Oil pressure Issue

maddogg20

New Member
Hey guys quick question,

Im kinda at my witts end with this car. I had my oil pressure light on last week so i went ahead and changed my oil pump. Well the one I got had a bad front seal and it pissed oil all over the place so i had to take it apart again and put a new seal on it. heres whats going on now. When I start the car the oil light is off, and i can see oil spraying from the jets under the oil cap, but after i drive it a bit the light comes on dim. Not fully lit but I can see it if its dark out. I can still see oil getting sprayed from the jets but It has me seriously worried. heres what Im wondering....

I do know that my headers come VERY close to the side of the oil pump, and Im wondering if it could be superheating the oil and causing it to thin out to the point where it wont maintain pressure. has anyone had this issue before? I was using 10w30 and now im trying 15w40 in it to see if it made any difference.

I was also looking at the wiring schematics in the book, and it looks like the oil pressure sender wire goes through something called the integrated control unit, which it says is located by the fuse panel, in the drivers side footwell. I know that the car has had some electrical issues before and im wondering if this control unit could be causing the problem.

One more thing. The car was run for a while without coolant before I got it, they just had water in it and when i took the head off to do the head gasket i found some of the 1/4 inch coolant lines plugged up with crud, could a plugged oil cooler be causing the oil to overheat?

Sorry for blabbing soo much im just literally at my witts end as i have spent more time under the car than inside of it. ANY help would be much appreciated.

Andy

PS. Im gonna try to get a hold oif a mechanical gauge to see whats going on tomorrow.
i did pull one main cap and one rod cap when i had the pan off, and the bearings looked like they were in good shape.
 

mirrorimg

Well-Known Member
It may just be a faulty sender unit. Get a gauge on there and give us some readings. There really isnt much diagnosing other than that. Either you have low oil pressure, or the unit is bad.

If you do have low pressure, it would be from excess clearance (wear) at the main/rod bearings. If its been doing this for a while, and you are still driving it, I highly doubt its an oiling issue.
 

Prozon

Kris
Head to Autozone or something and pick up an oil gauge for $20. I just removed my stock oil sending unit from my car.
 


maddogg20

New Member
well guys.... fixed the icu, and still oil pressure light. Im gonna stick the mech gauge on it today. If its not to my liking looks like ill be tearing it down and doing a rebuild. Anyone have any suggestions as to which brand of bearings to use? I usually use clevite, or king.
 

Prozon

Kris
I doubt you have an oil pressure problem. It's probably somewhere in the wiring, or the gauge.
Let us know how that mechanical gauge works out, and if get an oil gauge with the nylon hose make sure its not kinked or it will not show oil pressure correctly.
 

maddogg20

New Member
I was thinking it was a wiring problem, so i disconnected the harness going to the sender, and disconnected it where it goes into the firewall and checked for a short to ground, and i couldnt find one, then i tested the wiring inside the car, still no short to ground. if the gauge verifies that I have oil pressure im gonna run a dedicated wire from the ICU to the sender directly. Ill probably get an aftermarket gauge with an electric sender. I have had a mechanical gauge in both of my old cars, one had the nylon line and the other had the copper, lol they both broke at some point and covered me in oil hahahah.
 

maddogg20

New Member
lol i got the mechanical gauge on it and it read 80 at cold idlke, so yeaa, id say thats enough. Strangely enough, when I put the old pressure sender back on the light didnt come back on so thats a good sign :) I took her for the first real drive last night and damn it felt good!!! Thanks guys.

Andy
 
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