I went to start the car erlier and found that I had no oil pressure, so I pulled the valve cover and turned it over to see if there was any oil getting to the top of the motor...NOPE!!!

The motor suposidly only had 40,000 miles on it, and it was very clean looking when I got it, It was out of a 97 firebird... I guess Im gonna have to go see if maybe the pickup maybe just fell off, which I hope it is something that simple...

Probably not though, with my luck..

How can you tell if the pump is bad when I pull it and that its not the oil passageways clogged or something??

 

I thought it was pumped up to the lifter valley and then the pushrods brought it up to the lifters?

Check the pick-up.

 

How long has it gone w/o oil pressure? If it was more than a few minutes (heck even just 30 seconds) you could have also done more internal damage, even after you get the pressure problem fixed, provided it is the pump/pickup assy.

Stroker time hope you can afford it

 

Good news! I did a little more investigating and was told to give it a little more time to let the oil get flowing, because of the low volume pump.. so after about 40 seconds or so I reved it up a couple times, and its working just fine now.. started spitting oil through the pushrods. I think I need a new oil pressure switch though.. unless i forgot to plug it in..

 

no oil pressure and you "reved it up"? :-O

well... glad to hear it's working fine.


This is why I'm seriously considering an oil accumulator on my engine build-up. This kind of stuff just scares me.

 

You sure it not just a broken sending unit?

 

before i blew my engine up the oil pressure had been iffy

a little low when starting good during acceleration but it would drop to red and zero if i hit the brakes hard. i thought it was the new sensor i had put in but it was my pick up. it had fallen out of the pump and was just laying in the oil pan. i heard a clang when i turned the motor over on the engine stand and i thought it was a part of the piston i put a hole in but it was my pick up assembly. so if yours fell off you would still have some pressure just not a lot.

 

i would bet my lucky stars that its the sending unit.

 

I sending unit is broke...I took the valve covers of to see it was getting oil to the top (poured oil in the head just incase) and then started it and didnt see anything for a while then about 30 seconds in or so it started spitting out the pushrod..

 

Is there something wrong with my engine? My oil pressure when cold is around 60. When it starts to heat up it settles at 40. If I am accelerating it comes to 60 if not a little below. If I hit the brakes hard it will goto 0 and the check gauges light will come on. Someone told me that when I hit the brakes hard and it goes to 0 is normal for f-bodys. I am just wondering if the money I am saving for new heads should be money for a 383 stroker?