Ok so My oil pressure is fine at cold idle. but warm idle its close to zero. right above the red mark. I have been told its the pickup too. is this true? also I drove it a couple times probley about 20 like this and people said it will cause my bearings to do but won't I be able to hear that? It makes NO noise at all and runs perfect. the car has 179k on it.

 

the pickup may have fallen off, the guage may be broke as well. Check it with a known good oil pressure guage. Otherwise the pickup tube may have fallen off, I tack weld the pickup tube onto the oil pump of every motor I build so this will never be an issue for me.

 

thanks, I think its the pickup also. it was never welded on. the motor has never had anything taken off of it at all. completely stock. idk about the gauge going bad but I will check that also. The motor has 179k on and all the gauges work fine so I am gonna replace the pickup and pump and check the bearings while im down there. If its not it must be the gauges.

 

that guage sure would be a whole lot easier to check. I suppose you could overfill the oil by a quart or two while the engine is sitting idling and see if pressure jumps up because you'd be raising the oil level up to the pump. But you can't drive it like that of course.

 

true, But It needs a new pump and pick up anyway with 179k on it. I will try to get a mech. gauge on it and see whats going on.

 

Mine was doing that with 150k on it, then I rebuilt it put a new pump in and idles at 40psi.

 

With normal oil levels the oil pump inlet will be in the pool of oil. When you come to a stop, it may become uncovered. Sitting idling with normal oil level, it won't uncover.

Factory pick-ups rarely fall off. It's the replacement pumps that have the pick-up fall off.

Most likely cause is a bad oil pressure gage sending unit. Put on a mechanical oil pressure gage, at least temporarily, to verify the reading you're getting. If it shows low, you've probably got a bad pump.

 

Whats the actual pressure? LT1s run lower-than-normal oil pressure by design... IIRC, GM specs for idle oil pressure hot is only like 6-8psi or so with 5/30 oil, for example. My '97 usually has between 10-12psi warm on a typical warm weather day with 10/30 oil. Never had a problem with it. Oil is always clean at oil changes. Never burns a drop. LT1s usually have lower oil pressures than a normal SBC would like, but don't have problems because of that.