driving my dads car today I noticed the oil pressure gauge was all the way to 80psi. So I went threw the gauge button and saw the pressure was at 130. It didn't move the whole way home ( 20 mins) and it was a 30 min ride. Any suggestions? cars fine besides that!

 

Most likely the oil pressure sensor. Do a search.....

 

The sensor has died. Read the sticky at the top of the Tech section on how to relocate the sensor.

 

you guys are great ! thanks a tun.

 

Relocate don't just replace. It will fail again and again

 

Notorious C5 gremlin. Relocate. You WILL be there again if you have the car for any length of time. Every C5 I have ever had has had this done.

 

i disagree...
I have 30K miles on my aluminum mexican made sensor that is supposed to be junk...

Clean the connector and torque to the corect spec and replacement will be fine...

 

OH BOY! Here we go again! LOL

 

How many miles did you have on the original when it failed?

 

When you buy a new one, make sure its brass.

 

I know I've replaced mine twice and I need another one replaced. I cleaned and torqued to specs so yes it could and probably will fail again.

 

Why?

 

It's obvious that GM had a run of bad replacement sensors for some time. Since the replacements were no longer made of brass, now aluminum, a strong correlation was made by many that there is something intrinsically wrong with the aluminum(in addition to the electronics). So even though there have been a few failures posted with brass replacement sensors(nothing in comparison with the GM aluminum replacements), the standing forum recommendation is for a brass replacement/relocation. In all fairness, the replacements were absolute crap for some time. Some poor guys had them fail very soon after replacement...immediately after install, a few miles down the road, etc. The aftermarket sensors (like the Borg Warner) have proven to be more dependable......and they are made of brass.

There is no telling if GM was ever able to quarantine the lot of bad replacements......probably from lack of feedback from buyers. To the best of my knowledge, while the dealership will warranty the sensor, I don't think they will refund your money. Instead, I'm pretty sure they will just give you another sensor at no charge, but in reality, who is going to risk that? So I'm sure that most cut their losses, and purchased an aftermarket replacement, and called it a day. Problem with that scenario is, GM does not get feedback from the dealers that there is a problem with the replacement sensors, and thus, they do not investigate.

There is one thing for certain...the oil pressure sensors that came from the factory were certainly the most durable.

 

mine went out yesterday and went to orileys they have the brass ones so check there first.

 

Oil sensor!!

Dam those things SUCK!!
Relocate it and buy the brass one!!

Someone needs to reengineer the entire part so it cant fail..
Im sure they could make alot of money with us Vette owners if we could install one part and it wont fail so prematurely..

BKV

 

All the originals that have failed are made of brass.

 

Well, my orignal lasted for many years before it finally gave up. The replacement alluminum one lasted a whole 1 or 2 weeks...whatever the short time was. It was not over-torqued. I replaced it again with another alluminum one because that was all that was available, but I relocated it at the same time. Its still working. I'm not a metalurgist or anything similar but changes in metal does happen at the changes in the temperature and pressure that its subjected and all based on what type of metal it is. Different metal, different stresses. Now if its just the internal seal that leaks due to poor design, Ok. All I know is the original was made of brass and it worked for the long run. GM wasn't listening early on about the replacements they themselves started carrying. Not sure if they are listening even now or not. Something changed though in that brass ones became available again.

 

Driving today, looked down and my gauge was pegged. On the digital gauge it ranged from 86 to 103 psi. Could this be the sensor also or could the filter be jammed (or something else?). Help is appreciated. C5 w/ 45k miles

 

Your's is dying. The usual cause of failure is oil getting into the electronic portion of the sender.

 

It's the sensor