New LS1 Owners - Newbie Tech - Damn Oil Pressure Gauge. I have a Question

:eek2: So when my car is off my oil pressure gauge does go down to zero it just stays at like 38- 40 psi. Then when I start it cold it shoots up to 45-50 psi. Then after a couple hrs of driving its just fine. Then when I stop at Idle it goes down to around 23-28. Im useing 5W30 full synth and I live in Louisiana which it does get QUITE warm here. I meant switch to a heavy weight oil like 0w30. But when Im start driving my oil pressure shots up like normal and its fine. I just hope my oil pump isnt going out. My 2002 Formula only has 85500 miles on it

Mine does that too... My oil psi is higher at startup... once the engine warms you should sit between 30-50 range...

Check your oil and make sure the level is fine, you may be low on oil. If it bothers you, you may just try a different oil.

I own a 1996 camaro 6cyl and my oil gauge does the same thing, but it will drop low sometimes. I guess this is a common occurence, but is it anything to worry about?

My oil pressure at cold start up is like 70psi, then after it's fully warmed it drops down to about 40-45psi. I like the 0w40 mobil 1. However my oil pressure doesn't change much between that and mobil 1 5w30.

You are fine. Oh and BTW I'm running a ported ls6 pump from Texas-Speed.

I wouldn't treat the readings from the stock oil pressure gauge as an accurate reading. More like a guideline for whether it's low, high or whatever.

Mine is very random... Just if it does drop below 30 you might wanna keep and eye on it for a little.. Once the engine is fully warm that is...

the stock guages arnt that acurate. also the sending unit tends to go bad sending eradic readings. it is possibly a in accurate guage or a bad sending unit. but if it is right then the pressure shouldnt drop much bellow 30psi even at idle. mine runs close to 70 on start up and under heavy throtel and around 40-45 at idle and normal driving

Cold start will always show more oil pressure than when it warms up. You are fine sticking with the factory suggested 5W-30. I would change the filter to a delco or equivilant.

I just changed the oil in my LS1 two days ago, and by changing the oil filter from a Fram to a AC Delco, it gained me a good 10-15+ oil pressure by my stock gage (which as suggested above, isn't that accurate).

70 on start up
damn that is almost too high

My stock guage fluctuated really bad, like from 10 ponds to35 at an idle so i installed a mechanical guage and that one holds steady pressure at bout 40. Made me feel alot better! The stock guage sucks!

damn that is almost too high
it is high but within the gm specs. but then agen i am runing the shity stock guage so it might not even be that high.

My stay close to 3/4 mark all the time constant. ihave the ported ls6 oil pump and i have used mobile one 10-40w and not GC 0-30