Still no oil pressure when warm.

[aeidian]

I had a coolant leak that turned out to be from a freeze plug on the passenger side. In the course of events to figure that out I replaced the timing chain cover seal and the guide and tensioner on the timing chain itself. Once back together I started having oil pressure problems. It has 40-60 when it first starts up. It's always dropped to about 5-10 when warmed up. Now it's dropping to 0. It's an aftermarket manual oil pressure gauge. As it warms up the pressure drops, and revving the engine doesn't increase the pressure, it just stays where it's at, eventually dropping to zero. No revving or driving at 0 gets it to move. I've changed the oil and filter out already to no change. Not increasing pressure on rev is what gets me. It's always had low pressure but it climbed when revving. I'm thinking it's a clogged pickup screen or maybe the pump is going out. Has good pressure when first starting and normal engine sound. Once hot it has no pressure and it's obvious it's not getting oil circulation. Anyone have some input?

 

[dave2575]

Your not alone, I've been going through the exact same thing. I have had this issue for a long while now and the only real answers I hear are a clogged pick up/screen or the oil pump itself. though I'm not ruling out the stock and aftermarket gauges. Do you guys think maybe some bearings(main,rod,cam) or the valve train(lifters) could cause this? When its cold and it first starts the pressure is good but once it gets warmed up that's when something starts loosening or clogging or failing and I start to loose pressure, So what part/s is causing this?
In my case its probably all the above.

 

[aeidian]

I'm thinking maybe I might have screwed up the timing cover seal and there's fluid passage between the water pump ports and the timing chain. When draining the oil towards the end there does seem to be some water like texture to the oil. I guess I need to tear the timing cover back off and take a look.

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[Hitchner2009]

ok so before we go wasting your time or money, we need to explain one simple thing. what causes oil pressure loss? Oil pressure loss in the simplest way is because your engine is worn out and needs replacement. I myself have a 2.9l v6 with low oil pressure problems when warm idling, the rig has 216,000 miles on it, its 26 years old, its time for a rebuild or an engine swap, there is no getting around that. But back to the oil pressure. Changing the oil pump or pickup tube is not going to solve your low oil pressure problems. An oil pump DOES NOT create pressure, it creates volume, what creates pressure is the clearances between the metal parts in your engine.

Lets take a vehicle with about 50,000 miles on it compared to my 216,000 mile engine. Like all things in life, engines have a life span, and anything that is exposed to FRICTION and HEAT have a set life span. So your engine at some point IS GOING TO FAIL, no matter how well you take care of it. YES it can last in upwards to hundreds of hundreds of thousands of miles, but eventually it will fail. So you have a engine with 50,000 miles on it, the clearances between all the metal parts in the engine are going to be MUCH MUCH smaller than those in my 216,000 mile engine, therefore oil moves through it quicker, and causing oil pressure. The longer it takes for oil to move through clearances, the less oil pressure you will have, And eventually the clearances will be too great for the engine to keep up with and engine failure will occur due to oil starvation, because without pressure, oil cannot reach the places that it needs to get to, and the engine will rapidly wear.

Now if your asking how long it can go with low oil pressure, thats for the engine to know and you to find out. It can go today, tomorrow, it could last you a couple months to a few years. You just never know! Start saving up for a rebuild or throw a junkyard motor in it.

If your still stumped, checkout this video from one of the best mechanics on youtube, he has a video that explains oil pressure and how it affects your engine.

OIL PRESSURE VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f2fcbTh5yw