I was looking at a 94 ta this past weekend and it was real clean. Only thing was at a traffic light the oil pressure gauge was just a touch above the red danger mark. Once I started up and accelerated from the light it went back to the middle of the gauge. Does that seem right that the gauge would be so low to red danger level?

 

it's not good, but it may be a problem with the sender and not a true oil preasure problem

 

Thanks...Is there any signs if you are having oil pressure problems ? (Like stalling, bad idle, bad performance, etc.). Like I was saying this car is mint in and out and I drove it a good 15 miles without issue. Just once it is idling, the oil pressur looks low.

Could worn oil cause a low pressure look as well? The oil did like dirty.

Thanks.

 

It may just be low on oil. My LT1 only has 40,000 miles on it and the oil is jet black everythime I change it. You won't have any drivabilty issues which makes oil problems so dangerous. The signs don't jump out at you. It could be a bad sending unit or simply a bad gage.

 

I'm having similar problems with an engine of mine. It has over 250k on it and the oil press has never been high (over 30 psi) as long as I've owned it, but just lately it's been dropping really low at idle after it reaches operating temp.
The factory gauges on the dash are electric and that increases the possibility of error. At times my gauge has dropped to zero but I kept driving and hoped for the best.
There have been times in the past with other cars where I've noticed that there will be lifter noise that accompanies total oil press loss, and mine has never reached that point. So I'm keeping it on the road and hoping it will last til my rebuild is finished.
A mechanical press ga is a good idea if you want to be sure.
But overall oil press loss means rebuild time.
If you aren't sure of the history of the car, be cautious, unless your intention is to replace the engine anyhow.
Sometimes low vis oil will be too thin to keep the press up at idle on a used motor too.

 

This is a good point. I would check with the LT1 gods over on camaroz28.com. They will tell you in 2 minutes what the deal is. I am pretty sure it is a sending unit but you can never be to cautious.