Hey everyone.

I am not sure if this has been asked a number of times or not but here is my problem

When I am driving my car, the oil pressure stays around 30..but whenever I stop when it is completely warmed up to the steady temperature..it drops really low (into the red) or even to 0.

My question is: Is this normal? Because I am thinking to myself that something is wrong with the car.

Next is, if it is a problem what can I do to fix it? I am replacing the oil sensor already as a starting point.. COuld it be a problem with a leaky gasket? or the sending unit?

ANy advice/help would be greatly appreciated

 

First I have a couple of questions:
When the oil pressure drops into the red and goes down to zero, do you hear any tapping sound coming from the engine? If you do, then you probably do have a real oil pressure problem. However, if you don't, and your car seems to run otherwise fine, it could be your oil pressure switch. Sometimes over time they get old and leaky. And will cause your oil pressure gauge to behave exactly as you describe. To have your switch replaced is relatively inexpensive, but I think that it is worth the piece of mind to have an oil pressure gauge that displays correct oil pressure.
I am not sure how to change the switch out myself, I have never done it, but I have had a shop do it for me in the past. In fact I have had to replace the switch a couple of times and the cost never exceeded a hundred and some odd dollars for everything including labor. Plus, when they do it, they can hook up a mechanical pressure gauge to the oil pressure sending unit and get an accurate oil pressure reading. I hope this helps.

 

I don't believe there is any tapping when it drops down.

But, since it only happens when I am stopped, I do hear a noticeable difference in the sound of the engine. As soon as I let off the break and apply gas there is a definate sound as the pressure kicks back in...sounds kinda like it is hanging up for a second until the pressure goes back and then it runs fine again.

 

These cars are VERY prone to that sensor going bad. 90% of the time it causes the problem that you are describing...

 

Chances are, it is your oil pressure switch, but, have you had your oil pen replaced anytime recently? Are there any strainers in there or anything like that that could be missing, causing the oil to move away from the oil pump under hard braking? Also how many miles do you have on the car? Does the problem become less apparent if lets say your crank case was full all the way as opposed to being half way up to the full line on the dip stick?
Regardless, I am myself paranoid about these things, and if ether temp or oil pressure gauges don't work, I try to fix them as soon as possible, because now chances are it is a bad sensor, but when it is something for real, you wouldn't be able to tell and then you could seriously damage the motor.
Just my 2 cents

 

Hmm, I only got the car a few months ago. As far as I know this car is stock everything except for the usuals like brakes.

It has 139.6k miles on it. And, it doesnt really seem to change if it was full or half way...Which is leading me more toward a bad sensor issue.

ANother reason I brought it here is because I beleive this problem is also setting off my Check Engine light....anytime I take the car to the parkway and drive fast for a longer period of time it will click on....This may be unrelated and I probobly should have mentioned it earlier =\

The only known work that is done to the car that was recent..is I know the engine cooling fan was run to a switch in the dashboard because the relay wasn't working too well.

 

I don't know if your SES light coming on would have anything to do with your oil pressure, unless there is a short somewhere in the harness and it is causing your gauge to miss behave. 140k should be perfectly fine, as long as the car was maintained well, and was not abused, over revved too much. Chances are you have an electrical / electronic problem that is causing your symptoms.

 

The CEL is not connected to the oil rpessure sender in any way....

What you are describing is an EGR issue. It ties to turn itself on while on the highway at a sustained cruise, and it isnt working so it trips the CEL.

 

I am going to look into it more well in depth soon as I finish selling my motorcycle and have the extra money to get this all figured out.

Also, I am going to go out on a limb here since I am a noob..but what is the EGR(what does it stand for? )

 

Exhaus Gas Recirculation valve. It is an emissions device.

here you go:
https://www.thirdgen.org/egrdiagnose

 

EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation. It is a part of your vehicle emissions system. It recirculates some of your exhaust gases through the engine in order to reduce emissions.