Low oil pressure?

Topic: Low oil pressure? (Read 1828 times) previous topic - next topic

Low oil pressure?

September 30, 2014, 08:06:38 PM

My oil pressure on guage is fine when I first start it up. once it warms up it'll drop to nothing. When I'm doing 65 down the highway if I let off the gauge it'll gradually go up for a bit. other then that it wont come off low unless I rev it over 2k

should I trust the guage or no? just worried I might mess the car up (If not already)

Low oil pressure?

Reply #1 – September 30, 2014, 08:19:13 PM

I dont trust the factory gauges much. I would get a mechanical test gauge that threads into the gauge sender and verify the actual pressure, could wreck that engine fast.

Low oil pressure?

Reply #2 – September 30, 2014, 09:59:17 PM

Don't guess! Put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it!!

Low oil pressure?

Reply #3 – October 01, 2014, 08:41:04 AM

is it a 3.8?

Low oil pressure?

Reply #4 – October 01, 2014, 08:49:18 AM

It's more the wiring than the gauge. More than likely it's a certain connector that runs along the driver side frame rail in front of the shock tower.

Low oil pressure?

Reply #5 – October 01, 2014, 10:21:52 AM

I say it every time this topic comes up, heh. It probably actually is low oil pressure. It's not the end of the world unless you drag race it. I've driven 3.8s and 5.0s with 0psi idle oil pressure (15-20psi moving) for years on several occasions throughout my life. That's with a mechanical gauge.

Low oil pressure?

Reply #6 – October 01, 2014, 04:31:52 PM

I'd pick up a cheap mechanical gauge to test - just pop the hood and swap out the sensor. Verify idle and 2,000 rpms.

On my car, both my 230k mile and new motors showed poor pressure on the gauge. When testing the new motor, I had like 45psi idle with straight 30-weight. 10W30 still showed the same cold pressure, but it dropped to something like 30psi at hot idle. Revving to 2-3000k rpms shows something like 70psi.

My stock gauge behaves the same way. It hangs around the "high" end on cold start, and just at the top of the "low" area at hot idle. It takes maybe 30-seconds of revving at 3k before the hot pressure moves up to the middle of the gauge.

Stock gauge is useless. Trying to improve connection at the sensor didn't help. Some of the problem may be that most of my gauges also read low now - my gauge cluster needs a new 5v regulator.

Low oil pressure?

Reply #7 – October 01, 2014, 09:01:12 PM

Keep in mind that as useful as a manual gauge test is, your expectations are equally important. You want 10 psi per 1000 RPMs, minimum when fully warmed up. Any less, and you have a problem and the longer you wait, the more it costs.

Low oil pressure?

Reply #8 – October 01, 2014, 11:31:53 PM

Quote from: CoogarXR;438521

I say it every time this topic comes up, heh. It probably actually is low oil pressure. It's not the end of the world unless you drag race it. I've driven 3.8s and 5.0s with 0psi idle oil pressure (15-20psi moving) for years on several occasions throughout my life. That's with a mechanical gauge.

The chime is supposedly supposed to come on @ 7 PSI, not the 20+ PSI @ hot idle mine has. The car sees 55-60 PSI in park @ 2000 RPM when warmed up on a mechanical gauge.
New sender and check the 4 pr0ng connector by the left frame rail