Oil pressure question...
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 1999
Posts: 1,850
Likes: 5
From: Grove City,Oh,USA
Oil pressure question...
It's been a while since I owned a c5 so I don't really remember.
Drove a c5 today with 77k on it. It ticked for a minute upon startup then the ticking stopped and all was good. Checked the oil it was full and clean.
I drove it pretty hard and the big thing I noticed was the oil pressure. The unit was slow to react and only went to to 40psi under load.
I got back and talked to the guy and he told me he had heard the OP sending units go bad in the c5 and is a pita to replace. I hadn't heard this so I'm asking what you think.
Thanks
mace
Drove a c5 today with 77k on it. It ticked for a minute upon startup then the ticking stopped and all was good. Checked the oil it was full and clean.
I drove it pretty hard and the big thing I noticed was the oil pressure. The unit was slow to react and only went to to 40psi under load.
I got back and talked to the guy and he told me he had heard the OP sending units go bad in the c5 and is a pita to replace. I hadn't heard this so I'm asking what you think.
Thanks
mace
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 830
Likes: 288
Most times they peg and not read low. But not all times, just most. When I first bought mine it was doing the same thing. When I did an oil change the filter was barely on hand tight. After the oil change and a properly fastened filter the oil runs 35 hot at idle and 55 hot under load. Just something to check.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 1,862
Likes: 594
From: Prescott, Arizona
Tic at startup is typical aluminum block LS noise. In the old iron block days startup piston slap was less noticeable because the iron block does not transmit as much noise, but it is always there to some degree at startup in most engines.
Post #2 is right about the oil pressure sender unit. While there has been a video out there for some time showing changing it without removing the intake manifold, you have to have very small hands to do that and there is a significant risk of cross threading the new sender unit. Another method that I don't agree with involves removal of wipers and cowl and boring a hole in the body over the sender unit for better but not good access. The best way, in my view, is to remove the intake manifold for access to the sender unit, have a relocation kit available and relocate the sender unit to the driver side valve cover so that when it fails again in a couple of years, it is a ten minute job to change.
If the car is a 2001 or newer, consider reactivating the rear head coolant air bleed ports while the intake manifold is off.
Post #2 is right about the oil pressure sender unit. While there has been a video out there for some time showing changing it without removing the intake manifold, you have to have very small hands to do that and there is a significant risk of cross threading the new sender unit. Another method that I don't agree with involves removal of wipers and cowl and boring a hole in the body over the sender unit for better but not good access. The best way, in my view, is to remove the intake manifold for access to the sender unit, have a relocation kit available and relocate the sender unit to the driver side valve cover so that when it fails again in a couple of years, it is a ten minute job to change.
If the car is a 2001 or newer, consider reactivating the rear head coolant air bleed ports while the intake manifold is off.
