ok, my sister has a 2.3l that is making about 20psi of oil pressure at idle and when you rev it, the oil pressure drops....so says the shop its at. i have a 5.0 so not familiar with the 2.3 at all. it needs a new oil pump and the shop wants almost $800 which is way more then she can afford. i do all the work on my own car but like i said, i dont know anything about her car. how hard is it to change out the oil pump? its at the shop now so i cant even look at it to see how hard it would be to pull the pan down. if its like my 5.0 i know the k member runs right through the middle of the pan and the pan wraps around the k member making it a nightmare to do. any help would be great guys, thanks
oil pump is dead, need help!!
- Thread starter luckythirteen13
- Start date
Camaros4Life
New Member
Its not worth $800. Its not a pain like a 5.0. You don't need to pull the motor unless you just want to. Buy a haynes or chilton if you don't already have one. They walk you through it. It will take you all day by yourself. And a 5 speed is a little easier. You may have $100 in parts, oil pump, gaskets, oil, etc.
it was advised to me that i should try to do an oil change since the engine only has 70k miles on it orriginal and was a show car for a while. they said maybe the oil filter is clogged. i put in a new filter and some good oil. started the motor and at first it sounded like rockers knocking but then all of a sudden the oil gauge went from the red up to the half way mark. i would think that this is where it should be. do you guys know where the oil sender is, i cant seem to find it anywhere. im not exactly sure what it looks like and my haynes manual wasnt much help. i want to hook up a mechanical gauge and test it with the fresh oil and filter. also eliminate the gauge as "reliable" if its not.
Stinger
Founding Member
The pump is fine, the problem is the pump pickup screen is clogged up from chunks of the cork oil pan gasket that has eroded away over time...clean the screen, refill with oil...drive away.
BTW, in my 2.3 tech section on my site, I have a step by step guide on how to do it...
BTW, in my 2.3 tech section on my site, I have a step by step guide on how to do it...
evintho
20+ Year Stangneter 
This is what the oil pressure sending unit looks like.
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=ACD&mfrpartnumber=F1801&parttype=417&ptset=A
It's located in the side of the block, directly behind the intake manifold, right below the rear of the valve cover. I had the same issue with my gauge reading very low. I swapped in a new sending unit and the gauge went back to where is was supposed to be!
http://www.partsamerica.com/ProductDetail.aspx?mfrcode=ACD&mfrpartnumber=F1801&parttype=417&ptset=A
It's located in the side of the block, directly behind the intake manifold, right below the rear of the valve cover. I had the same issue with my gauge reading very low. I swapped in a new sending unit and the gauge went back to where is was supposed to be!
well your news is good but not great. that still means the pan has to come down and thats the hard part.
one thing ive heard of is to clean gunk out of an engine, people (old timers) put one quart of automatic trans fluid in with the regular engine oil and drive it around for 500-1000 miles. because of all the cleaning agents in the trans fluid, the egine is cleaned of all of its junk thats in the oil system. then after the 500-1000 miles, drain the oil and put in fresh engine oil. do you think this may work?
one thing ive heard of is to clean gunk out of an engine, people (old timers) put one quart of automatic trans fluid in with the regular engine oil and drive it around for 500-1000 miles. because of all the cleaning agents in the trans fluid, the egine is cleaned of all of its junk thats in the oil system. then after the 500-1000 miles, drain the oil and put in fresh engine oil. do you think this may work?
bubba-dough
Active Member
My 5.0 was clattery at start-up after it sat all night, then it quieted down. A year later the oil pump drive shaft twisted apart. Maybe it was the pump maybe the drive shaft, I dunno but I got a 347 stroker out of it 
Good luck to you though.
Good luck to you though.
Stinger
Founding Member
Tranny fluid won't help in this case...it won't eat the cork gasket off the screen...it will just clean the "rest" of the engine.
Listen to Stinger! If not gasket cork, then posibly pieces of valve seals. In any case, The pickup being clogged is the most likely cause of oil pressure drop as you describe it. You do not have to fully remove the oil pan to replace or remove, clean and replace the pickup tube. In an emergency (no money), get a tube of RTV and forget the gasket cleanup. By the way... If the pickup ever gets fully plugged, there is a built in bypass that will let oil through, but it will let chunks of junk through to the pump also. Goodbye pump & engine if you keep running it!
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