Hey guys new here. I have a lt1 with no oil pressure at idle at run at anything. Hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge at back of intake where stock one was and down by the oil filter. Both places dry as a bone. I have ran it a couple times around block no oil is getting to heads either. not even filling the plastic line that comes with the mechanical oil pressure gauge. I dont believe its the seals or bearings i would feel if it was time for a rebuild i would be getting something but instead i have ZERO finding of oil. Really trying to figure out what to do next besides pulling motor. ive heard you can take a cherry picker and life up 3-4 inches putting engine in 6 o'clock position and sliding oil pan out? Is that possible? Good with electronics still learning my motor... Obviously i know not to run the motor with no oil pressure i didnt hurt it guys dont scold me on that still turns over super easy no knocks still smooth

 

Have you taken the valve covers off and physically checked to see if oils coming all the way to the top? If not, you got a serious problem going on. There is oil in it right?

 

If there is no oil pressure, don't drive the car and make things worse. Really zero oil pressure at any RPM is an indication of oil pump failure of some sort. The oil pick up could have fallen off, the pump could have broken, or the pump drive gear driving the pump shaft off the camshaft could have gotten toothless. As MK mentioned, pull the valve cover & see if oil is getting to the rocker arms. If the engine really is running dry, then you probably completed damaging it by driving around. You can replace the oil pump without having to remove the engine by removing the motor mount cross bolts, lifting the engine a few inches, and removing the oil pan. The drive gear can be replaced by removing the intake manifold.

 

Yes i have taken off the valve cover and you cant see anything coming up push rods or after a tad of running there is no oil on rocker arms or anything splatter splish splash or anything. So ya TY so much for steps to fix.

question is should i replace oil pump and then test again before taking off intake? Or replace both before i test?

 

O BTW yes there is oil before i tested using mechanicle gauge i did a fresh change of oil + oil filter

but i have 6 quarts in it and its barely showing on the dip stick no leaks at all on ground and it looks like stock pan not sure whats going on there. Dip stick sleve is bent pretty good could be jsut not going all the way in pan but i do know theres oil in it for sure with zero leaks

 

I don't know where you got your information from that you did not hurt your motor running without oil pressure but your wrong. Even at idle you are damaging the bearings but once you put it in gear and moved the car the motor was roached. Oil is not just a lubricate it is the bearing. Your engine is built with clearance the oil pressure is there to keep bearing and the crank from touching each other. The only reason for babbit on bearing is for dry starts. Once you put the car in gear the stress between bearing and the crank goes up 10 fold. Your engine may not knock yet but if you pull a bearing cap you will see where the babbit has already been destroyed by the crank. Those little pieces of babbit and bearing are floating around on the wrong side of the oil filters and just looking for a place to do more damage and they will find it. Most likely in your lifters.
The reason for no oil pressure no longer matters. Your going to need to rebuild you motor if you ever want it dependable. Just so you know oil pump failure is the most common cause of failures in recently rebuilt motors. Many times when the pump fails it ends up damaging the motor even if it does not go all the way to zero pressure. At 10 PSI you will not get a light but you will damage the motor under normal driving. I always disassemble new oil pumps and verify everything is ok when I build a “not” stock motor. When I did a warranty repairs for GM I used a GM pump, I figuring if it is bad they can pay me to do it again

 

thanks Gorn for beating me to it

to the OP

there is no good news to be had. It's tough decision time for you and all require copious amounts of cash

 

were the lifters rattling when it was running? what kind of oil filter did you use?

 

RED FLAG right there!
The LT1 takes 5 quarts, with a new filter. 6 quarts and barely on the stick should have made you go hmmmmm, and try to figure it out before driving the car. Here's a couple of things that I'm thinking.....
1. Your engine has a large capacity oil pan (deeper), but the pick up tube on the oil pump wasn't extended. With the oil level being too low, and the pump riding too high, the pump is starving out and running dry, along with all the critical parts of your engine.
2. Your engine has a large capacity oil pan, but flared out at the sides instead of deeper. If it's the same depth as stock, I doubt you'd be running the pan dry with 6 quarts in there.
Were you having these problems before you changed the oil? If the answer is no, then that too should have raised a red flag.
I'm leaning heavily towards it being #1, which is going to, or already has turned your engine into "number 2" (and I don't mean #2 above).

 

Ok guys ty so much for help i want to say 1st off GORN noone did say that it was ok to do that and i never said it was if you read my post. TY for your help though.i did kind of misword things as far as Lets go to history, i got the car litterally a week ago on craigslist i traded my 4wheeler for it. Motor bad or not in car still worth it.(but regardless) So i was trying to check out my new camaro before driving it but the seller/trader tole me that it was fine and that there are alot of troubles with the electronic stock gauge showing false readings. All i did while i was at his place was check my droid briefly and i did see some complaints about it. The couple times i drove around block was before i hooked up the mechanicle gauge after that I saw myself it wasnt getting oil for sure i stopped imediately and parked it. But i was testing the car before i traded. ( my bad though i should of had a better look that is my fault) So therefor looking like i need to pull and rebuild and thats fine im just glad you guys have told me whats going on so lets move on now. So if i pull the caps and theres no pitting and drain this oil do you think i can get away with not fully pulling and rebuilding or should i do it as a safety precausion anyways. Bad thing is the guy i got it off of doesnt know a thing bout cars either i was kinda shooting in the dark but what i traded wasnt a loss even if i need to rebuild the camaro. BTW ty guys so much for this help and i will go through everything said again and probably end up pulling and rebuilding and if there is a number on the oil pan i can look up to see if its aftermarket or not??? if somoen could anwser that question that will help out alot too i will be following this up with pictures soon if that will help! again guys TY a bunch! Also on CAMARO 69 post i dotn know bout the previous problems i changed oil and filter as soon as i got it because i didnt know previous owner from adam. and for the other guys question the filter is K@N also castrol 10w30 oil the 20 percent synthetic blend and yes the lifters were rattling a lil bit not bad at all though just a low to medium chatter.<--- like i said still learning my motors awesome with tools and electronics can fix anything once i learn about it still in that learning and researching phase. Sry one more thing if the motor is hosed unfort it was probably already hosed before i got it because the guy had 3 others look at it before me and im sure he started it, i know i was the only one to take it for a quick spin but he did start it several time he said. looks like i got craigscrewed and i didnt investigate enough ;( oh well ill have a nice learning curve and what not to do as im spending cash on parts i spose..