After I changed out my clutch, I started to get 0psi oil pressure readings at operating temp at idle. It only climbs to about 10psi at max rpm. Wouldn't this cause some serious noise? Is it actually possible for the engine to even idle at 0psi?

 

This is really crucial guys. I don't know whether I should drive this car or not.

 

The best thing I can say is, if in doubt, dont drive it. Period. 10psi under load is way too low. That's enough to feed like 1000RPM.

My suggestion is to replace the sender, to eliminate that as a potential problem. My factory one leaked into the connector which screwed with the readings, until I cleaned it out and replaced it.

Possible your pump is trashed. My recommendation is to not push your luck...

 

I agree.

 

Can I replace the sender and clean without taking the motor out? If so, how do I get to it while the motor is still in?

Oh yea, and why do you guys think this happened when I changed the clutch? Is it possible that the sender hit the cowl or something and knocked it up?

 

It may be just the wire was knocked loose.Check it.Its on the drivers side rear of the engine.Behind the intakeA new one is like $30.00.

 

That's what happened to mine. It was leaking and to make things worse, I bumped it when I was doing my T-56 conversion and broke it off. If it is broke off, dont drive it either, since it will start gushing sooner or later.

Change it, clean the terminals and take it from there.

 

If you have any doubt, get a mechanical pressure gauge and hook it up to see. You may just have bad wiring, but don't drive the car until you verify what the problem is.

You can verify that you are getting oil pressure in the first place by removing a valve cover. If the oiling system is working normally, at idle you should have oil flowing.

 

You can swap it by going to autozone or advananced auto (or other auto stores) and get a oil pressure sender remover socket. Youll have to break your old one off (easy) and itll break the plastic. Then you can use the tool to remove it by reaching your hand back there with a 3/8" ratchet. When your done you can pretty much hand tight the new one tight enough so it wont leak.