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The Car:
1997 Camaro, 3.8 Manual 5 spd 160k miles ("rebuilt" by dealership around 140... )


The Problem being focused on:
Low to no oil pressure

The symptoms:
Oil reads full but after a short driving distance, Cliché (yeah… I named her) starts to sound off with lifter ticks that will get more pronounced the longer I drive her. The sound I’m hearing I’ve always associated with a car needing oil, or of lifters in need of adjustment. It now takes less than ten minutes of driving for the f*ckin princess of pull-me-over to read zero oil pressure during idle and start throwing bad lifter sounds. When she first starts after cooling down, there is near zero noise. It's not until the first few flows through the gears that she starts a-tickin.


I’m not sure if it’s related, but it seems like the throttle body is also acting up. When shifting down, the RPMs drop… sometimes. Sometimes the RPMs “stick” around 1200 to 1600 (and this is shifting down from 2nd to 1st), or begin to drop like normal, but then “bounce” back up a few hundred, THEN start to drop SLOWLY. You really can hear the engine not wanting to slow it’s revolutions sometimes.

What’s been done:
Only the Oil Pressure Sending unit has been replaced so far. The oil has been changed with noticeable improvements, but said improvements rapidly deteriorate. The Oil Pressure Gear Set has already been purchased although remains uninstalled… still pissing on Chilton at the moment.

In addition, I need insight on removing the front engine cover. From what I can see, I'll need to remove a few pulleys (specific tools needed?), the water pump (leaking and needs replacement anyway) and it appears the throttle body is in the way as well. Chilton blows; it didn't mention anything about removing any of this. It simply said to remove "engine front cover" pffft. -

And I'm curious; how can so much torque be applied to the AC Compressor that it snaps at the mount, and sheers bolts off in the block... multiple times?
(fun digging those out)

Massive amounts of appreciation all!!

*ADDED*
Perhaps of note is that the day I changed the oil, and just for that day... I was able to drive her around city & highway all day doing errands with no complaints. Whereas prior to the change she would tick within minutes, post-change (for that one day) she was drivable all damn day. The weight I used I can not recall, but I did throw Lucas into the mix. And thanks again for the .02

 

What weight oil are you using? Does the oil smell like gas? Could be using wrong weight or gas could be getting in the oil and thinning it. Any codes or SES light?

Sounds like the clearance on the bearing are not right.

As far as removing the front cover, it is pretty simple. Basically, everything has to come off the front of the engine. Start by getting a camera and taking a couple snap shots with everything the way it is. It is easy to get confused once everything is laying on the work bench and your trying to figure out how it all looked before you started.

Removing the plastic air intake housing from the throttle body. Once it is removed, you might have enough room to work without removing the throtte body.

Hardest part is getting the crank pully off. That big Bolt can be a PITA. Once it is removed, you will need a long allen head bolt to slide in where the crank bolt was for a center point for the pulley removal tool. Use three (I think) 1/4 x 20 bolts to attach the pully removal tool to the pulley and slide the pulley off. Once it is removed, You will be able to see all the bolts that have to come out. There are a couple bolts that are different lengths on that front panel, so pay particular attention to where they came out. The torque on those front cover bolts are also different. So when you go back together, make sure you have the torque sequence as well as torque the bolts to their specific torque specs.

Good luck.

 

If I recall, I used a step heavier than 10/30 (5/30?). And the Check Gages light comes on only after the pressure drops into the red; no service engine light. And btw, for the info on the front cover; seriously. As per Chilton:

1. Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2. Remove the engine front cover.
3. Remove the oil filter adapter, pressure valve and spring.
4. Remove the oil pump cover attaching bolts/screws and cover.
5. Remove the oil pump gear set.

Ya think they may have omitted a few steps somewhere around #2?

But yeah, I just started the car up this morning (covered in snow), and the pressure held and was good; just under 60. She sounded awesome so I let her idle for a minute. By the time I pulled into the garage, she had lost half of her pressure, but still sounded quite healthy.

And clearance on the bearing... what can you tell me about that, and how intrusive / difficult of a fix could that be?

 

Clearance on the bearings - your looking at tearing the bottom end out and measuring the clearance between the crank and the oil bearings. This should have been done when they rebuilt it, if they rebuilt the whole motor. On a new motor the clearance is close and as the engine ages, due to several factors including dirt in the oil, the bearings get worn and opens up the area where the crank floats in oil as it spins thus lowering the oil pressure. To replace the bearings and to do it right, you are looking at removing the oil pan and dropping the crank. So easist done with engine removed.

 

As a general run dealerships do not do complete rebuilds. They do repairs. There is a problem they fix it. Sometimes a cluless serivce writer will call it a rebuild cause the motor was pulled out. For a true rebuild your motor would spend at least week in the machine shop. If the motor had 140K on it I expect it would have need bored the crank turned the rods resized and new cam bearing installed then you get into the heads well you get the point. The Bill from a dealer to do a complete rebuild of a motor would be twice what it would cost to have them install a brand new GM motor, not a reman but a new one.

There is a chance a very small chace your gears will fix the problem. Most likely it will not. There is a list of things that can cause low oil pressure. The gears would not be top of my list. Anytime a car with over 150K can not maintain oil pressure I advise a rebuild or replacment. I do this for two reasons: One most of the time you can spend 8-10 hours trying stuff only to end up figuring out you need a rebuild. It ends up being wasted time. Two: There is a good chance you have already done the damage If you find something like the pressure regulator spring broke you can get it fixed and two weeks later the motor locks up.

 

Try some 20W50 you might get a few months out of it. If it does help you know its not a regulator spring or a blocked passage.

 

Awesome info guys; thanks. I will definitely be looking into everything mentioned. I'm thinking I'll go with another oil change using the heavier weight prior to tearing into my block. Will post with results, but will be a few; much going on-