Nervous Purchasing Car, Need Yalls Feedback
Nervous Purchasing Car, Need Yalls Feedback Been talking with this guy about purchasing his 2002 Camaro SS. He had starting parting out heads etc and was reinstalling stock 241 heads and stock ls6 intake. It has SNS stage 3 cam, btr springs etc. Car has 111,xxx miles. I'm getting pretty excited now we've agreed on price, retuned etc. He had told me oil and fuel pressures were good and no worries. Now that everything has been reinstalled and tuned he tells me this after I ask him if stock intake and Throttle Body were ported:
"No they are untouched. So when i put the ls6 intake back on i snapped the oil pressure sensor. The new sensor my local partstore has was a bwd sensor instead of the ac delco the oil pressure is not reading between 30 at idle and 45 under load. My tuner states its perfectly find and that is just the way the different brand sensors work. I just wanted to let you know that from where we talked about it."
This makes me nervous. What is y'alls take?
"No they are untouched. So when i put the ls6 intake back on i snapped the oil pressure sensor. The new sensor my local partstore has was a bwd sensor instead of the ac delco the oil pressure is not reading between 30 at idle and 45 under load. My tuner states its perfectly find and that is just the way the different brand sensors work. I just wanted to let you know that from where we talked about it."
This makes me nervous. What is y'alls take?
He replied
The only thing that would have any effect on the oil pressure difference would be the different sensor. I'll order an acdelco sensor and put it in to see if it thats the difference. I just found it odd bc the heads shouldn't cause the difference.
The only thing that would have any effect on the oil pressure difference would be the different sensor. I'll order an acdelco sensor and put it in to see if it thats the difference. I just found it odd bc the heads shouldn't cause the difference.
TECH Resident
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 967
Likes: 53
From: Winter Haven FL
The oil pressure switch almost always breaks when doing an intake swap. The generic store brand sensor isn't as accurate as the delco. It all sounds normal to me. If you're really worried throw a mechanical pressure guage on it and see what it says.
The sensor simply provides a voltage based on pressure. Sounds like the sensor he installed isn't accurate, or the alternative is the car doesn't have the oil pressure it should. Once the AC Delco sensor is installed, check the oil pressure. If still low, then it would be your call whether you still want the car.
Why is he selling?
Why is he selling?
To me it's really simple, someone you don't know or necessarily trust was into the top end of the engine. It sounds like that person changed course after getting into the motor and buttoned it back up. There might be a really good reason for that...that wasn't shared.
A cheap oil sensor was used. Oil pressure appears low. Maybe the sensor reads low or maybe it reads high. Who knows.
I'd favor putting a mechanical gauge on and seeing what the oil pressure really both cold and hot after running for say 45 minutes in traffic.
I've seen cars that had the oil pressure drop from 45 cold to 5 when fully warmed up and hot 45 minutes of driving. That's with the dipstick reading full.
May will say that's overly cautious but I didn't have any issues finding an 02 Z28 that the oil pressure reads 40 hot last year. Best to get a car your certain about.
A cheap oil sensor was used. Oil pressure appears low. Maybe the sensor reads low or maybe it reads high. Who knows.
I'd favor putting a mechanical gauge on and seeing what the oil pressure really both cold and hot after running for say 45 minutes in traffic.
I've seen cars that had the oil pressure drop from 45 cold to 5 when fully warmed up and hot 45 minutes of driving. That's with the dipstick reading full.
May will say that's overly cautious but I didn't have any issues finding an 02 Z28 that the oil pressure reads 40 hot last year. Best to get a car your certain about.
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TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2018
Posts: 635
Likes: 329
From: Missouri
What catches my mind is he was parting the car out to get the good parts off to keep or sell. So that should tell me the price should be on point. What's the car look like? Body clean? Underside rust free? Is it the kind off deal where its wourth it Evan with a oil psi problem? Just curious .
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12 Second Club
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 1,033
Likes: 223
From: San Antonio
The oil pressure difference sounds normal. I just changed the oil pressure sensor on my car. The new sensor (Duralast) reads about 20 psi lower than the original sensor. I noticed that the Duralast sensor has longer threads, so that's probably why it reads differently. As long as I have oil pressure, I don't worry too much about it.
To me it's really simple, someone you don't know or necessarily trust was into the top end of the engine. It sounds like that person changed course after getting into the motor and buttoned it back up. There might be a really good reason for that...that wasn't shared.
A cheap oil sensor was used. Oil pressure appears low. Maybe the sensor reads low or maybe it reads high. Who knows.
I'd favor putting a mechanical gauge on and seeing what the oil pressure really both cold and hot after running for say 45 minutes in traffic.
I've seen cars that had the oil pressure drop from 45 cold to 5 when fully warmed up and hot 45 minutes of driving. That's with the dipstick reading full.
May will say that's overly cautious but I didn't have any issues finding an 02 Z28 that the oil pressure reads 40 hot last year. Best to get a car your certain about.
A cheap oil sensor was used. Oil pressure appears low. Maybe the sensor reads low or maybe it reads high. Who knows.
I'd favor putting a mechanical gauge on and seeing what the oil pressure really both cold and hot after running for say 45 minutes in traffic.
I've seen cars that had the oil pressure drop from 45 cold to 5 when fully warmed up and hot 45 minutes of driving. That's with the dipstick reading full.
May will say that's overly cautious but I didn't have any issues finding an 02 Z28 that the oil pressure reads 40 hot last year. Best to get a car your certain about.