kertong

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to pick your brains on this:

My oil pressure gauge, cold, sits at 19-22psi. This is with 10w30 synthetic on a motor with 120k miles.

Once the engine temps get around 200-220, the oil pressure at idle sits at about 12-15psi.

The engine continues to get hot but the temp gauge "sticks" at about 230, but doesn't go past it. But at that temp, the oil pressure drops at idle to about 10psi.

The funny thing is, once i tap the throttle (in neutral or what not), the oil pressure gauge goes right back up to 12-15psi where it should be.. Stays at a steady 19-22psi when I'm driving.

The weirdest part.. is that as I come to a stop, the oil pressure starts to drop. Once I'm completely stopped, the oil needle drops to about 5psi, then bottoms out at below 0psi. Tapping the gas shoots it up to about 15psi again, but then it'll drop to 5psi, then back to 0psi. Also, when I turn the engine to the "ACC" position (popping it out of IGN but keeping accessories on), the oil needle goes back up to 19-22psi.

Any ideas? Could a broken oil pickup pump cause this problem? Or could it be crossed temp/oil gauge wires? I'm confused and don't know where to start.

Would love any advice.

Thanks!

BUBBA

try going to a 10W-40 dino oil. Get a 160 stat and have your pcm programmed for the stat. Fans come on sooner, temp goes down, oil not as hot, thicker dino oil increases pressure in well-worn engine. Good to go. JMHO

kertong

Thanks, Bubba! I got a 160 stat but it still runs between 180-220 degrees I'll have to get my fans to come on sooner, and hopefully itll be a good enough bandaid for this problem, haha.

marshall93z

The problem with it dropping to zero sounds like your pick-up on the pump.

matLT1

Could be worn pump gears to. It may not be a bad idea to replace the oil pump rather than trying to bandaid it with higher grade oil.

bufmatmuslepants

my car does the exact same thing, except itll run in the dead center of the guage and idle about 3/4 the way to the center of the guage, but when i come to a hard braking stop, it will shoot to zero, check engine light comes on, and then a second later itll go back to about 3/4 the way to the center mark, or if i blip the throttle real quick. i just found the easiest way to avoid it going to zero is not to slam on the brakes so hard haha.

kertong

thanks for the advice, everyone. Sounds like I should replace the oil pump and pick up just to be safe.

Any high-volume oil pump anyone would like to recommend? (Melling?) How much does labor run for a oil pump / pickup job?

ShowStopper540

i run a melling in my 1968's small block 327 and it does fine, but its never ran more than an hour seeing as its still on an engine cradle, non the less me and my uncle installed a new HV Melling oil pump, Oil screen, and Hardened drive gear in his 94 LT1 and it does fine as well, his engine was on a stand when i got there so goodluck getting the pan off, after that, piece of cake

GT KILLER

I seem to have nearly the same thing in my car; been doing it since just about when I got it.........never goes down to 0 though....but the gage does fluctuate frequently and gets a bit low at times.

Bow94z

run the 10w-40 and replace the Oil pressure Sensor first, It's lke 22$ from Autozone i hear, im actually gonna go pick myself one up.. i got 141K on my odo

01Z

My hot oil pressure was low too until I changed the sensor on the back of the intake manifold. Shoebox has commented that these sensors can give incorrect readings when they get old and hot. I took his comment to heart and now have a totally hot idle pressure of about 27 lbs instead of the 10 - 12 lbs from before. The sensor is $20 and the special deep 1 1/16" socket tool for removal was $5. That was the best $25 and 25 minutes I have spent on the car....