dzltek

So I sold my DD this weekend and had to drive my camaro to work today. On the way in I noticed the check gages light came on, looked at oil pressure and it was taking a nap on the peg. I was in 6th gear doing approximately 40mph. So I shifted to 5th and it was ok. Didnt think a whole lot about it, then it did it again running about 55mph in 6th. Come to a stop sign or redlight and I have to take car out of gear, brake and hold the throttle to about 1800 rpms to have any oil pressure. Luckily I bought an s10 today to drive home. I tried to drive the camaro home because the s10 does not have a tag, or insurance. I made it about 4 miles and it had me worried, so I jumped on the interstate thinking the oil pressure would be good enough to get back to my shop and get in the s10 and risk it. Well that did not go as well as planned. In 6th gear running 70, 2k rpms and check gauge light comes on, so I put in 5th and had a little pressure. I did break out the cell phone and took some videos of city driving and interstated driving and put them on youtube and I will put a link up for yall to analyze.

Now, two weeks ago, I removed the intake, tightened up the oil sending unit because I think the previous owner installed a new one and didnt tighten it down well enough, and was a half turn from falling out!!!! I also put a different set of lifters in because I thought I might have one rattling, and that aint the problem, its still there. Maybe some trash is caught up in the pick up screen, best case scenario, or I've spun a rod bearing driving the car like it was meant to be!! lol

I will go ahead and apologize for the shaky camera, but I was driving, and it was pouring rain. KIDS, DONT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!

This first video is on the interstate:

[autostream]http://autostream.com/camaroz28/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=2662& transactionid=1339467225-761147713&posted_by=dzltek_www.camaroz28.com&youtu be_video_id=TH2Es87QNYc[/autostream]

This video is city driving. At the the 1:55 mark, the oil pressure bottoms out and im running 45-50ish in 4th gear I think, it may have been 5th. T 2:20ish, i slow down and come to a stop, pressure drops, I take off and let the RPMs gradually climb, I wasnt hard on the car, and the pressure never got around 20psi.

1995 Z28 city driving oil pressure - YouTube

So, can I take the pan off with engine in car to check my pick up tube and pull rod caps to check bearings? I guess the old saying is about to bite me in the butt, GOTTA PAY TO PLAY, AND ITS MY TURN TO PAY!!! Thanks for any and all of your help, suggestions, and comments.

RamAir95TA

Grab a mechanical pressure gauge to ensure that the OP the gauge is reading is your accurate oil pressure. Then I'd pull the intake manifold and inspect the drive stub. If you haven't found your problem at that point it's time to pull the pan and take a look.

Could be a few things - pick-up, pump, spun bearings, trashed drive stub, etc.

dzltek

What do you mean by drive stub?

RamAir95TA

The oil pump drive gear mechanism that sits at the back of the block under the intake manifold.

Courtesy of Rob:

jeremyhurt

Exactly this! The oil pump is a pain to get out and probably isn't the problem.

dzltek

Will the pan come out in the car, or should I just pull the engine out?

RamAir95TA

The pan can be removed with the engine in the car but it does require undoing the motor mounts and jacking up the engine. Can be a huge PITA but it is doable - probably not worth pulling the motor for.

dzltek

It don't matter now, I pulled the dip stick just now and it looks like a pretty metallic paint!! Oh well!! Time to search for some parts!!

Guest47904

Just get a short block. So many things will be damaged it will be cheaper to go that route. Trust me I just went through the same thing in my L31 that I wished I would have bought the engine for $1800 from Jegs.

This should be right up your alley

http://www.golenengineservice.com/en...ip-short-block

jeremyhurt

I think you have to drop the transmission or pull the motor. Some people say you dont have to, but I couldnt get my oil pan off any other way.

dzltek

That 383 would be right up my alley, but like anybody else, gotta save my mine!

ChevyLevy2012

Hi everybody, I am new to this forum, and I wanted to make my own thread but sadly I couldn't even figure out how to get it in the right forum... Anyways I've owned a total of 3 automobiles in my life, ( I'm 27 years old ) and two of them were both camaro's and technically the only reason why the third one wasn't was because I needed a truck also! Anyways neither of my cars are z28's! One of them My white 94, It was my first car I owned and I'm saving up money to just go all out with it in the medium term future.

My other one is teal, and its a 95 and my current everyday automobile. While using google, I noticed that after typing in my problem it seemed to always redirect me to camaro's for this issue...

Anyhow my car is doing this same thing as the thread I am emerging from here. My car is an automatic, and the movie seems a bit extreme for what I'm experiencing, however considering I don't go over like 25 - 30 mph with this issue. Basically same thing though, My oil pressure drops to about 20 at all times unless i'm at a stop, then it gets to about 1 -3 and the car starts idleing all kinds of rough...

I'm following some of the steps in this thread, and pretty much I had planned the same route. I am not the most mechanically inclined person ever to walk the face of the earth, But any help responses, guesses, experience, or even premonitions would be greatly appreciated...

I hope to find out what this particular individual found out. Might save me a lot of time + money!! Anyways thanks for reading guys, and hope somebody knows something that I don't! Have a great day everybody !!!

Levi

ChevyLevy2012

As of June 10th 2012, I spun a rod bearing, so sad!! Sorry i hadn't seen this before either !

Injuneer

Are you indicating both cars are V6's? If so, you should post this, as a new thread, on the V6 Tech forum. Not all that hard to do.

RobsWS6

Mine would drop to 0 while coming to a stop. Turned out to be the pickup fell off the pump. Spun #4 rod bearing. Luckily, I was still under extended warranty and got a crate engine out of the deal.

When the adjuster came in to look at the car to make sure it wasn't "abuse", a 95 Trans Am was already in the shop for the exact same thing.