Low Oil Pressure

[Ant85]

I'm going to change out the oil sending unit tomorrow and hope that this fixes it, but since it happened because I was doing something stupid I am a bit worried. I know the gauges in these cars suck. Long story short, I felt the need to beat a yellow light turning red by throwing it down in second, flooring it to get through the light... I know.... Stupid, but I only drive this car maybe 2 days a week so why not have a little fun(or stupid). I probably took it up to about 4,000 RPM then put it in neutral once I knew I wasn't going to stop at the light. Made the stop at the gas station. Started it back up and noticed the needle one bar above the red line. Before this at idle it would be in the middle or a little lower. Before this when accelerating it would read above the middle, now it's below the middle. While driving the 15 minute drive home it seemed to be reading lower and lower at both driving and at idle. I checked the oil level and it was still good. Like I said I'm going to start with the oil sending unit and hope this fixes it, but I'm afraid it's not with the bad luck I've had with this car. If this does fix it, I know the next thing will be new gauges but I already have a laundry list of things that I need to do before I think about buying aftermarket gauges.

 

[stykthyn]

Running up to 4k shouldn't have hurt anything. Change the sending unit. Any strange sounds or smoke?

 

[2000xp8]

Even if you change the sending unit (which is rarely bad), you aren't going to get an accurate reading anyway.
An autometer mechanical oil pressure gauge isn't that expensive. (i prefer full sweep) And it will be something that you use for the life of the car.

 

[cdurbin]

I had the same issue with my stock gauge right after I bought the car.
I changed the sending unit and it didn't fix the problem. I did as 2000xp8 recommended and installed Autometer mechanical gauges for oil pressure and water temp. Fixed the problem and I haven't had any issues since. Plus they look pretty sweet.

 

[Grabbin' Asphalt]

I had the same issue with my stock gauge right after I bought the car.
I changed the sending unit and it didn't fix the problem. I did as 2000xp8 recommended and installed Autometer mechanical gauges for oil pressure and water temp. Fixed the problem and I haven't had any issues since. Plus they look pretty sweet.

Anything on your ride would look sweet, ...always loved that color!!! Came real close to swapping to that

 

[84Ttop]

Another vote for a mechanical gauge here!

 

[cdurbin]

Anything on your ride would look sweet, ...always loved that color!!! Came real close to swapping to that

Thanks man, I appreciate it. It's come along way but still has a ways to go.
I suppose it will never truly be "done".
Heck, I'm diggin the blue on yours myself.

 

[Grabbin' Asphalt]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. It's come along way but still has a ways to go.
I suppose it will never truly be "done".
Heck, I'm diggin the blue on yours myself.

I know right, its never done

 

[Shakerhood]

My sending unit went bad earlier this summer, the needle was hanging near the bottom and would bounce here and there.

 

[elarm1]

You broke it. I'll be on my way down to Richmond to pick it up....

 

[Ant85]

I'll look into gauges then. I was gonna go ahead and do the sending unit since its cheap.

Elarm1 - you can buy it lol

 

[7991LXnSHO]

A "t" and a basic gauge is $20 at the right parts place. It is good piece of mind and you may luck out.
A sudden shift of RPM could have broken the oil pump shaft, but there would be noise and no pressure. A spun bearing would mess up pressure too, but there is likely to be other symptoms too.

 

[The_Dude]

My oil pressure measured by the stock gauge varies a lot. I was burning a quart every 500 miles, and the pressure seemed to be low, so I rebuilt the engine. The various readings from the stock gauge haven't really changed, so I don't think my oil pressure was ever low. I would expect the lifters to make a lot of noise if your pressure really is that low.

 

[Ant85]

I had replaced the unit not long after making this thread a few months back. It seemed to have taken care of the oil pressure being up and down, until lately. When cold the needle is right in the middle, but while driving it goes up and down, sometimes doesn't even move if I am getting on the gas. Say you're cruising along at a certain speed it will drop down, then you would think giving it some gas would cause it to go up but sometimes it stays the same. I'm not to good with electrical work so that's the main reason why I have put getting a new gauge to the side for now and plus getting a new sending unit seemed to have fixed the problem until now. I've been about 2k miles on my oil change and I have not burned any oil. I did notice a slight leak at the rear main seal. Always something needing to be fixed!

 

[JD1964]

Im not totally familiar with the sending units on these cars yet. Do they have 1 or 2 wires in their harness plug? If they only have one, they depend on a the engine block for a ground. If the engine block grounding is not adequate, the sending unit, as well as other things can be erratic and may not work right. Sometimes people forget or omit the engine ground strap when doing work on the car.