Need help

[s.reef]

after reading about a spun bearing I am worried. When i bought my car in the summer the previous owner had just rebuilt the engine, basically just new bearings and gaskets, etc. After reading a post about low oil pressure I am a little concerned. When i first start the car it has great oil pressure...around 55psi...after warming up and driving when im idling at lights and stops it drops down to about 20psi. I am worried it spun a bearing....there is no knocking or ticking just wondering what you guys think.

[s.reef]

im doing an oil change tuesday...im goin to keep an eye out for metal shavings

[ITSSLOW]

You'd know if you spun a bearing man. My old Sonoma had a rebuilt motor and the same thing happened. There was just to much slop in the main cap bearings and rod bearings. I just went from running 5w-30 to 10w-40. It may sound a bit ghetto but it will boost your PSI back up because the oil is thicker

[s.reef]

i am kind of a hipocondriac in general and overly anal so hopefully its not a spun bearing...but if it is time to save for ls1 swap

[Naterman35]

You'd know if you spun a bearing man. My old Sonoma had a rebuilt motor and the same thing happened. There was just to much slop in the main cap bearings and rod bearings. I just went from running 5w-30 to 10w-40. It may sound a bit ghetto but it will boost your PSI back up because the oil is thicker

Same with my old silverado...i changed to 10W 40 and it fixed it.

[kammi10]

nahh yer fine at 20psi at idle.... im was talking like when your at idle and its showing like 2psi....

[s.reef]

nahh yer fine at 20psi at idle.... im was talking like when your at idle and its showing like 2psi....

wheh! i over interpret lol! yea 2psi i would really be freaking out.

[96mikez28]

Actually i'll bet you have more OP than you think, as the oil pressure sending units on our ancient LT1 cars keep getting older they start to read low. If your still concerned i'd hook up a mechanical gauge to check.

[s.reef]

Actually i'll bet you have more OP than you think, as the oil pressure sending units on our ancient LT1 cars keep getting older they start to read low. If your still concerned i'd hook up a mechanical gauge to check.

Yea i just read that sendig units can go read low when they get old and im assuming that it is.

[s.reef]

out of curiosity does anyone know how much a low oil level sensor costs? Mine is bad and i need a new one.

[paranoidbill2008]

15 - 20 psi at idle is good but i know my oil pressure switch is messed up cause the gauge bounces all over the place some of the time

[JoeliusZ28]

when my car is *hot* it idles at 15 psi and i know for a fact my motor is perfectly fine. as long as you have 10 psi of oil pressure per 1k rpm, you have nothing to worry about.

There has been quite a bit of discussion lately on the tech forums about the oil "cooler" and oil pressure. Even though the oil flow to the cooler is somewhat independent of the system, people have reported seeing gains of up to 5psi on their oil pressure gauge after deleting the cooler. do a search on camaroz28.com. A lot of people remove their coolers, or replace it with a real one. The factory cooler is more of a stabilizer than a cooler, as it uses radiator fluid to control oil temp.... In other words it actually functions to warm oil up after a cold start as well.

Another thing you can do to help oil flow (not pressure) is to run an oversized oil filter. I run WIX a 51060 or 51061. They are pretty much the best filters you can buy, for about $7 a piece. the only difference between the two is a reverse flow check valve, which doesnt make any difference on our vertically mounted filters, so either will work. Keep in mind you'll need to add a little more oil to fill the bigger filter, but more oil in the system is worth having.

[s.reef]

Another thing you can do to help oil flow (not pressure) is to run an oversized oil filter. I run WIX a 51060 or 51061.

is that the part number?

[WMCC Gary]

Yes thats the part number.

I personally stick with AC delco, cause if its good enough for the General it good enough for me.

[s.reef]

Yes thats the part number.

I personally stick with AC delco, cause if its good enough for the General it good enough for me.

For sure!