I have a 1992 camaro RS LO3 stock with TBI. I just picked it up. it has 129000 miles on it and runs real nice and smooth. The car doesnt knock, grind or smoke at all. However, when the motor gets to proper operating temp after about 20 min of driving my oil pressure drops to near nothning. I am replacing my sending unit today but my reasearch is leading to the main bearings as the problem. My question is: can this be done without removing the motor? Is there any special tools needed? Once the pan is removed is it a hard job? And about how much would it cost to have done at a shop? Also, other than just "popping out" the old bearings and replacing them, is there ang thing else I need to be looking to replace along with the main bearings? I have only limited knowledge about the internals of motors and would hate to make a potential bad job worse

 

If there is no other indication of low oil pressure, I'd suspect the gauge or sender are a problem. Verify correct pressure with a mechanical gauge attached to the front oil pressure port and go from there.

Replacing the bearing shells alone may help, but is really only a temporary fix. It's best to remove the crank and check the journals, resize as necessary, and install the correct replacement bearing shells - Both mains and rod bearings. A stock, reground crank kit can be had for right around $100, so simply replacing the bearings doesn't really even make economic sense.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I just went to Auto Zone and picked up a sending unit. It took a whole 5min to install. The old one was shot. I put the new one in, the oil pressure shot up to the 50s and all is good in my world as of now. Thanks again for the advice, this site is great!