our 84 se firebird has a bad oil leak that I believe is coming from the dist shaft o ring or the valve covers... due to this it runs low on oil every few days... this car is driven by the wife for the most part and she has a bit of a hard time checking the oil... anyway I took it for a drive the other day to check up on it. after a bit I noticed the oil pressure was way down to almost zero so I putted it home almost w/o using the engine because I was above my house... when I got home I checked and filled the oil, which didn't seem to be really low. fired it up and still no oil pressure, yikes,, pulled off the oil filter and the oil seemed a bit thin... any thoughts on why the pressure is off when the oil is filled? this car doesn't smoke and starts right up w/ good oil pressure till this happened. can the pan be dropped w/o taking motor out? do these pumps go out much? never had an oil pump go out before. is it worth going into the motor or should we just replace it... like I said it runs great, even took the old elec carb off and put a Rochester 2bbl on it which made a lot of difference in power and mileage,,, of course this meant disabling the EGR system,,, yea I had previously taken the air pump off it and filled the manifold inj holes w/ plugs... Any help would be greatly appreciated... thanks Doug oh and Merry Christmas....

 

I would hang an OP gauge on it at this point.
Chevy SB would have the gauge sender above the oil filter or *if not there*, up behind the dist. where the OP switch goes. Edit: not sure where they are on a V6.

If the pressure is good, then worry about gaskets
and valve guide seals. If not, consider an oil pump.
Merry Christmas

 

You need to replace the distributor O-ring ASAP. You're losing serious oil pressure there due to the fact that the oil pump feeds the cam oiling first before the crank mains (and with the fact that you have the small journal crank, you can't afford to lose oiling on the crank mains!). And a ring of RTV or an SBC dizzy base gasket will help a bit keeping it dry in the future.

Second, the oil pressure tap and sending units are on the oil filter adapter.

 

to: JMG and Mav,,, thank you,,,, amazing help around here,... as always. well I put new filter on it and viola ,, oil pressure... ouch I didn't know the O ring was involved in pressure, thought it was just for sealing the dist in the hole... yikes... I did put a static gauge on it when we first got it and still have the tap set up so I'll make sure but the elec gauge shows sixty at startup.. cool... not sure if the filter plugged or the relief valve stuck open or or... haven't had the time to take it out and give it a run yet but I'll let you know... Merry Christmas to all here.....

 

FWIW, I only use A/C PF47 or 52 oil filters... Never that Fram, Wix (NAPA), or those expensive K&N things...

 

so I take it the 2.8 has a problem w/ the main journals being a bit wimpy? and how does one tell if this engine is the small j crank for my future reference... I did notice that in some write ups there was an L code motor put in some of these ,, I have yet to ck my RPO sheet or vin to see if this is one or the regular v6... Unfortunatly I think the bearings got a bit messed by the zero oil pressure situation ... it wasn't very long at all and made no noises when it occurred but after puttiing on the new oil filter and getting the pressure back it seems to have a new disturbing sound when it first fires and then when revving up out of gear... gonna go in to the pan today,,, yikes anyway thanks again ,, I'll let you know how it go... dj

 

82-84 2.8 block had the small journal cranks, 85 and up had larger journal cranks.

 

oil pump works real good... but ... sure enough spun a rod bearing... geez getting the pan off the first time is a bit of a bear w/o taking engine out.... but it's really rather simple once you get it down... and lo and behold we have a number four spun... so in go a new set of bearings... runs great and sixty lbs... but the four is in need of a ten over so I'll be back .. should have done it when in before but ... the o ring did solve the leakage deal and the seal at the top worked well also... sure hate that crossover pipe .. so out it goes and in with duals yeah I know it's a bit tight but ... hey that close ratio steering is worth it.. ....

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I'm having this issue with my 2.8. When you say distributor o ring, is it just the gasket between the intake and distributor?

 

No, the dizzy O-ring is on the dizzy body down in the block a little. Pull the dizzy and you'll see it. It usually gets hard after a number of years.

FWIW, I never use any additional gasket or sealant than a new replacement O-ring. You gotta think the original O-ring lasted 15+ years, so the new one will as well, do you think you'll have the car in 15 years, and if so, do you think it'll be that much of a problem to change again IF it leaks again?

 

Ok so there isn't a gasket between the intake and distributor? Ok I just picked up a new o ring from Vatozone so here's to hoping. My car has the oil gauge pegged for a couple minutes then it drops to 30psi and goes back and forth from 0 to 15psi. I pulled the plug on the pressure switch on the oil filter housing and it was full of oil. Would also cause an issue with the gauge?