I guess I'm looking for some advice or at least some reassurance. I started my 87 IROC yesterday after it had been sitting for about a year. It started up after a charge of the battery and about three turns of the ignition key. It seemed to run a little rough at first, but would smooth out with a press of the accelerator. After about 5 seconds of it running I checked the gauges and noticed the oil pressure gauge showed zero. I turned the engine off and restarted, the oil pressure gauge did its test by moving to full range then dropping to zero. There were/are no strange noises, grinding, etc. and if I let it warm up and run a while I'm sure it would run smooth.

So the question is does the engine have oil pressure and the gauge is just not working. Is there a quick way to make sure I have oil pressure? I thought I read where an Oil Pressure Switch would kill the fuel pump if there was no oil pressure. How long would this take to happen? Also would pulling off a valve cover be a quick way to tell if there was pressure? Where is the sending unit on an 87 IROC 5.7 TPI, is it hard to get at?

Any thought or comments are appreciated.

 

You have oil pressure. The lifters would be clacking their little brains out in no time if you didn't.

Probably just a bad sender. That's the most likely suspect in these 3rd gens. 3-wire sensor just above the oil filter.

There are multiple paths to get power to the FP, including the ECM-triggered FP relay. No fuel pump turn-on wouldn't be a diagnostic for oil pressure issues.

 

Good point on the lifters clacking. Amazing the stuff you forget as you get older. Thanks for your reply.