I figured I would ask my question here some of you guys really got camaros down to a science.

I am having a oil pressure problem. I have been running mobile 1 synthetic 10w40 for about 2yrs. I am a little broke right now and got some valvoline 5w20 synthetic from work for free so i decided to use it. My car usually runs between 15-30psi on the stock oil guage. I changed the oil with the valvoline yesterday and all was good and normal oil pressure. Today I went somewhere and oil pressure was good. When I started my car to leave oil pressure was good. AS soon as i shifted to drive my oil pressure dropped to 0. When I put it in park and give it a little gas my oil pressure comes back up. Most of the way home I had 0psi. Also I should add that usually when I start my car I get a little puff of smoke. That my be irrevelant but I have had no smoke since the new oil. So I am wondering if the oil is the reason i suddenly have no oil pressure or if i have another problem. Everything was fine until I switched the oil. Any info will be greatly appreciated because I am broke and cant afford to replace random stuff untill it is fixed. I am not sure if the change in oil would really effect pressure that much. Please help me.

 

did you recheck the oil and verify that it is full? have any leaks? did you make sure the old filter gasket wasn't still stuck to the filter mount when you puton the new filter?

 

I did check the oil and it is still full. The old gasket is not suck on the filter mount. I did notice a drop of oil on my lower radiator hose but do not see where it came from and have not had any oil on the ground under the car.

Also after I wrote the above I rode up to 711 and my oil stayed above 20psi the entire time. It dropped to about 15 when I shifted into drive but immediatley went back to 30. Could this possibly be electrical? The check engine light has never come on except when the key is forward like it should.

 

On that basis your engine should be dead or making lots of noise
Get a mech OP gauge and check that your gauge is reading correctly; could be faulty sensor ( not uncommon) or faultly OP gauge

Mobil 1 is "thiner " than dino oil; it will leak in places that regular oil won't which is why it is not recommended for higher mileage engines.It finds leaks that weren't there before.
Possible Mobil 1 was getting pass the guides seals and dino oil isn't

 

Yea if it was 0 and drove it like that you would of blew the engine or seized. I would suggest looking at getting a mechanical oil pressure gauge to check it out.

 

Go ahead and replace the sender (near the filter) as they will always fail given enough time. My car did the same thing and after replacing the sender my normal cold pressure went from 30 psi to 60! and when hot it now never drops below 25 or 30. My original sender was also leaking oil through the sender body and into the connector the only leak on the car!

If the smoke is bluish and only on start up then it's the valve stem seals, it's a $16 fix if you do it your self. Look around for various options for new seals, there are several choices to make.

 

Make sure that the wire connection to the Oil Pressure Sender is clean and tight. On the top of the engine, Driver's side near the firewall.

The puff of smoke at startup is caused by leaking valve guides. Very common.

 

Thanks for alll the replies guys. After my post I did some searchin and figured it was the sending unit also. A friend of mine tried to tell me the new oil was to thin for the oil pump to pick up which was my main concern but I kinda doubted that. I guess I will try to replace the sending unit today and look into the valve seals. I knew it was the seals causing the smoke I just didnt know they were easy to replace. Does anyone have any tips for replaceing the seals or is it pretty straight forward?

 

You say it is not smoking on startup now so why bother?
As I noted above; Mobil 1 will find it's way into places Dino oil won't

 

Thanks for the info guys. i am goint to wait till i get paid to switch it out. Idid alot of driving today and pressure was around 30+-. It did do it for a few minutes today and then start twitching up and down. I think I will be fine till payday. And for the valves that may be done later on down the road but i rather save up the money and get a crate motor then try to rebuild the 305. I dont have anywhere to rebuild it either so i think ordering a new motor would be the best option.

 

i blew a vw engine. two weeks ago. oil pump failed seized it. the low pressure light was on. didnt know better. now im paying for it to be rebuilt not even mine