at cold starts my oil pressure is right around 40, which from what i see here is normal, however, when the car warms up it starts to drop. when i sit at red lights, if i dont have my foot on the gas the oil pressure sits between 0 and 5. also, i can smell a slight burning oil scent but its never been low on oil and i do change the oil every 3000-3200 miles. Im wondering if its the oil pump, screen, or sending unit?? somebody please help me!!
also thought i would let you know, someone decided to pour antifreeze all over my engine while i was at work, could that have shorted out the sending unit? only reason why i ask is because today is the first time its ever gone as low as 0 and i had the check gauge light come on

 

Are you sure it was "someone" who poured antifreeze on your engine? That means you left your car unlocked so that someone could open the hood.
Another more likely scenario is that something with your engine or cooling system has let loose and sprayed coolant all over. Have you checked the level in your radiator? And what was your temperature gauge telling you? A hotter engine will run with lower oil pressure, so if you're getting it way hot, that could explain the low reading. Also, these factory gauges/pressure switches can't always be trustworthy. Pull the plug from the oil pressure switch and look to see if there's oil on the plug. If so, the switch is bad. You might want to replace it anyway, just for kicks to see if that changes the gauge reading. But first, I would make absolutely sure about where that antifreeze mess came from.

 

I think he meant someone poured it outside his car to mess up his paint or something.

 

You need the hood open to do that.

 

probly a blown heater or radiator hose. what oil filter is in the car?

 

no im positive it wasnt my coolant, the coolant in my car is green and the crap the idiot dumped all over my motor was orange. my temp goes up to the first bar on the gauge and never goes higher so thats not the problem, im going to replace the sending unit this weekend and see if that fixes anything, thanks guys for the help!!
its got a fram oil filter, should i have gotten a better filter??

 

Step one is to find out if you have 0 or near zero oil pressure. You do this by using a hand held gage screwed into the port where the oil sending unit. If you have no valve noise then you do not have Zero pressure but you need 8-10 PSI to make sure the motor is not damaging itself. Most of the time when a “low oil pressure” car shows up at the garage with no other symptoms (engine is quiet) it ends up being a gage/sending unit issue. I am guessing the oil smell is a seperate issue. I suggest a coolant pressure test just to be sure. Even tho someone converted your car to the green antifreeze these motor tend to hold on to the orange stuff. I converted mine 2-1/2 years ago and I still get some orange in my over flow every once in a while.

Also are you sure the guy just poured that coolant ON the motor cause if he poured it in the motor and you drove the car the motor is toast. Antifreeze has a chemical reaction with the babbit on the bearings and will wipe out every bearing in the motor. Check your oil and wipe the dip stick with a clean white paper towel than take the paper towel in a bright lite area and look for sparkles. If you got sparkles start looking for a motor.


Good luck

 

Oh well, chalk this up as a learning experience. I'll bet from now on you'll start locking your car when you leave it unattended.
Not only will someone not be able to gain access to your engine, you'll stand a better chance of keeping what's not nailed down inside the car.

 

get rid of the fram filter.

 

Did replacing the sending unit fix your problem? I too also have the same problem. I just bought the car today and one my way home I noticed the oil pressure was at 0 while at a stop light. When I pressed on the gas it went back up to just below the first white notch. I hope i didn't just buy a broken car.