My oil pressure gauge has been acting crazy lately. At first it started to show normal pressure, then at times would not read but maybe about 10 on my gauge. I replaced my oil pump about two years ago. Now I only get a reading of barely above red line on my gauge, but my engine runs and acts just fine. should I replace my sending unit?

 

Probably.

Why did you replace the pump? They practically never fail.

 

I'm not sure if this is normal but mine shows it's really low and when a accelerate it gets back up.

 

The sending unit is probably bad. It is very common.

 

mine too!! What's up with that!??

 

I would hate to say it, but whats the level? I am sure its full.....

 

Not normal at all. If pressure is going down when you accelerate, you have a problem. Low on oil, pickup tube sucking the bottom of the pan or fallen off, windage problem and of course, just possibly a faulty sender or gauge.

 

If you read my post correctly, you will see I put that it goes up when I accelerate. When I'm at a stop its low.

 

How low and does it do this after it warms up? I know when I first start my car it's way over at 60psi, even after awhile driving it doesn't get much lower. But when things really heat up and as the oil thins out it may get to 30-35 but no lower, and as I accelerate it will go up about 5-10 psi. I believe I'm running
10w-40

 

Can someone help me out please. I'm new to this, I'm having the same problem as BillyTheGoat,
"I'm not sure if this is normal but mine shows it's really low and when a accelerate it gets back up".
I don't know what the sending unit looks like, or where it is. Could someone show me some pics, or at least give me a good idea of what to look for please?
Also is this part I found the sending unit, or something else? It's all I could find.
http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...3438&ppt=C0039

 

Umm, ok, so I guess I'll replace the sending unit and see what that does. I replaced the pump to ensure I had a high flow oil pump. Not sure what was on it to begin with. Peace of mind pretty much.

 

I looked at the gauge while driving and it was around 15-18

 

Thanks for the help yall, I changed my oil pressure switch and the gauge works properly now.

 

can you give me that part number for the part you replaced?

 

I had the same issue but I did the intake gasket job, and replaced the oil sender unit, and after i let it warm up to check the gasket for leaks and anything else I noticed that as it warmed up it was losing oil pressure, and it was just dropping as it got warmer.....
So what happened last time was it was just low on oil, and since my driveway is at an angle is what threw me off, so I waited for it to be on flat ground and filled it up. So now I am waiting for it to kool off and wait for the oil to sit down and at a flat level.... Did I get a bad sender? or do I have other problems? I might just get a mechanical gauge to see if I have a really bad oil issue....
There is no oil in the coolant and no coolant in the oil, and no leaks that I see for now.... Maybe a clog somewhere?

 

Autozone part # PS154 BigRog. Oil pressure switch, it should be located above your oil filter.

 

Thank you Shadyredeyes, I'm going to try and get that part put on this weekend to see if it helps my problem.

 

Oh yea, am I going to have to drain the oil to put that switch in?

 

No

 

You might need to get a specialty socket to remove it. Get the 1 1/16" socket.

 

Since I changed that part, I changed my oil as well. Now when I get home from work the past two days, an 80 mile round trip, I pull into the driveway and notice about a 1/4 of a quart of oil is leaking,. It appears to be from the switch I replaced. The first day I noticed it I checked the switch and tightened it two more rounds, it was a little loose. But I still get the oil leak afterwards....WTF? Did I get the wrong switch? My oil filter is a Fram tough guard part # PH30. That's right isn't it?

 

my car had the same problem a while ago. i would actually lose pressure completely and the car would die. and it was actually the oil pump that did fail. it started off as just slowly losing pressure..but my pick up was closed and there was a bunch of crap at the bottom of the pan too...kinda scary not sure how it all got there. but replaced the pump and cleaned the pan out and since then good pressure

 

TTT

 

I went and got the AC Delco part and it read better. But I will change my oil to see how much better it will get......

 

Just bought a 1989 Camaro RS with a 2.8L V6 in rough but runnable condition. The engine sounded nice and quiet and the transmission seems fineso I figure to gradually build it up into a nice looking and runing car during the next few months.

Oil pressure was at 30 PSI on the gauge at idle and 50 at speed for the first day. I drove it almost a hundred miles just checking things out with no hint of a problem.

On day two (today) while test driving it, I watched to my horror as the oil pressure gauge eased down to zero as I began to nurse it towards home. Problem was, all the while the engine continued to sound, feel and smell fine as I sweated bullets.

So I replaced the oil pressure sensor and was instantly back to 30 PSI at idle and 50-55 at speed.

Seeing that gauge drop to zero several miles from home was a scary mother. But it was a simple sensor failure. What are the odds?

 

The odds of the pressure actually being low when the gauge reads low instead of a bad sender? About 1 in 1000.

 

Anyone have any clue why I'm still blowing oil out of my sending unit?? It's driving me nuts man!! It's almost covered the entire underside of my chassis.

 

You didn`t seal the threads.

 

I put teflon tape on them, maybe not enough??

 

Maybe not enough, or there was a burr on one of the first threads that peeled it all off.

 

I re-taped the threads today. There was no tape on the threads when I removed the switch, must have peeled off at some point. I did manage to snap the plastic connecter off during removal, damn my luck! New switch being put in soon I suppose.

 

Ok so I took the sending unit out today due to it being broken, it started to leak more oil at a higher rate. I put a 1/4" brass plug in it's place to stop the leak until I get another sending unit in tomorrow. The weird part about that is with no sending unit in the car, wiring harness just flopping around, I still get a normal pressure reading on my gauge. Am I just crazy, or is the part I showed above not for my oil pressure gauge? It's located directly above the oil filter.

 

That's not the sender, it's the switch. The sender is at the top of the block beside the distributor.

 

Well crap! Guess I'm good since my gauge works.

 

What exactly does the oil pressure switch do anyway? Will it cause any problems if its not hooked up?

 

It backs up the fuel pump relay.

 

So what would happen if I go without the switch? Will it mess up anything?