I have a 1984 Z28 Camaro, 305 HO engine. All of a sudden I have no oil pressure when letting off the gas and the car dies. I changed oil/and filter a few months back and confused as to why this is happening. When I press on gas, pressure is between 30 and 40 but goes to 0 when I let off the gas and then it dies. Any suggestions as what I do now? Thank you

 

Does it make all kinds of bad engine noise and die i.e ticking,knocking,banging or what? What weight oil did you use? and is oil level very low?

 

Engine sounds fine when running and oil level is on the full mark.

 

not sure if these cars have a low oil pressure fuel shut off but never the less its probably the oil pump which is not expensive or hard to replace if you can get your oil pan off.

 

Possibly distributor gear that turns the oil pump is worn and not engaging oil pump.

 

Never trust the oil pressure gauge in the dash. The sending unit could be wrong and you could have a completely seperate problem causing the engine to die. Unless someone else knows otherwise, there is no 'low oil pressure shut off' on this vintage Fbody. Judging by the symptoms its a carb problem in the idle circut.

 

Didnt know if there was or wasnt low oil psi fuel shut off.Will the car idle on its own?

 

I drove the car for about 5 min today and it seemed fine. I came home shut it off and then went back out to leave and car will not even idle without dieing.

 

Well you gotta get it to run first befor you can worry bout the "oil psi" if you turn the idle adjustment screw in will it idle? It could be a bunch of different things if it wont idle,all cars need are spark and fuel, could be anything from clogged fuel filter to fouled plugs or cap and rotor or just a dirty carb,if you spray carb cleaner in carb while someone keeps it running does it sound better if so fuel related.

 

Thank you for all your input, I will check everything suggested in the morning when it is cooler, heat index atm is about 110 here, so staying in air con until morning, will post tomorrow what I find...and again thank you all for your insights....don't really think it is spark plugs as it was not missing at all...will post findingsn tomorrow

 

Good luck just diagnose one thing at a time Cheapest and easiest first.

 

hehe okay

 

1984 had mechanical fuel pump, so no electrical anything associated with fuel (cars with intank electric pumps had oil pressure switch to the fuel pump to make it run). How long has it been since fuel filter was changed?

 

Do you have no oil pressure, then it dies? Or does it die and then as a result of that you have no oil pressure?

 

well when I say no oil pressure, I am going by the gage on the dash, it drops to 0 and car dies after taking foot off the gas pedal. Fuel filter changed before winter time and the car seemed to run fine until engine warmed up and I turned it off to return later to leave and then the problem started.

 

well, put some heet in the gas and filled up tank, sprayed carb cleaner on linkages and inside carb.....seem to run well enough to pass inspection today and then started acting up again. At least I have another vehicle to drive until I can change the fuel filter, spark plugs/wires...maybe thast will help. I'm not sure what it should be idling at, but it is around 3-5 on the dial.

 

if its an automatic your idle in park should be around i think 800 rpm.

 

Get a cheap mechanical oil pressure guage, hook it up, and see what it reads - the oil pressure senders in these cars are famous for failing. If you can't get a guage, take a valve cover off and start it - if theres oil pressure, you should see some oil coming up through the pushrods/rockers.

 

I want to clarify this for future searchers to make sure people understand. The oil pressure switch was a redundant switch meant to supply power to the fuel pump in the case that the fuel pump relay failed. This way the car wouldnt strand you over a relay. This switch does NOT shut the car off when oil pressure is low as long as the fuel pump relay is still functioning. It's a redundancy, nothing more.