We drove from Cape Coral to Miami a couple weeks ago for a flight to Costa Rica. Left our car at the hotel and picked it up 10 days later on the way back. Drove it back to Cape Coral. Check engine light didn't come on. Truck drove fine. Oil pressure a little above 40 on the highway and a bit over 20 at idle. Got 25 mpg on the freeway. Haven't sent in the oil for the test yet. Not going to worry about it at this point. We drive our cars until they die. Our 1994 Honda has 230,000 on it. Still runs fine.
Dealership suggests new engine. Your take?
- Thread starter TahoeLady
- Start date
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adventurenali92
Full Access Member
So I’ll chime in simply because I dealt with this same issue in late March of 2024. I learned a lot about these engines while figuring out how to solve the pressure issue. While my engine is different than the OP’s, it did the same things. Oil pressure on the gauge in the cluster was showing idle pressure to be about 9-10 psi and then under engine load it would climb to about 20ish, where prior to the issue, it would idle at 19-20psi when at running temp, and then climb up to around 40 under load.
So what I learned is that there’s only a couple of things that cause these engines to have low oil pressure. A bad oil pressure sending unit(sensor) which has been ruled out by the OP since they’ve replaced it twice. An oil pump failure can cause the OP’s symptoms. A failed pickup tube o ring in the bottom of the oil pan can cause exactly this, or the catastrophic possible cause being the camshaft bearings failing and allowing oil pressure to drop when it’s not following the correct path. Multiple well versed mechanics that I chatted with told me that oil pump failure, and the cam bearing failure scenarios are highway unlikely in engines that are operated under normal circumstances and regular maintenance. A full bottom end engine tear down would certainly reveal bad cam bearings, but I would also suspect that a used oil analysis as others have stated would also be a good indicator of that failure as I’d imagine if the cam bearing is failing there would be evidence of metal shavings in the used oil. This in my opinion would be a good start as to diagnosis. I didn’t go this route when my issues were happening as a mechanic buddy confirmed with the mechanical oil gauge pressure test that i my engine did in fact have low oil pressure. I went ahead and opened up my oil pan, to inspect the condition of the pickup tube and the o ring seal that connects it to the oil pump and produces pressure. Unfortunately for my case, when I had that o ring seal replaced in 2022, the shop used a cheap o ring they probably had sitting on the shelf. And I am not sure why as I provided a brand new GM OE pickup tube and the correct GM seal for said tube. The o ring failed which resulted in my low oil pressure. While it’s a labor intensive job it was manageable for me to accomplish myself especially given that when I paid the shop to do it in 2022, it ran about $900. I saved myself that expense as I had the pickup tube still sitting on the shelf with the brand new seal and the time and tools to get it opened up. That solved my oil pressure issue.
I will mention that I replaced the oil pump at the same time that I did the pickup tube o ring. It Not because it had failed but as a preventative maintenance item, as I had an oil leak coming from the front timing cover seal, which the pump is mounted behind. I figured since I had to pull it all apart to put a new seal on, I may as well put a new pump in and not have to think about it again.
So my suggestion would be if the OP has the used oil analysis kit, use it and see if it comes back with signs of excessive wear. If the test DOES NOT come back showing signs of excessive wear, find a mechanic thats willing to disassemble the oil pan and check out the o ring seal on the pickup tube. I’d be willing to bet that’s the cause of the low oil pressure. it’s not by any means a cheap solution, but definitely cheaper than just jumping ship and going straight for a replacement engine.
So what I learned is that there’s only a couple of things that cause these engines to have low oil pressure. A bad oil pressure sending unit(sensor) which has been ruled out by the OP since they’ve replaced it twice. An oil pump failure can cause the OP’s symptoms. A failed pickup tube o ring in the bottom of the oil pan can cause exactly this, or the catastrophic possible cause being the camshaft bearings failing and allowing oil pressure to drop when it’s not following the correct path. Multiple well versed mechanics that I chatted with told me that oil pump failure, and the cam bearing failure scenarios are highway unlikely in engines that are operated under normal circumstances and regular maintenance. A full bottom end engine tear down would certainly reveal bad cam bearings, but I would also suspect that a used oil analysis as others have stated would also be a good indicator of that failure as I’d imagine if the cam bearing is failing there would be evidence of metal shavings in the used oil. This in my opinion would be a good start as to diagnosis. I didn’t go this route when my issues were happening as a mechanic buddy confirmed with the mechanical oil gauge pressure test that i my engine did in fact have low oil pressure. I went ahead and opened up my oil pan, to inspect the condition of the pickup tube and the o ring seal that connects it to the oil pump and produces pressure. Unfortunately for my case, when I had that o ring seal replaced in 2022, the shop used a cheap o ring they probably had sitting on the shelf. And I am not sure why as I provided a brand new GM OE pickup tube and the correct GM seal for said tube. The o ring failed which resulted in my low oil pressure. While it’s a labor intensive job it was manageable for me to accomplish myself especially given that when I paid the shop to do it in 2022, it ran about $900. I saved myself that expense as I had the pickup tube still sitting on the shelf with the brand new seal and the time and tools to get it opened up. That solved my oil pressure issue.
I will mention that I replaced the oil pump at the same time that I did the pickup tube o ring. It Not because it had failed but as a preventative maintenance item, as I had an oil leak coming from the front timing cover seal, which the pump is mounted behind. I figured since I had to pull it all apart to put a new seal on, I may as well put a new pump in and not have to think about it again.
So my suggestion would be if the OP has the used oil analysis kit, use it and see if it comes back with signs of excessive wear. If the test DOES NOT come back showing signs of excessive wear, find a mechanic thats willing to disassemble the oil pan and check out the o ring seal on the pickup tube. I’d be willing to bet that’s the cause of the low oil pressure. it’s not by any means a cheap solution, but definitely cheaper than just jumping ship and going straight for a replacement engine.
This is the report you get at Speediagnostix for $50
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