Well I have put in two sending units in, last one was ac delco and same result. Mechanic manually tested it for oil pressure and it came in at 6 psi which is spec, but why does my check gage come on at idle when engine is warm, basically saying I have no oil pressure. He says not to worry, car runs great and sounds great WTF! I'm going to change the oil see what that does. I talked to a mechanic at a high performance shop which specifically deal with camaro's and he's mythed. I got 35000km, no codes come up! Any thoughts?
keep ya posted!

 

Maybe you have luck like me and you just kept getting a bad sending unit. Ditch the sending unit and run a mechanical gauge if all else fails and your into a project and spending some bucks.

 

6 PSI ?? Mine holds 30 PSI at idle... Are you sure he said 6 PSI was Spec ??
The general rule is 10 PSI per 1000 rpm, but 6 sounds really low to me

-Shannon

 

6 psi may be spec (warm curb idle psi), but that is much lower than you want to run, you should have at least10-12 psi at idle(warm), those lights usually come on at around 8-10 psi

 

3-5 psi is when the lamp comes on. Pressure should never be below 4. 6 is actually within spec for hot idle, though I would be putting a new pump in, if it were my car.

 

According to the helms manual the minimum pressure at operating temperature should be no less than:

6 psi at 1,000 RPM
18 psi at 2,000 RPM
24 psi at 4,000 RPM

Doesn't quite match up to the 10 psi per 1000 rpm's but does give you the minimum through a range of rpms

I tested my engine with a mechanical gauge a few weeks ago, pressures came out to be double the values shown above. Figure I still have some life in her before the rebuild hopefully this winter.

 

I have a question for shoebox. You recommend replacing the oil pump, how certain would you be and will I damage the engine if iI keep driving it like that. why would it be going already with 35000km on the engine and is there a code or something which would display. Thanks for the info.

 

What does it do when the rpms go up? What pressures do you see, then? Still, for peace of mind, you might consider replacing the pump. You won't get any codes for the low pressure.

 

wow! your quick. Gauge goes up to usually just over a quarter, which I guess would be 20 psi if 40 psi is middle right. I don't have a problem replacing the oil pump if thats what it is but why would it start to go with low, low milage. When I mentioned it to a technician at the GM dealer he said he couldn't see it being the oil pump, maybe electrical if not then start ripping it apart which I just can't see happening cause there are absolutly no signs at all of engine failure unless it's something that happens slowly over time. A friend said to try using 15-50 or 20-50 oil. Thanks shoebox for your thoughts.

 

Since you had it verified with a mechanical gauge (I think that's what you said), I would at least try a new pump. The other thing that could be causing it is excess bearing clearances in your engine, for which I would not have a good explanation on a fairly stock machine. If you want your engine to last many miles, you need more oil pressure.

 

Hey shoebox, I went to a chev dealer by my work and I talked to a shop foreman and the first thing he said was main bearing clearances. He listened to it and figured it would be that but could not explain why execpt when I mentioned the famous intake oil leak had been done on it at 3000KM he said they had a lot of problems with cars coming back when they used scoth brite or roloc pads and the engines were going a month later. Gm later apparently figured that these pads were the culprit. The foreman told me to call GM and complain to see if they would do anything about it. What do you think about all this noise? I'm going to have them pull the pan out and have a look at it on monday. Still seems funny that it's the main bearings though. This is driving me nuts. How much money am I gonna keep having to dump in this car?

 

sounds like you need a new crank kit. Im guessing around 4-500 stock. Yall had me worried than not than worried again. Mine gets about 8 psi at hot idle but 46ish at 3k