low oil pressure, should I be worried?

[vr4gasmtt]

My car has low oil pressure, when I start the car up, the oil pressure gauge goes up a little, pretty much nothing at all. The car drives fine. It needs a rebuild but it drives fine. It has 180k on it.

I just noticed today that the oil pressure gauge isn't going to where it usually goes. I rarely drive the car hard, so what should I do?

On my friends GST, his gauge moves up and down when he accelerates and decelerates, its more responsive compared to mine. So whats up? What do I need to do? What should I be checking?

I don't want my car blowing up in the middle of the road.

 

[tom04841]

I would start by relacing your oil pressure sender with an oem sender og just install an aftermarket electrical gauge. If a new oem sender doesn't show higher oil pressure on the stock gauge, or aftermarket gauge, it is time for a new oil pump.

 

[JUANPSI]

I would install a real gauge so you can get actual #s

 

[11sec_GSX]

You need actual numbers. The sending unit could be bad, possibly a wiring issue or obviously the oil pump itself. I would first install a real gauge and find out exactly what your oil pressure is.

 

[vr4gasmtt]

Is there anyway to test it without getting another gauge?

I'm kind of low on funds right now.

 

[92Fwd4Me]

My car does the same thing.

I dont burn or lose any oil....but right after an oil change it will idle at right above the tick mark...and under throttle it will go halfway between the tick and high setting..

then.....

about two the three months later its idling down bout halfway between the tick and low marker. Under throttle it will step up to the tick mark.

Been doing that since I got it in 1996, and has never been a problem for me.

 

[CStone]

Low on funds we all understand. You can check that the connection is clean. The sender is behind the Driver side tire, and mine was so caked with dirt and oil that simply cleaning this off gave me truer numbers.

Might try that until you can free up some cash.

 

[saintsairforce]

Do the basics first. Clean the connections like CStone said, inspect the wiring to make sure it is in good shape. A small break in the wire, missing sheath, slight grounding, poor connection all cause your gauge to be unresponsive. The oil gauges in dsm's have been know to be inaccurate to a point, replacing the gauge is ok for piece of mind but generally not needed. Make sure your oil is topped up regularly and you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[saintsairforce]

Also check this post

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?p=151142110#post151142110

 

[MrBoxx]

Make sure your oil is topped up regularly and you shouldn't have a problem.

This definitely should be first on the list, before replacing anything.

As mentioned many times before, get a real aftermarket oil pressure gauge to tell whether you've really got a problem or not. The stock gauge is fun to look at, but there's no way of knowing what your oil pressure really is.

 

[smootxxx]

I had the same problem my wires that connected to the oil pressure sending unit were freyed which was preventing the gauge from getting a good signal. Like many other people have told you a after market gauge is a neccesity. If you are low on funds you should check ebay you can pick one up for cheap just make sure its not mechanical because it will leak all over your dash.