I Got a problem with myoil pressure gauge, when the car is onr it jumps up and down it goes from 45 to 60, it never goes down to 30 so thats good right? But it bounces up and down alot, in cold or hot starts. Any clues? Thanks.

 

Does it jump around at idle, or with increase in RPM? If it's jumping at idle, that's not right. If it's a linear increase in pressure with RPM, that's normal.

If it's jumping all over the place, it sounds like either the sending unit is bad, or you have a bad connection.

Also, a small block chevy has "adequate" oil pressure down to about 6PSI, but I wouldn't be comfortable down that low.

 

yeah at idle is when its all jumpy, on the road its less jumpy but u can still tell it jumps a bit. It dont jump around from 0 to 60, its just from 45 to 60 but doesnt go lower than that.

 

Definately sounds like a bad connection or sending unit then. It's a short cylinder shaped thing on the back wall of the valley in the block. Has a single wire going to the top of it.

 

yeah i see it, it had some oil on it, is it hard to remove? what do i have to do in order to take it off?

 

All you need is a wrench. It's threaded on a couple brass adapters.

Just make sure to clean all the threads and use pipe dope on the new one, or it'll leak.

 

Could that leak cause a pressure drop of say.....ALOT?

cheers

 

I guess it all depends on how much it's leaking. If it's a slow leak, than no. If it's hemorraging oil, then yeah

 

lol yah. its a slow leak on my sender. oil oozes outta the plug a little, and theres oil on the sender itself, the outside of it, and also a lil bit on the block right about the oil filter. I've noticed there is some on my black dust shield on the transmission....thats the one that scares me....can't have a rear seal goin bad already, its brand friggin new!!

Hopefully a replaced oil sending unit, and tightening down them bolts on the headers will solve all my problems (exhaust leaks.....a few of em!)

cheers

 

If it's leaking out thru the body of the unit, the sender is most likely bad. I'd verify the readings with a mechanical gauge before you start sweating it.