Northstar low oil pressure alarm

[tiptoe]

I Replaced The Northstar In My Wife's Eldorado, (headgasket Problems And Overheating With Cooland Loss), With A Used Low Mile Seemingly Good One. When The Engine Gets To Tempurature Especially On Hot Days I Get The Oil Pressure Alarm At Idle. If I Crank The Idle Just A Little It Goes Away Although It Sometimes Happens When Decelerating. Could It Be A To Low Idle Problem Or A Sensor? More And Neverending Northstar Problems For Me. I Shoulda Got Rid Of It.

[dkozloski]

Aftermarket oil pressure sensors are notoriously erroneous. Try a factory sensor before doing anything else.

[tiptoe]

thanks, it is the factory sensor that is in the engine.

[Ranger]

Might just need to be replaced.

[fristim]

Originally Posted by tiptoe

thanks, it is the factory sensor that is in the engine.

Totally normal here. Especially when the motor gets hot. The cure would be going to a thicker oil, best oil for the North* is Rotella T which is a heavyduty truck oil, try it and I guarantee it will go away.

[tiptoe]

Thanks, Just so happens that that is exactly what I use in my Kenworth. I'll give er a try.

[tiptoe]

Hey offhand how many quarts does the northstar hold. I have a pretty good and convienient service guy but I know that he does not carry rotella 15-40.
Thanks

[JimHare]

The 4.6L Northstar takes 7.5 quarts with filter change. Overfilling is very bad. WHen I change, I usually fill the new filter, then take the rest of the quart can and 6 more, and use exactly that. Then I check it once a week, and add about 3/4s of a quart every 1000 +/- miles to the Deville, and about 1/2 qt every 2500 to the Eldo. I just try to keep the level just below the top of the hash marks on the dipstick, checked when warm, about 5-10 minutes after shutdown.