red oil pressure light came on, going about 70 mph on the highway, and thought it needed oil (unaware at the time that wasnt my oil level light), but oil level was okay. so i continued to drive and the car shook a little bit and the engine cut off and the car slowly rolled to a silent stop. i read that when an engine seizes, itll make noise and bang or something but it was completely silent when it shut off. what i want to know is, does the 1996 es300 have a low oil pressure engine cut off? i did a ton of work on the car since (replaced fuel pump, fuel filter, all spark plugs, timing belt and water pump [which had gotten destroyed when the car shut off]. the engine turns and everything rotates as it should (i have a person with alot of automotive experience in the family). everything is timed perfectly, and it is getting spark and fuel. could this be a problem with the oil pump, sending unit, or some kind of a bad sensor? like i said im a newbie and the person i have working on the car never seen this happen before. so all i can think of is the car shut down, sensing bad or no oil pressure, and cut the engine off, possibly even keeping it from starting up. any help is GREATLY appreciated. id just wanna hear other peoples opinions before replacing more things that cost alot of money :P thank you for the help!!!

Have you checked for sludge? The 1MZ-FE engine is known for is susceptibility to sludge.

Actually the 1996 is NOT known for sludge. And no, it doesn't have a low oil preasure engine cut off.

I'm not clear on one thing. Are you saying the timing belt tore as a result of the engine shutting off? That can't be right. It must have torn causing the engine to shut off.

Well after it happened I had it towed away. Upon further investigation, after what happened, I discovered the timing belt was shredded and the water pump was broken. All the other work done was out of guessing why the car wouldn't start. When you try to start it, everything turns fine. It kicks a little bit like it wants to start up but it just won't. Something is keeping it from starting up, just can't put my finger on it. Timing belt was replaced with the water pump and is timed perfectly. We even did it twice to make sure.

What do you mean the water pump was broken? What was broken?

Who did your timing belt change?

My uncle has been doing the work for me, he has 20+ years automotive experience. And it was the pulley on the pump. Somehow it snapped off in all this. It has since been replaced. I bought the timing belt/water pump kit. I'm sure the timing belt badly needed to be replaced when I bought the car, probably why that happened to me. But what I don't understand is why would the vehicle silently shut off the way it did. I don't think It can be seized, as everything turns fine and it really wants to start up, but something is keeping it from doing so. When I try starting it, everything turns fine, and the engine kicks a little like it's about to fire up, but it just won't.

Can't your uncle, the one that did the timing belt for you, and that has 20+ years experience, have a look at the car and figure out what's wrong?

He's probably in the best position to do that.