I have a 89 firebird formula 350 ,Im having a few issues with it but the first issue is now the oil gauge started acting up. it has good pressure while its warming up then a few minutes go by and it drops to 0. the car isn't even warm yet, it just drops to 0. then if i rev it, it will go up a quarter the way and as soon as i let go of the gas it drops back down to 0. the car has a bad exhaust leak from the manifold and makes a loud clacking noise and i get a squeal if i give it gas from the back of the motor, i think its the gear (its all rusty and don't think it's lubed well) but i don't hear any knocking or tapping from the motor. the car only has 100k miles on it. o , and the gauge goes all the way past the Max and goes back down when i shut the ignition off . i can't figure it out. please help.

 

Welcome to my boat. Before you take the oil pan out, you may want to check your oil pressure with a mechanical gauge. In my case, I have had a knocking and had one valvetap on startup. Please, do yourself a favor and read my topic. Sorry for being longwinded in my topic. :P
Quick run thru, if you're lucky, it can be the oil pickup screen. Or the oil pickup line for the oil pump, which is located in your oilpan obviously.

Or, you can be unlucky and have poor clearance on the Main and/or Rod bearings. Either way, youre jumping in my boat and taking off the oil pan. Good luck sir.
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...oval-need.html

 

Mine was the same way. Mine was just the sending unit now it's fine. I was expecting the worst. This doesn't happen often for me but the easy fix was the ticket.