I pulled my stock motor out of my 95 formula and put it in my friends 96 impala. I swapped oil pans and TC covers of course. So I got the motor in the impala tonight and I turned it over with no coil wire for about 10-15 seconds then I plugged the coil wire in and started it. The impala doesn't have a pressure gauge, just a stupid light. After running the motor for 10-15 seconds, the light didn't go off so I shut it down, waited for a while, unplugged the coil wire and cranked it for about 20 seconds again and then started the motor again and the light still didn't go off.

I doubled checked to make sure I hooked up the wire to the pressure gauge and I did. Then I pulled the valve cover off and cranked it with no coil wire and didn't see any oil coming from anywhere. Will the starter push enough pressure to see oil from the pushrods?

This car does have an oil cooler, so that probably has to fill back up before I'll get oil pressure...could that be the problem? Where should I go from here?

edit...I just remembered that I broke the oil level sensor, so there's a good chance thats why that oil can light is coming on. If I would've realized there was no oil pressure gauge in the car, I would've bought a new oil level sensor.

-Sean

 

Depends on whether the Impala has a separate light for oil pressure and level. You can hook a meter to the oil pressure sensor and read resistance to ground to see if you are getting any oil pressure. Pressure could also be checked with a mechanical gauge.

Or perhaps you did not plug the pressure sensor in.

 

There's not a separate low-oil light, so it must be tied into the same light.

As far as using a meter on the OPS, what voltage do I need to look for from what wire?

-Sean

 

I would try and hook up a mechanical guage to the car to make sure that you are getting oil pressure. You should see some oil at the top of the pushrods coming out but it may take a while to get the oil up there.

 

Problem solved...

hooked up a mechanical gauge and presto we got 50 lbs.

thanks for the help.

 

You don't look for voltage. You read resistance to ground from the pin on the sensor that the gauge wire goes to.

 

Actually, the reason my oil pressure light was on was because the OPS is different on the cars that just have a light...even though they look the same with the same plug.