No oil pressure 6.0L V8

[VSTrev]

Hi All,

Just a little story to amuse you all…

Sunday night, started the car and was just about to reverse out the driveway when the dash emitted a constant ping. This drew my attention to the dash which was displaying the oil warning light.

I checked the handbook which says “Park the car and turn it off immediately,” which I did.

It went on to say, check oil – I did, I had tones of it and it was clean. It also said it could be an oil pressure issue.

Spoke to my mechanic on Monday, he thought it would most likely be just a sensor, but on the safe side we both agreed to get it towed to him.

He plugged in all his gizmos and wizardry to find that the sensor was ok and there was indeed no oil pressure at all within the system.

Some Google searches, phone calls to GENIV specialists and Chevy have led us to the following conclusion, best case scenario, it’s the oil pump, worst case scenario there is internal issues in the engine/block itself which means either rebuild or replacement.

So, as of yesterday, my mechanic has basically pulled the front out of the car, and ripped the sump off. He did mention how clean and perfect everything looked so he does not believe it to be an internal issue. So this hopefully means it’s just the oil pump.

So now he is pulling everything off the front of the engine to get to the oil pump and replace it.

So, it’s pretty much been a week without my car and it looks like I won’t get it till later next week IF replacing the oil pump works.

Of course, she is 6 months outside of warranty.

Anyone have any similar stories? I will update this thread when I have more info.

 

[dredrum]

Did you not try a new sensor first? Even in the computer, if the oil sensor is faulty, it's going to show no oil pressure.

 

[VR028]

my dads VE does the same thing. if he doesnt drive it for a few days he gets a low oil warning and a check engine light. The car is in warranty but the clowns at the dealership just reset the computer and tell us not to worry untill the next service. i would hate to think if the check engine light actually came on for a different reason rather than a computer fault.

 

[VSTrev]

Did you not try a new sensor first? Even in the computer, if the oil sensor is faulty, it's going to show no oil pressure.

Initial thought/hope was that it would just be a sensor. One of the gizmos and wizadry that my mechanic used was a system pressure test which revealed 0 pressure in the system.

 

[HEXEM]

Failed O-ring on the oil pump pick-up will result in a drop in oil pressure. Apparently common but not sure if this is your problem.

 

[VSTrev]

Failed O-ring on the oil pump pick-up will result in a drop in oil pressure. Apparently common but not sure if this is your problem.

Yep, mechanic heard about that one too, he showed me the o-ring though and it looked perfect. He agreed. But he has replaced it anyway.

 

[RiCeY]

Zero pressure is odd theres usually some pressure there even if the oil is aerating from a leaking o ring on the pickup. Also a failing oil pump generally still produces some pressure.

Did the engine sound bad/rattle?

 

[VSTrev]

Zero pressure is odd theres usually some pressure there even if the oil is aerating from a leaking o ring on the pickup. Also a failing oil pump generally still produces some pressure.

Did the engine sound bad/rattle?

Last time I heard it running it sounded completely normal. That was Sunday night. My mechanic asked me if it sounded different, rough, or knocking and no, it didn't.

He mentioned last time he had it running which was around Monday midday, that something (I can't remember) within the top of the engine was slightly noisier than normal which was consistent with no oil in that area. But he did say that he was surprised at how well it was running, and how clean the oil was and how clean the filter in the oil pickup pipe was.

 

[RiCeY]

An engine with zero oil pressure doesnt just have minor top end noise.

Id like to know exactly how he tested the pressure.

 

[HEXEM]

An engine with zero oil pressure doesnt just have minor top end noise.

Id like to know exactly how he tested the pressure.

I have top end startup rattle and my oil pressure is fine. 340kpa on cold start within 2 seconds. Having extremely low oil pressure will result in a rather noisy engine