camaromanalways

alrighty...
my camaro is a great running car, purrs like one angry kitty... but i have one issue which is making my life difficult...
when i started up the maro.. obviously it was cold.. and my oil pressure gauge was right in the middle at idle... no problems so far... because my camaro had a dead battery i was giving it some gas, then letting it idle for a bit and just doing an overall check...
the car was running for about a half hour and after a few revvs, the oil pressure gauge was hovering just above the 0 at idle, and when i gave it some gas it would go up one notch and then when i let off, it would go right back to just above 0
now.. as i'm in the car revving it through this time.. i see the needle slowly go lower and lower with every rev
the only thing i can think of (with limited knowledge) is an oil pump going bad or a head gasket.... again.. that is with very limited knowledge



and then today...
i went out today and i had the same issue with the car... when it warmed up (a half hour later) the oil pressure hovered just above the 0 at idle and went up when revved to about the first notch, then goes right back down to just above the 0.... now... i also noticed that the heat gauge was slowly inching it's way up into the danger zone

also.. the radiator fluid looks great (no oil in it), i did the trick with the radiator cap.. where ya start it up cold and if there's fluid that comes shooting out it's a head gasket... nothing came shooting out.. so i am checking that off of the list of possible problems, and the oil cap on the heads looks like new (it hasn't been replaced) and i've been told if it looks coffee colored, there's a chance of oil mixed with water, so i'm checking that off

any help would be greatly appreciated
thanks,
TJ

camaromanalways

also it's a LT1 350 auto

96ZCamaro

What oil weight are you using in it.

ssbowtie1

First thing to do is get a mechanical oil pressure gauge and hook it up to verify whether the oil pressure really is that low or if its just your sending unit/gauge.

If the oil pressure is low even on the mechanical gauge, then you have some internal problems (bearings, oil pump shot, etc etc)

camaromanalways

i'm using 10W30

and it's going to be a while before i can get a mechanical gauge, so as far as i know... it's either the oil pump or the gauge
because the oil looks great, no grain to it

mrmint69

With just low oil pressure it could be a gauge but with the temperature going to high sounds like a lot more. Is the engine making anymore noise than usual?

camaromanalways

nope, engine is pretty quiet, and the temp isn't going too high as in danger zone (aka the red zone), just a little higher than the middle of the gauge.

camaromanalways

alright, i went out this morning and started her up... now i'm watching the gauge like a hawk... and i noticed that when it was at idle (800rpms) the oil pressure was as i mentioned before.. just hovering over the 0 just above the red line... but the one new thing i realized was that when i gave it gas up to about 1200 rpms, it took the gauge about 2-3 seconds to kick up a little... would this be more of a sign of a bad gauge (i know i need to hook up a mechanical gauge, but i'm going back to school in 2 hours) or is it still a possible bad bearing/pump/gauge... i'm just looking to narrow it down in the meantime

thanks as always,
TJ

'94 Bad A Z28

SO you are driving the car around like this, knowing that there is a possibility that there is very little to no oil pressure? Not such a smart thing to do, hopefully for your sake it is just a bad sending unit, but more than likely it's a bearing or the pump. How many miles are on the car? What is done to it, if anything?


You keep saying that the pressure is about normal on a cold start up and then drops to almost nothing when the car warms up. That would lead me to believe that it is a problem with the rod bearings.


Cold start = cold oil = thick oil to coat everything normal.
Warm/hot motor = warm/hot oil = thin oil to coat everything normal with proper bearing clearances. Improper clearances = loss of oil pressure.

ssbowtie1

You're not going to get anything narrowed down by posting here. No one here is going to give you a definitive answer because this kind of stuff takes diagnosing. You just have to get that mechanical gauge on there to really be able to start tracking down the problem. You can always try replacing the sending unit, but it sucks just throwing parts at a car that you don't even know are broken.

BTC

Imo, you really, really need to put a mechanical gauge on your car and find out whether your dash gauge is providing accurate information. It's fairly easy to hook one up. Assuming you have the necessary tools, you could easily put it on and take it off in 2 hours.

If it were me, I wouldn't be driving the car without knowing whether the oil pressure is adequate.

Danny McAdams

You are describing symptoms of bad main or cam bearings or both, stop reving the eng. and put a gauge on it before its trashed. D Mc

moparman

Have you purchased a guage? They're not very expensive.

camaromanalways

to everyone asking if i'm driving it around like this... no i am not.. my license is still shot until april, i just got back from college and wanted to make sure she still ran and wanted to start her up, so when i was home i warmed her up in my garage for the last 3 days.

plus i'm back at school so i can't get anything done until i finally get back home in may.

camaromanalways

that's what i'm afraid of.. lol

123K miles on car, everything stock, motor has never been apart. no i'm not driving it around, it has a blown tire and i dont have my license back until april.