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Low Oil Pressure Only When Hot

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Old 06-25-2015, 11:51 PM
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LanceAusTX
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Default Low Oil Pressure Only When Hot

When cold my '02 Z06 oil pressure is about 50 psi at idle. But once hot (210 oil temp) it is down to 15. I also noticed that the low oil pressure light came on occasionally during the last track session in long left hand turns even though it was filled one quart over as recommended. There is no knocking, though maybe a little more valve train sounding noise than I remember in the past. When changing the oil I found no shavings.

A bad oil pressure sensor would be best case, but most posts on the oil pressure sensor say when it goes out it just pegs high. Is this true?

I guess the oil pump could be going out, though it was replaced when the motor was pulled and new bearings were put in by a shop a couple of years ago (yeah, it gets driven hard). But if that were the case I guess I would have expected the pressure to be low all of the time at idle not just when hot.

Any insight?

Thanks!
Old 06-26-2015, 12:20 AM
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BigGun
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Originally Posted by LanceAusTX
When cold my '02 Z06 oil pressure is about 50 psi at idle. But once hot (210 oil temp) it is down to 15. I also noticed that the low oil pressure light came on occasionally during the last track session in long left hand turns even though it was filled one quart over as recommended. There is no knocking, though maybe a little more valve train sounding noise than I remember in the past. When changing the oil I found no shavings.

A bad oil pressure sensor would be best case, but most posts on the oil pressure sensor say when it goes out it just pegs high. Is this true?

I guess the oil pump could be going out, though it was replaced when the motor was pulled and new bearings were put in by a shop a couple of years ago (yeah, it gets driven hard). But if that were the case I guess I would have expected the pressure to be low all of the time at idle not just when hot.

Any insight?

Thanks!
The sensor can fail both ways but the pegged high reading is more common. I've replaced mine twice, once it was pegged high and the other time it would fluctuate between 0 and 40.
Old 06-26-2015, 02:12 PM
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Chicago1
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Gm stated that there manual said that anything above 9psi and below 65 psi is fine. My cold pressure is 70-80 cruising and wot warm is 50's. Hot idle at 230 is about 15. I'm boosted and have 100k on the car. This is with a new pump..You can always check with a mechanical gauge but sounds like you are withing operating temps. I'm sure the sky is falling folk will come in but again that's within operating values. As long as it goes up during cruisng and wot you have nothing to worry about. IMO

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