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Lost oil pressure

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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 08:44 AM
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Default Lost oil pressure

Installed a cam last night. started it up everything was fine. drove it home, about 30mins. seemed fine. the pressure would drop a bit when it would idle, but staying between 20-40. pulled in my drive and it stalled (still not tuned). when I went to restart it I noticed it had 0 oil pressure. pulled into garage and shut it off. it was 3am so i went to bed. started it very briefly this morning and no pressure.

Last edited by 00silverGTP; Mar 22, 2010 at 09:22 AM.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 09:41 AM
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I just wanna add that I did the swap for him and here is what I did. Instead of fighting with the rear bolt on the pickup tube, I just swapped out the pump gear from the ls6 to the ls1. I never took the pick up tube off the the pump or loosened it. So the o ring was never out of the pump nor was the pickup tube. There was no noises when the car died from what he told me when he drove it home and none when he started it this morning.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 09:59 AM
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Honestly sounds like the o ring blew off and somehow the pump ran dry. But i would start easy first and check oil pressure sending unit/ gauge, also before you start ripping it apart.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 10:33 AM
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Originally Posted by MJR7AD
Honestly sounds like the o ring blew off and somehow the pump ran dry. But i would start easy first and check oil pressure sending unit/ gauge, also before you start ripping it apart.
Any reason why it would blow it off. I never took the o ring out of the pump. Honestly the pump never even got loosened off the motor. I just took the front cover plate off of it and swapped gears. Would it ironically be the sending unit even though the intake manifold was never off and we were never near the sending unit or the plug itself. Any easy way to check the sending unit to see if it is working properly?
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 05:08 PM
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i would look at the oil pump
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 05:28 PM
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you took the pump apart and swapped gears? did you center the gear properly when you installed it? i would look into the pump. if you didnt center it properly when you installed it, there is a chance the gear galled the housing.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 09:23 PM
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Yes brandon that is what we did. not sure on the centering. I think the gears were just set in there. I just find it strange the pressure was fine the whole 30 min drive home, then just went to 0 all the sudden. I changed the oil tonight hoping the filter was clogged or something and still no movement from the gauge.

is there a way to manually check the pressure?
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 09:28 PM
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Originally Posted by bww3588
you took the pump apart and swapped gears? did you center the gear properly when you installed it? i would look into the pump. if you didnt center it properly when you installed it, there is a chance the gear galled the housing.
Yes I did center it. I am also thinking the pump might have took a dump or something. We got another to toss in I just dread removing the pickup tube. No biggie, if it comes to that then so be it.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 09:37 PM
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so you had feeler gages in there when you reinstalled the bolts and tightened the pump? also did you replace the cam retainer plate? torque the bolts down properly? Ive seen this situation 2 times in the last month where the gasket on the retainer plate was flatened out and did not seal properly and then the motor has little or no oil pressure.
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Old Mar 22, 2010 | 10:32 PM
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Originally Posted by 00silverGTP
Yes brandon that is what we did. not sure on the centering. I think the gears were just set in there. I just find it strange the pressure was fine the whole 30 min drive home, then just went to 0 all the sudden. I changed the oil tonight hoping the filter was clogged or something and still no movement from the gauge.

is there a way to manually check the pressure?
to be honest, even if the gears werent centered properly using the feeler gauges, you wouldnt just suddenly lose oil pressure. i would put my money on a faulty sending unit.

my advice is to get a mechanical gauge and check it that way. on the front of the block, drivers side, directly behind the alternator there is a plug with a hex head. take that out and get a fitting to fit into it and a few adapters to your mechanical gauge. that plug is the main oil galley. once you get the mechanical gauge hooked up, pull the fuel pump fuse and both plugs to the coil packs just to prevent it from starting, and have someone crank it over while you watch the gauge. if you get pressure that holds, put the fuse back in and connect the coil packs and let it fire. if you get pressure, your oil pressure sending unit is bad.

if you still have the filter, cut it open and see whats inside of it. just to be on the safe side.
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Old Mar 23, 2010 | 11:42 AM
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ok, I will check that in the next couple days. thanks.
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Old Mar 23, 2010 | 06:53 PM
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My engine slowly lost oil pressure over a 2 hour span. I suspected faulty sending unit and went on my merry

Turned out it was the bypass plunger stuck. I confirmed this by spinning the engine over with the oil pressure sender removed. New pump and all is well again

Why bother touching the oil pump if you arent going to drop the pan? See what halfassing things gets you
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Old Mar 23, 2010 | 08:06 PM
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easy now...not everyone is a Tech 12 mechanic like yourself, everyone makes mistakes. and whos to say its the oil pump?
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Old Mar 24, 2010 | 10:07 PM
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well its not the sending unit. onto to pump.....
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Old Mar 25, 2010 | 12:21 AM
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please keep use posted
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Old Mar 25, 2010 | 06:23 AM
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easy now...not everyone is a Tech 12 mechanic like yourself, everyone makes mistakes. and whos to say its the oil pump?
Experience

Dont fret about your engine running dry for a little while. If it hasnt spun a bearing, then retorque the rocket bolts and run it with the new pump (assuming you see pressure like you should). These engines are pretty tough inside
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Old Mar 25, 2010 | 06:27 AM
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Originally Posted by MJR7AD
Honestly sounds like the o ring blew off and somehow the pump ran dry. But i would start easy first and check oil pressure sending unit/ gauge, also before you start ripping it apart.
Before taking this person's advice, consider that the oil pump o-ring operates under a vacuum, not pressure.
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Old Mar 28, 2010 | 08:38 PM
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changed the pump and all is well. thanks for the ideas.
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