ok this morning on the way to school i was driving my '88 bird and everything was goin good and then my friend calls to say hey come get me so i turn around and go backdown that way at a little bit higher than normal rate( about 80 to 90 mph) because it was close to time for school and finals and what not well. on the way to school oil pressure was fine normal like its suppose to be i even checked the oil before i left...a lil below full so no problems. well i hit the brake and go to turn into his road and oil pressure cuts to zero and kills my car and wont start back for nothin. do u think i blew it? my teacher is thinkin i possibly slung a rod but i didnt here any knockin or anything just the kill of the motor. what happened?

now added on to the question i pushed my car backwards down a hill into a parkin lot i cut my wheel to get around the curb its like a curb/hill at the same time and like 3 of my lug nuts popped off with the studs. that really sucks to.

 

I don't have a schematic handy, but I believe the fuel pump can be powered 2 ways. One way uses an oil press switch. The idea is to shut off the fuel pump if you lose oil press (like in your case).

The other way to power fuel pump is by the ECM. That's how fuel pump runs for a bit when the key is first turned to the "on" position.

If the ECM isn't powering the fuel pump when the key is first turned on, you will have to crank the eng long enough to build oil press, then the fuel pump should come on.

The oil in the oil pan can slosh fwd during heavy braking and starve the oil pump pick-up. This usually doesn't happen unless you're low on oil however.

 

The oil pressure switch on the side of the block is backup power for the fuel pump. It does NOT shut off the engine in the event of low oil pressure. Otherwise, your engine would NEVER start until oil pressure came up.

 

I stand corrected. If the ECM and the fuel pump relay are working normally and you lose oil press, the fuel pump will continue to run. I was confusing this system with an old Pontiac I had a while back.

In normal operation, the ECM will power the fuel pump relay for 2 secs then shut off. Once the ECM sees eng rotation via the distributor ref signal, the ECM will again power the relay and provide power to the fuel pump.

The oil press switch will also provide power to the fuel pump if oil press is over 4 psi. The purpose of the oil press switch is to provide power to fuel pump if the fuel pump relay fails or the ECM fails to signal the relay to turn on after eng is already running.

If your fuel pump relay fails to power fuel pump for some reason and you lose oil press, the fuel pump will no longer run.

You need to verify the fuel pump comes on for 2 secs when the ign switch is turned to the "run" position. If fuel pump doesn't come on, you'll need to check the fuel pump relay, fuel pump fuse, and the associated wiring. ECM failure is also a possibility but not very likely.