Odd oil pressure issue. Seeking advice.
Odd oil pressure issue. Seeking advice. I just picked up my second f-body about two months ago. The car is an 01 SS with supposedly a "low mile" 6.0L with unknown cam specs. I drove the car for about 2-3 weeks with zero issues. Oil pressure when I bought the car was great, 40psi warm idle. I decided to go ahead and change the oil since I hit an even mileage, and drove the car for about another week or so after the oil change and now I am experiencing roughly 10-15 psi cold idle and once the car is warmed up it drops to about 2-3 psi at idle and goes up slightly as the engine moves up in the rpm range. I have since stopped driving the car, drained the oil and cut open the filter. Upon inspection of the filter material there were a few very small pieces of metal, maybe 3-5 pieces throughout the entire filter material, and some shavings came out on the drain plug. I dont think there is any serious damage to the engine from the small amount of metal that I found, but I cant wrap my head around what would be the cause of the sudden loss in oil pressure. Ive already hooked up a mechanical gauge to double check the pressure and it was exactly the same as the gauge in the car. So, now I'm in the position of needing opinions on my next steps here. I filled the car back up with new oil and filter and moved it about 30ft to where it is now sitting waiting for me to figure this crap out. Attached are a couple of pictures of the pieces found in the filter material and the drain plug magnet. Thanks in advance!
Zach
Zach
It definitely could be a cam bearing failure. But the timing of it is what would be the surprising part to me. I guess I should also add that there are no odd noises whatsoever as far as a knock, tick, anything of the sort. My first thought was cam bearing. But I also thought that it could possibly be the oil pump itself? I'm leaning towards pulling the pump and tearing it apart but if that all turns out to be in good shape then I guess the next step would be to remove the engine and tear it down for inspection of the bearings. I'd hate to pull the pump out and apart, determine that it "might" be the problem, put everything back together only to still have the same issue. I already have another cam for the car as well, as Im not particularly comfortable having parts in my motor that I have no information on whatsoever.
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2015
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It definitely could be a cam bearing failure. But the timing of it is what would be the surprising part to me. I guess I should also add that there are no odd noises whatsoever as far as a knock, tick, anything of the sort. My first thought was cam bearing. But I also thought that it could possibly be the oil pump itself? I'm leaning towards pulling the pump and tearing it apart but if that all turns out to be in good shape then I guess the next step would be to remove the engine and tear it down for inspection of the bearings. I'd hate to pull the pump out and apart, determine that it "might" be the problem, put everything back together only to still have the same issue. I already have another cam for the car as well, as Im not particularly comfortable having parts in my motor that I have no information on whatsoever.
I had my 2004 Silverado 3/4 ton start knocking and eventually I drove it till it locked up. The oil pressure gauge never worked.
So, that being said, with the new engine I installed Thursday I also went with a mechanical gauge. I highly suggest using a manual gauge to verify your electronic setup is correct. If there is no noise it makes me think cam bearing issues would be the culprit.
So, that being said, with the new engine I installed Thursday I also went with a mechanical gauge. I highly suggest using a manual gauge to verify your electronic setup is correct. If there is no noise it makes me think cam bearing issues would be the culprit.
Still have yet to be able to pull the motor out of the car to inspect it. I'm in the process of building another motor to get ready to go back into the car so I can just swap in a new motor and get the car going again then tear into the old motor when I have time I've started the car every week or so just to keep the fluids circulating and check for noises and still no change. Has about 20psi cold idle and 5ish once warmed up. Changed the oil twice since the initial shavings were found and no more metal has been on the plug or in the filter. I'm going to assume for now that the bypass spring in the pump went bad, lost pressure, took some metal off a cam bearing and I haven't ran it enough since then to cause any more damage. I'll know more when I get the motor out of the car but I'm more concerned with getting the new motor in and tuned at the moment. Going with an iron 6.0, punched out to a 6.2 with flat tops and 243 heads and a polluter v2 cam.
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I had my 2004 Silverado 3/4 ton start knocking and eventually I drove it till it locked up. The oil pressure gauge never worked.
So, that being said, with the new engine I installed Thursday I also went with a mechanical gauge. I highly suggest using a manual gauge to verify your electronic setup is correct. If there is no noise it makes me think cam bearing issues would be the culprit.
So, that being said, with the new engine I installed Thursday I also went with a mechanical gauge. I highly suggest using a manual gauge to verify your electronic setup is correct. If there is no noise it makes me think cam bearing issues would be the culprit.
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Verdad Gallardo Definitely could be an oring issue. And with me not knowing the history of the motor that's in the car who the hell knows honestly until I get it apart for inspection. That's on my list of things to check for sure. Thanks for the input.
On The Tree
Joined: Jun 2012
Posts: 122
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JUST a thought...
With all that metal in there, was thinking, perhaps its the oil pump bypass piston stuck open just ever so slightly and now since the oil pressure never gets high enough to dislodge it, it just runs low oil pressure.. but again just a though!
Not sure if it would even build pressure, i know mine didn't when the bypass piston was stuck open, from metals, but mine was stuck wide open..
Hope ya figure it out soon.. peace
Oh and id think if it was an o-ring issue, you would be having lifter noise.. also, your dip stick would have bubbles all over after running a good bit at higher rpm.. if you happened to check your stick before... but i so wouldn't run it now to test.. !!
With all that metal in there, was thinking, perhaps its the oil pump bypass piston stuck open just ever so slightly and now since the oil pressure never gets high enough to dislodge it, it just runs low oil pressure.. but again just a though!
Not sure if it would even build pressure, i know mine didn't when the bypass piston was stuck open, from metals, but mine was stuck wide open..
Hope ya figure it out soon.. peace
Oh and id think if it was an o-ring issue, you would be having lifter noise.. also, your dip stick would have bubbles all over after running a good bit at higher rpm.. if you happened to check your stick before... but i so wouldn't run it now to test.. !!
Last edited by the404man; Nov 24, 2015 at 10:58 PM.
Just got the word that my replacement motor is done from the machine shop. Nothing yet on the motor in the car currently, it has just been sitting waiting for the new motor to get machine work done. Now trying to find the time to actually pick the motor up (since I work in Dallas the the machine shop I used is in Longview).
Back from the dead. After moving myself and the car back to East Texas from the DFW area I finally got some time to dig into it. I went ahead and decided to put a new oil pump in the car since I already had a new Melling pump on hand. Got everything swapped out, pump I pulled out of the car looked damn near brand new as did everything else thats accessible from the timing cover. Put the car all back together and voila...same exact pressure issues as before. 15-20psi cold idle, take it around the block to warm up and it will fluctuate from 0-5psi once the engine and oil are hot.
