My 95 Camaro has a low oil pressure problem. I isolated it to the oil pump. I need to remove the crank case and was wondering if it was possible to do so witout dropping the engine. Would un-doing the mounts and raising the engine give enough clearance to remove the case?

I have a set up to drop the engine but would like to avoid it if I could.

thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

You should be able to raise the engine high enough by removing the cross bolts from the motor mounts. You may have to turn the crank so that the pan will clear the counterweights. The oil pump is usually the last thing to wear out as it is the best lubricated part in the engine. You may want to check bearing clearances when the pan is off. Also check the pump drive gear, it is made of weak material and the gears wear down to the point that friction is the only thing driving the pump.

 

I agree with what Pete said above me. The oil pump is usually pretty robust and does not usually wear out. The bearings are usually the fist to go since they are made out of soft metals. Once they go the oil finds a path of less resistance through the chearance between the bearing and the crank, rod, or cam. When that happens you lose pressure and no more oil for the lifters or valves. Also if your pickup screen has debris in it you will lose pressure from lack of oil being able to get into the pump.

Massey

 

ummm,,, whats the oil pressure at operating temp and idling? what wt of oil are you using? yes you can change the oil pump without dropping the motor. been there, done that. my pressure was dropping to about 10 pounds at operating temp and idling so rather than do a change of bearings i put a hign volume high pressure pump in. doubled the pressure to 20.

 

If your bearings are bad, wouldnt putting in the high volume/pressure pump just prolong having to do the bearings. If I thought my bearings were going bad, I would change them before more damage happened like destroying the crank till it couldnt be turned. I dont know much about these lt1's though, I have always worked on old school small blocks and havent had to work on mine since I bought it 5 years ago. (internally anyway)

 

Hello all and thanks for the good suggestions. The pressure is low on the gage on the das (below the first number in the scale). There is no knocking or valve chatter as the engine idles and revs nice and quietly (as quiet as an LT1 can be )

By saying that I isolated the problem to the oil pump it merely means that I exhausted all of the other external potential issues. I am weighing my options, if bearings are the problem it would be best to have dropped the engine as it would be easier to deal with. For the same token, I could upgrade the camshaft since I would have to replace those bearings too

Not dropping the engine would mean less work and quicker return to driving if bearings, etc are fine.

Anyways, thanks many for the suggestions. I will keep all posted

 

exactly,,, i was planning on changing the motor but doing that was a year away at the time and i had a nasty leak from the oilpan gasket so i had to take the pan off anyway.

fstkmaro depending on what wt of oil you are using now, you may get away with a little heaver oil like 10w30 or 20w40.

 

did you check the oil pressure sending unit on the back of the intake it is a vital piece and if your pump is goign bad and not getting iol to the top end there would be noise trust me so put a new sending unit in it and see if the gauge starts yto work then go from there not hard to do tke 5 min your local AZ or advance should have one in stock

 

I thought the sending unit was on the drivers side of the block on an LT1.

 

it is on the 93 and the early 94, all others are at the back of the intake.