Skillhouette

I just picked up a Trans Am... LS1 M6... 83k miles... Anyways... It runs great... no complaints... Tranny is awesome.. But i have noticed The oil gauge and the temp gauge are a little strange sometimes... Most of the time they are in the perfect range... However, They seem to flutter a little... Which leads me to believe they arent working that good... The other day... While driving the oil gauge was just sitting under 40 which was at idle (while i think is normal?). When i drove an brought the RPM's up the gauge moved to about 40 ever so slightly maybe a little past... Now today when i was driving her I was right at 40 and building pressure with the RPM's exactly like it should be doing... Also the day it was reading low pressure... i had pulled into the gas station to check my oil level... The temp gauge was sitting just at 210... After filling gas, i started the car back up... The temp gauge was at what would be about 230-240 if there were numbers... But quickly dropped back to just a hair past 210 and stayed there... It was a hot day so the temp gauge i can understand an the fans were on for about a minute after i started her back up... But the oil gauge is the one thats bothering me... I mean is there anything that can happen to keep it from building pressure with the RPM's? The gauge was at the same place it usually idles at when warm which is a little under 40.. I am pretty sure its got to be the gauge considering it has that strange richter scale movement occasionally (Not a large range of movement when this happens)... But i had to ask... If anyone else ever see's this... Or any other suggestions you all could give me... Maybe the gauge sticks? I dunno.. But everything was fine today.. So i dont know if there is anything wrong besides a messed up stock gauge.. Car still felt really strong when the gauge was showing low (Or gauge was not moving)... But any suggestions of anything i should look over if there is something that can make my pressure fluctuate like that... Hopefully just a crappy stock gauge!! Thanks all

smcnealy

The hottest the coolant gets is a couple minutes after you turn the car off. It's still pulling some heat from the still quite hot engine and the water pump isn't on so the radiator isn't doing much to put that heat in the air. If you restart the engine it should cool to operating temp pretty quick with the pump and all the fans working.

I've had a Jeep explode coolant all over the ground (they had a closed system for a few years in the late 80s) when I was about to restart the engine after pumping gas. That's just when it's hottest (and has the most pressure if you're like Jeep and don't have a radiator cap). Jeep did scrap that design.

Gauge

iTrader: (3)

When your engine is hot, oil pressure will fall some as the viscosity drops. During the summer, I run 10w40 to combat this instead of the 10w30 that I run during the winter. 40psi on a hot day is not abnormal at all for these cars.

Skillhouette

Well thats good to know... Today on the way to work (another hot day) There is absolutely no problems... Not low actually the past 2 days it has been staying above 40 on the stock gauge. Just that one day was strange... Is it abnormal for an engine to show minimal to no oil pressure gauge building with the rpm's on a hot day? That was really my only concern... Maybe i have to look into replacing the gauge/sensor... Anyways thanks a lot for the replys guys... I was getting past 60 on my gauge just over 2k rpm's on the way to work... An it was staying above about 50 at idle... Must have been the heat and a bad day for the stocker gauge... Thanks alot!! I am not even sure what oil is in the car right now either! I know i know.. i have only had the car for 4 days an have been working... I am gonna get it changed ASAP and flush out the radiator etc... Living in Los Angeles, I Figured 10w40 would probably be the smart year round choice? Please correct me if i am wrong... Thanks again guys