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weird oil pressure

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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 12:30 PM
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Default weird oil pressure

my oil pressure needle moves left and right alot. sometimes from 40psi to 20psi at idle..theres days that it seems ok and stays in one place. but most of the time its just shaking and dropping as low as 20psi. it stays there until i start giving it gas, then it goes back up around 30 to 40 then i get a red light and needle starts to shake left and right. its always showing diff. oil pressure. oil pressure at wot is around 55-60..any suggestions of why it does this. thanx for the input...the car is 99ta. 94,XXX miles.

major mods. are heads and cam
ls6 intake
ud. pulley
long tubes. ory pipe. slowmaster
ported stock tb. granetalli maf'
373s

p.s the cars oil pressure was doing this before the heads and cam
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 01:14 PM
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check the pressure sensor behind the intake...
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 01:14 PM
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or could be your oil pump taking a crap...
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 01:27 PM
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my old car had this symptom, turned out it was the oil pump going out
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 01:29 PM
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put a real mechanical gauge on it...the factory unit has been known to give false readings
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 05:44 PM
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My old 98 T/A did the same thing. I swapped out the oil pump with a ported LS6 pump from TSP and swapped out the oil pressure sending unit just for good measure. Problem solved. I would probably just check the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge, see what it is and then go from there. Either that or just swap out the sending unit and if that doesn't fix it swap the pump. Usually that's a pretty good indication that your pump is going though, I'd keep my eye on it.
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 05:53 PM
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same problem with me now , i don't know what is the problem with that , try changing the oil/filter and sending unit oil pressure it's behind the intake and i hope everything will be fine , i'll do that in few days
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 07:51 PM
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thanks to the replies, also what is the price for the sending unit and where can i get it from?
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 07:54 PM
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A place like autozone would probably be the cheapest. Here's the part number and price http://www.autozone.com/selectedZip,.../selectZip.htm
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 07:56 PM
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does the weird oil pressure have anything to do with worn piston rings...when i dynoed my car after the heads and cam on a dynojet it only pumped out 380rwhp 360rwtq...the mechanic couldnt understand the low results...he did a compression test and leak down. after the results he told me that it seems to be my rings.that they were worn out a bit.
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 08:03 PM
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does it matter what yr i get the sending unit for? my car is a 99.
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 08:04 PM
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The 1999 ls1 have issues with the oil pumps failing due to rough machining of the pump housing causing the bypass valves to stick . My car is a 1999 as well and was doing the same thing you are describing . I changed the oil pump out with a ported SLP pump when I did my H/C . My car idles with 60lbs of oil pressure now and never drops below 40 lbs after some hard runs . You should probably change your oil pump out as soon as you can to be safe .
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 08:17 PM
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Originally Posted by qwikbird
does the weird oil pressure have anything to do with worn piston rings...when i dynoed my car after the heads and cam on a dynojet it only pumped out 380rwhp 360rwtq...the mechanic couldnt understand the low results...he did a compression test and leak down. after the results he told me that it seems to be my rings.that they were worn out a bit.
No, your rings won't cause low oil pressure. The rings could however cause low dyno numbers.
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Old Feb 23, 2009 | 08:20 PM
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Originally Posted by qwikbird
does it matter what yr i get the sending unit for? my car is a 99.
Nope, same one. PS391.
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Old Feb 25, 2009 | 12:53 AM
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Ok I'm having major problems with my Z28 and dnt know how to post a new thread to get some advice if someone could help me out and tell me how to post a new thread or just pm me and hopefully give me some advice on why my car wont start and what to look for!!! or send e-mail to sschevelleman08@yahoo.com Thanks again.
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