Oil Pressure

[jbjordan]

Hey Guys,

First off thank you for everyone's help on this site. It sure is great to read about all this.

Okay my Question is this:

I have a 98 Catera. Oil pressure Gauage is acting weird. Here's the layout. AT first startup sits at about 60PSI. As it drives drops to the 40. When i idle it drops down to 20 and 3X it has pegged the red. I shut off car Immedatly, after it sits i fire her back up and its good to go. When i accelrate the Pressure will jump to 60 and cruise goes back down to 40PSI.


With it hoppen like this it lead me to the Oil Pump. The bearings going out on it based on the way it jumps and idles. Any one have this problem or have had this and am i in the right direction..Thank you.

[silver.ca]

Originally Posted by jbjordan

Hey Guys,

First off thank you for everyone's help on this site. It sure is great to read about all this.

Okay my Question is this:

I have a 98 Catera. Oil pressure Gauage is acting weird. Here's the layout. AT first startup sits at about 60PSI. As it drives drops to the 40. When i idle it drops down to 20 and 3X it has pegged the red. I shut off car Immedatly, after it sits i fire her back up and its good to go. When i accelrate the Pressure will jump to 60 and cruise goes back down to 40PSI.


With it hoppen like this it lead me to the Oil Pump. The bearings going out on it based on the way it jumps and idles. Any one have this problem or have had this and am i in the right direction..Thank you.

Hi,
I just bought a 99 with 57K three days ago and I experienced that same problem. When the car is cold the oil pressure is 60psi and when it warms up the pressure drops until it is 20psi at curb idle. But twice it has dropped into the red and once the oil level low light came on. This happens when the car is just above mid-range on the temp. gauge.
I have been reading up on oil pressure problems and 15 to 20 psi is normal at idle. My engine has no knocking or tapping and the drop in pressure is very intermitant, so I do not think it's an internal problem with the pump or the bearings.
From what I have read, it could be a sticky check valve on the oil filter by-pass, a semi-clogged oil pump screen for the pick up, a restricked pick up tube or a faulty oil pressure sending unit. I think it's the latter.
My oil sending unit is located in the fornt of the engine, right of the harmonic balancer. I tried pricing these and rockatuo.com was the only place I could find one and they were listed for $182.00. The oil pressure gauge could be off just a little on the base resistance giving a faulty reading at lower pressure, like that of a inacurate fuel gauge.
I was thinking of installing a T-fitting and putting a mechanical gauge inconjustion with the factory gauge. A mechanical gauge is alot more accurate. I was going to leave the mech. gauge in the engine compartment and when the factory gauge reads bad, I would pop the hood are verify the reading. This troubleshoot tech. is used in auto shops and I think could help. Plus a mech. gauge is relatively cheap. I hope this helps. Maybe someone else has some ideas. Silver

[meyema03]

I had this problem a few months ago i switched to 10w-40 Mobil Clean 5000 no more low oil pressure at idle after heating her up. Try this first it is a lot less expensive than bearings or an oil pump.


*Also before you change the oil run some b-12 chemtool in the crankcase not more than half the bottle for a couple min then change this will get everything all cleaned up inside and remove anything that might cause a blockage that would lead to low oil pressure.

[silver.ca]

Hi,
It just happends that I did almost what was recommended. I used crp enginge flush, changed the oil with 10-30WT and added slick 50. now it idles at 25psi and 20psi when hot. The slick 50 might be the answer. Kragen auto has 4 qts of quakerstate & 1 qt slick 50 for $19. silver

[inconnu]

Slick in my opinion is another snake oil,if i had to go to higher thickness oil ,it would be Rotella 15w 40 i have read many good things about that oil from persons who know what they are talking about .

[jbjordan]

[

*Also before you change the oil run some b-12 chemtool in the crankcase not more than half the bottle for a couple min then change this will get everything all cleaned up inside and remove anything that might cause a blockage that would lead to low oil pressure.[/quote]


Thanks for the response, can you explain in detail how to do this. I just dont want to mess it up.