Engine Now Wtf? - Oil Pressure

cdurbin · Aug 2, 2012

Now my oil pressure gauge is reading on the low side.
I just noticed on the way home from work that the needle is really low. WTF?
I checked it when I got home at it appears to be full of oil. I don't see any puddles in the driveway or smell oil burning.

a91what · Aug 2, 2012

Check the pressure sending unit if it becomes clogged with age the oil pressure reading will be low. If it has any gunk in it a new one is cheap. It could very well be another issue but this is cheap and easy place to start.

stykthyn · Aug 2, 2012

a91what said:
Check the pressure sending unit if it becomes clogged with age the oil pressure reading will be low. If it has any gunk in it a new one is cheap. It could very well be another issue but this is cheap and easy place to start.

This. Get an oil pressure gauge to go along with the water temp one. Here is my set up.

stykthyn · Aug 2, 2012

cdurbin · Aug 2, 2012

stykthyn said:

Nice.
Well I went and got a new sending unit and stuff to go ahead and do an oil change.
The guy I bought it from said he's been using synthetic so I stuck with that.
When I drained the oil I didn't get hardly anything. I guess the damn thing was about out of oil.
I bet I only got about 2 qts to drain if that.. Apparently I'm retarded and can't read an oil dipstick becuase I checked it when I bought it last week and I swore it was good.Anyway, I put in 5 qts and changed out the sending unit and she's sitting right dead in the middle again. Hopefully that is fixed.
Dumb question...when I just checked the oil after filling it, the dipstick is hard a hell to read. The oil is way up past the "full" mark. I've wiped and retried and it is just hard to read. I know damn well it's full though.

jsw81 · Aug 2, 2012

Did you drain the oil from both front and rear drain plugs? You may have just wasted a bunch of oil by mixing new with old....

cdurbin · Aug 2, 2012

hell no! I didn' t know there were 2. now what? it's probably way too full.

jsw81 · Aug 2, 2012

drain both and refill with new oil

cdurbin · Aug 2, 2012

jsw81 said:
drain both and refill with new oil

Well, now that I feel like a total idiot....

Thanks for calling me out on that. That would not have been good.

I drained them both a refilled with new. It was pretty dang full too...lol
Looked a whole lot cleaner on the dipstick too.
That was one expensive oil change.
Thanks again

stykthyn · Aug 3, 2012

Here's hoping that doesn't happen again

cdurbin · Aug 3, 2012

stykthyn said:
Here's hoping that doesn't happen again

No doubt. Glad I didn't learn that one the hard way.
BTW, I put 5W-30 in there. Should I have used 10W-30?

Noobz347 · Aug 3, 2012

cdurbin said:
No doubt. Glad I didn't learn that one the hard way.
BTW, I put 5W-30 in there. Should I have used 10W-30?

5W-30 is fine... Used mostly by Canadians though. Brrrrrr.

cdurbin · Aug 3, 2012

Drove the ol' girl today and everything seems ok with the oil pressure.
It sits at the half way point while diving and drops just a hair below that during idle.
I went ahead and got another after market gauge though. I just don't trust the factory ones at this point.
They're old like me.

jrichker · Aug 3, 2012

You are right - the dipstick is difficult to read, and the factory markings are pure fantasy

Here's a simple fix.

Change the oil, fill the new filter a full as you can get it without spilling a bunch of it when you screw the filter back on. Add the partially empty oil bottle to the crankcase plus 3 more quarts. Check for leaks and loose things like the two drain plugs. Start the car, check for leaks again : this mixes the oil in the filter with the rest of the oil, giving you a full 4 quarts in the pan when it settles. Shut the car off and go have a soda or some other cool refreshment: that will give all the oil the chance to drain back into the oil pan. Come back remove the dipstick and use a round file to make a pair of marks to indicate the 4 quart oil level. Add the 5th quart and repeat the file marking process. The round file reduces the chance of any cracks developing in the dipstick. Some cars have a 1/16" or smaller hole drilled in the dipstick instead of a mark on the dipstick. This requires a drill press and a high speed 135 degree cobalt drill bit. Be sure to wipe all the metal filings off the dipstick before putting it back in the oil pan.

stykthyn · Aug 3, 2012

That is diabolically ingenious.

cdurbin · Aug 4, 2012

Well now today the oil pressure gauge was showing low again and then went back up to half and then dropped again.
All this while idling in the driveway. I checked it and it's full of oil. ???

a91what · Aug 4, 2012

uuuhhh did anyone read what i said..... i dont post for no reason.

cdurbin · Aug 5, 2012

a91what said:
uuuhhh did anyone read what i said..... i dont post for no reason.

I sure did. The first thing I did was replace the sending unit. It still had the factory one on it. That seemed to fix the problem for 1 day and then yesterday it started showing low again. The weird thing is that it shows low then normal then low again. I think the gauge is going bad, maybe?

cdurbin · Aug 5, 2012

I drove the car this morning to church. I started it up and it was sitting at the half way mark. Drove down the street, filled up with gas, started it up and it's low again. Drove it on to church came out, started it up and it's sitting at the halfway mark again. I ordered another gauge to match the water temp gauge I bought. I just hope it's the gauge and not my oil pump...

BrokenPony · Aug 6, 2012

This sounds too familiar to me. How long did you run it without oil?

Engine Now Wtf? - Oil Pressure

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