predatorz28

My oil pressure gauge has been reading high lately, almost 80 psi at cold startup and stays up there till the engine warms up to operating temp where it goes to about 50. I made a thread about this a couple weeks ago and came to the conclusion that I didn't have anything to worry about, but now I'm convinced that something is up. Leaving the store today I started it up, car still warm, and the oil pressure gauge pegged itself all the way to the right. Shut the car off the the needle went to 20 psi, which is also odd. Started it up again and went to 70 psi. Car still drives exactly like it did before this happened. Am I right in thinking its the sending unit, and how hard is it to change it out? Thanks

conan

iTrader: (5)

The sending unit is right behind the intake manifold, next to the cam sensor. I would swap it out oil pressure is important.

bww3588

iTrader: (49)

Get a mechanical gauge on it. You could very well have a stuck pressure relief spring in the oil pump.

predatorz28

Would a bad sending unit not read high like this? Or would it just read low?

boostit5.3

iTrader: (3)

with the car off does it sit on 20?? might be a stuck gauge it thinks its on 0 but its really on 20

predatorz28

It stays around 20 when the car is off, but as soon as I turn the key forward to turn on the electronics it goes down to 0. I am at a loss as to what to try to fix this.

GMtechmatt

get a mechanical gauge on it and go from there its your best bet

boostit5.3

iTrader: (3)

yep, the mechanical gauge wont lie... when was the last oil change? is it possibly a clogged filter??

predatorz28

The gauge started reading higher like this right after the last oil change, so that is definitely possible. I usually use the mobil 1 filter but I am using a K&N this time, maybe its defective. I am going to start with changing out the filter first and see if that solves it.

boostit5.3

iTrader: (3)

true... i thinks its the fram filters that are more prone to be clogged when new, but you never know.