Ws6kid.

Details of Engine
I recently did a Heads & Cam swap in my 2002 Trans am.
I used a set of Stock 243 heads with Lunati Dual springs steel retainers.
I also used a used Vindicator Cam. 240/244 .605/.596 112+4 (made by Vengeance Racing)
New Ls7 lifters with ls2 lifter trays. With MLS stock head gaskets cooper coated.(Nice thick layer) Using ARP head bolts torqued to 78 lbs
I swapped the oil pump with a slightly used LS6 TSP ported pump new o ring. I took my time with the build and did not rush anything.
The short block had about 70k miles and I was told it was running strong...
Never turned on the engine till after the head and cam swap.

Ignore the black debris in the pictures. its actual dust on my lens and no in the oil

Heres he issue
First start up
Car Turned on like a champ oil jumped up to about 60 psi and everything seemed good. I did several heat cycles here at home just letting the car warm up to normal operating range. About 6-7 times. (each cycle would be between 5-10 minutes of operation) Wanted to make sure the head gaskets sealed nicely. Oil never dropped under 40. I noticed the oil pressure would sit around 40-42 psi most of the time.
After the heat cycles i removed the oil cap and found this.

This got me worried I did my research and found it this paste is caused by water in the oil? (can some one confirm this for me)
I found a few threads (here on tech) recommending to remove the oil and see what the oil looked like.
Heres the oil I drained out.


I'm no Expert but the oil looks fine. I also check my radiator and it seemed slightly low. (Don't remember if i fully filled the radiator in the first place)
So i filled the radiator up again.
I changed the oil with new mobile one 5-30W oil
Today I was driving the car and when started up it spiked to..

I let the engine warm up and I drive my car around for about 20-25 minutes then my pressure dropped to this...

Is this normal? What i know 20 psi is pretty low for idle.
When I'm driving around town it does pick up to 40 psi.
But this drop to 20 psi happens randomly now....
After the oil change the oil cap is nice and dry.
And since I've filled up the radiator it seems not to lose any more water.
Can some one point me to the correct direction with this.
Is it a blown head gasket?
Broken oil pump?
Or is this normal for a heads and cam car?

Thanks for reading.....
Ws6kid.

Heres a video of the car you can't hear any unusual sounds...

redgto4u

iTrader: (8)

As you can imagine this one might be difficult to troubleshoot. You changed a lot of parts that deal with coolant and oil pressure. Any lifter noise when the oil p fluctuates? Does it only drop that low at idle and a certain temp?

First things that come to mind are oil pump o-ring. Did you use a new one? The proper new one? I once reused my stock one...bad idea! Had oil pressure but would stay at 35 and not move up. Accompanied by lifter noise and bubbly oil. Does your dipstick have oil bubbles once it gets hot? Common indicator of airating the oil from a bad seal.

What's the integrity of the parts you used? New or used?

Ws6kid.

Seems to drop to 20 psi when at operating temperature. As soon as i accelerate it picks up to 37-40 psi while driving.
and the psi drops to 20 mainly when braking on a red light.
I did use a new o ring.
I've heard i might of installed it wrong and ripped it.
I dont notice any lifter noise honestly.

Ws6kid.

Everything was new besides the heads and pump.
well the cam was used also.

Sales2@Texas-speed

iTrader: (5)

I would recommend putting a mechanical gauge on the car to check and make sure that this is the actual oil pressure your motor is seeing. The stock oil sending units are known for failing and reading incorrectly. I would also recommend checking the oil pump o-ring as a lot of times similar issues to this have stemmed from that. The real high pressure rating is what made me think of the sending unit though.

Ws6kid.

thanks Texas-Speed.
You guys rock. I usually get my parts from you guys.
ill try the mechanical gauge and see what i come up with

Burken01

iTrader: (88)

When you first started it up did you have any type of tune? (Flashed base tune, dyno)

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

That wouldn't have anything to do with low oil pressure^^. Worst thing a tune would do it make it run like crap or not at all bigger injectors could wash rings but again not oil pressure. I agree on the mech gauge and post up what you find

ds98formula

iTrader: (3)

Yeah mech gauge to verify. The stock gauge should not be trusted too much

Ws6kid.

It had a tune from a previous car. different ECM. from the one that was on the car

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

Yes, a mechanical gauge is warranted here. You have to verify if what you are seeing is correct. The yellow paste on the oil cap is normal. You'll find, in cars that aren't driven much, the entire underside of the valve covers will be covered in this as well. It is not an indicator of a head gasket failure because it is from humidity and the engine not getting hot enough to remove all of it. Your oil looked fine in the picture also so I'm sure the heads are sealing fine.

Burken01

iTrader: (88)

That's what I was getting at, running pig rich for 6-7 (5min-10min) sessions could have washed the cylinder a little.. That stuff ends up in the oil pan as well causing excessive wear to all moving parts

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

Yes but the oil looks fine not like it has gas in it and if it did wash the cylinder he would also be burning oil. My bet is the pump is a little messed up or the oring s leaking

Ws6kid.

I forgot to mention the original wire harness of the car had the oil pressure plug in ripped off. so i soldered it back together. Would that cause the different reading that I'm seeing?
did a clean job. no half *** ****.

Burken01

iTrader: (88)

I don't see how it would.. Unless you have a continuity problem elsewhere in the wire, could have slightly ripped somewhere else too..

fruitsalad

iTrader: (5)

Sounds like a ripped or pinched o-ring (during install) improperly seated pickup tube, bolt backed out, etc. The good part is that it costs $3 to fix. The bad part is you have to tear everything back out to get to it. You could also take a look at your oil filter and make sure it didn't collapse or get clogged somehow.

Alternatively, it's possible the oil pump you bought already had a bad pressure spring, but it would be difficult to diagnose whether it's the pump itself since you can't exactly just throw a known working one on and run it to check.

FWIW my car had almost exactly the same symptoms, except mine also showed no pressure for about 30 seconds at startup, and I'm in the middle of changing the pump.

Ws6kid.

Well time to remove the timing cover.....
This weekend should be fun....

codyvette

iTrader: (24)

While oil pressure is usaully higher than stated, 20lbs at idle and 40lbs up to 4k won't hurt any thing. 10lbs per 1k rpm is sufficient in most cases.I would check the o ring though, and shoot for a little more to be on the safe side. Good luck.

fruitsalad

iTrader: (5)

Lol good luck. Let us know what you find in there with pics if possible.

While I agree it's technically sufficient and probably not resulting in internal damage, it's abnormal and signals that something isn't quite right and for that reason I'd be hesitant to run it as is.

sabersaw30

iTrader: (10)

Probably not the cause but how did your cam retaining plate gasket look?