Tried it all, I need help. A constant Oil pressure fight.

Donal said:

How many quarts of oil are you putting in the engine when replacing oil and filter?

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iamdub said:

Well, there's no need for me to find and upload the pics I have cuz they're essentially identical to this. You and @Collinmcballin having such similar experiences leads me to believe that these need to be either opened up and cleaned out by hand or slowly cleaned out over many short-interval oil changes.

Mr. Mcballin, have you any plans to remove the engine? If not, I'd suggest using cheaper, but decent oil (even Super Tech from Walmart) and filters and maybe a little engine flush (like 1/4-1/2 the bottle) and just do a lot of frequent oil changes. Maybe change it every time the average pressures are lower. I bet that, after the first few changes, you'll find that the stronger oil pressure lasts for a longer amount of time. It should improve just as the oil you're draining would get comparatively lighter. You could snap pics and record dates, etc. to document the progress.

The idea is to slowly dissolve and remove the sludge. A harsh chemical flush can break up the sludge too aggressively and clog the filter or tiny passages in the lifters, causing more harm than good. You don't wanna over-dilute ("water down") the oil with too much lightweight liquid. This is why I'm not a fan of dumping a whole bottle of Seafoam into the crankcase. Modern oils have detergent packages to keep sludge at bay. But, that's more of a maintenance function with an engine that's already up to par. Yours needs help to get to that point so I'm thinking a light dose of a cleaner would be okay. Just keep an eye on it and change it as soon as you notice the pressures acting up again.

The flip side to all this is the time and money cost of the frequent oil and filter changes. You'd have to decide to either do it this way or pull the engine and hand-scrub it. You'd be able to re-seal it, although the only seals not fresh at this point are the rear cover and rear main. So, maybe pulling it would be excessive in your case.

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rockola1971 said:

Wow! The previous owner abused that engine. Im really surprised it didnt die a miserable and eventful death. You might want flush that engine with solvent. Like 10 gallons on the first run!

Seriously I doubt there is any coming back from that abuse and the only fix is going to be atleast a partial teardown and thorough and very messy cleaning.

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Tonyrodz said:

Not to hijack your thread, but my 05 Express van with the 4.8 sounds similar to your situation. Bought it used with 110k on it. One day it slowly started losing oil pressure, until it went to 0 psi. Took it to a mechanic who dropped the oil pan. Found a load of sludge in it.View attachment 393082
He then pulled the front cover and oil pump.View attachment 393083View attachment 393085View attachment 393084
Looked like the oil was never changed. Cleaned everything up, changed the pick up O ring and installed a HV Melling oil pump. I also occassionally had to add coolant to the overflow bottle, as it would slowly lose coolant. I think one or both of the 862 heads have a crack. I read the 862 heads, like the 706 heads are prone to cracks. Not as common as the 706 heads, but they can crack. I added some of those GM tabs to the coolant almost 2 years ago and haven't had to add coolant since. My oil pressure is again down to 0 while idling--literally 0. My check gauges light comes on. Oil pressure comes up enough while revving it, but 0 at idle. Changed the oil pressure sender twice with OEM GM units, so it isn't that. I think that sludge has broken loose and are probably blocking oil passages or even the pick up screen. Weird thing is the motor doesn't knock, tick or make any other strange noises. I just thought it was strange that we're having similar issues and they're both 05 motors. Just wanted to share my experience.

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Collinmcballin said:

Over the last year of oil changes I haven't gone over 2,800 to be exact.
As you saw previously - I've had the heads, cam, valve train, lifters, oil pump, oil pan ALL OUT and apart and thoroughly cleaned. Looking into an engine flush I just want to be careful.
Last OCI's Were less than 800 miles.... Eesh...

Just want to do it right with a flush. Considering the gnarly BG engine cleaner treatment. It's quite a process and running 3k rpm on an old push rod v8 for 45 minutes kinda scare me... But the results are insaaaaane!!
What do you think? It's pretty expensive but I think this truck is worth it

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iamdub said:

I wouldn't do an aggressive flush. Trying to break up the sludge in large quantities is too risky, IMO. I'd slowly dissolve it with using a small amount of flush to help boost the detergents already present in the oil. You can run cheaper dino oil. It won't be in there long enough to break down and add to the problem. With all the parts you replaced and areas cleaned when you had it opened up, there shouldn't be a whole lot. I just can't think of anything else that'd cause your symptoms.

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Collinmcballin said:

Just over 6 with that p61 ac Delco filter. Baaaaarely over 6

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Collinmcballin said:

seems to be great today. 160 miles on this oil.... I'm baffled

45° out

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