Just got a "NO OIL PRESSURE STOP SAFELY ASAP" warning. Obeyed the instruction, but the engine seems to be running perfectly well. The oil & filter had just been changed, and the service light reset. The oil level is correct. Because of the time (night), have not been able to check the oil pressure with a mechanical gauge (and will need to find a take off point). Can anyone tell me where to look for the (presumably) electric pressure sender, and can anyone suggest any possible causes to look for. The car has done 247,000, but was running like a clock.

 

Right in the middle of the front of the block.

These engines have an o-ring in the pickup tube that may leak. So there is a $1 part that might correct this if the oil pressure is actually low. I don't know how you know for sure, though, unless you just replace it. I observed this on one car, and in that case, the light only came on when hot. But really, that would typically be the case for an oil pressure problem.

 

Probably need to R & R the oil pan and re-seal it. There is an o ring kit and glue available to do this - do not use RTV

 

Let's hope that fixes it. Since you're in the parts business, I'll just admit now that I didn't exactly mean $1 in my post above.

 

This is what you would need:

30637339 SEALING RING - OIL COOLER X 2 12.49 $8.91
30644517 CHEMICAL GASKET 51.84 $34.69
30750783 O-RING KIT 31.80 $22.87

 

Wish I was in USA! Here in Auckland, the 'stealership' wasn't open for spare parts even on Saturday morning. And I'll bet you London to a Brick that their price for the parts would/will be somewhat higher than yours. Fortunately and 'indie' parts mob were open for business, and I have ordered a chemical gasket 'kit' for about the same price as yours. The 'O' rings I'll have to track down after I pull the pan, although I note that one of them is accessible by simply taking the oil cooler off. Am I right in assuming that that is not the one that will be causing the problem?

 

the culprit o-rings are between the oil pan and the block - they shrink up with age and allow air into the oil pickup tube. the o ring kit will come with a bunch of extra gaskets and o-rings to make it more interesting

 

Thanks for that. I'll probably just get the o-rings from a local bearing & seal supplier, apart from certainly being cheaper than the dealer, it'll also be a lot quicker than having to drive 30 minutes to the city. They are seal specialists, and will know the correct quality to supply me. For the 'humour', I'll check the dealer's prices and post them here. Thanks again.

 

The O-rings are not all "normal", they're square-ish in cross section. . I am not sure you will be able to substitute locally available orings for the real thing, but if you do, let us know. The one in the oil pickup tube is one of the green ones.

 

firebirdparts,
I promised to post the NZ price for the parts; hang on to your hat!
Chemical Gasket tube $139.18 (I found an Auto Parts Indie $29.90)
O-ring kit $159.72
O-ring part No. 37 $12.24 has to come from Australia (overnight)
O-ring part No. 30 $10.80 (on the shelf)
I'll make my own bloody gaskets!

 

thats nuts. Is that because of a VAT?

 

It's just good ole Kiwi Greed! Then the ****** have the gall to complain to the Govt about people buying things on the Internet: they want the Govt to impose restrictions and tax the imports. Gordon Gecko might have gotten booted out of Wall Street, but he found a welcoming paradise in NZ.

 

Meant to ask: the chemical gasket material is visco-elastic synthetic rubber?

 

"anaerobic sealant" is based on acrylate chemistry. I should know that, but I had to look it up. The key is that it contains initiators that will polymerize it when in contact with metal, but that are somewhat inhibited by oxygen. I have been using loctite brand. It works incredibly well.

P.S. Google "Harry Coover" and look at where he lived.

 

Ok, found the Loctite, also found some viscous elastomer synthetic sealant, which I used to refurbish the rectangular section o-rings. Worked perfectly, and I doubt that the o-rings will ever play up again. You could visually see how good the seal on each was after reassembly, with no lumps or excess that is likely to break free. The product was ThreeBond 1104.

But I now have a gearbox problem, which I will also post as a new thread. Smooth & silky when cold, once warmed up it flares unpredictably between gears, and the harsh thumps are damned near legend. Throttle position doesn't seem to matter: light or hard the problem seems to be the same. Anyone got any ideas. There are no DTC's showing on a scan.

 

there might be a TCM software upgrade - also we sell a lot of these governor covers 30751262 ($22.98) that might address this also. IPDUSA talks about this on their website

 

Ordered the kit from FCP Euro, arrived in NZ 4 days later. Fitted (not the easiest of jobs to get to, although a simple enough task to fit) and the harshness is gone, although the changes are not perfect with a slight thump sometimes. I haven't had the software upgrade carried out yet (it's the weekend here, ain't nobody available to even talk to). Could that smooth out the changes?

 

Whoops, didn't realise that the gearbox solution and the oil pressure warning problem were on the same thread.
I test drove the car to test the gearbox repair this morning, and the damned oil pressure warning popped up again, just as I arrived home. When I did the o-ring repairs, I also replaced the oil pressure switch, which appeared to be starting to leak.

There were no metal flakes (nor even dust)in the pan when I removed it, but there was a bit of carbon build up on 'gravity' surfaces in it. Nothing loose that could block the pick-up, which was clean.

Weather permitting, I'm going to put a mechanical gauge on the oil line, but beyond the o-rings, does anyone have any other ideas about what might be causing the problem? Thanks.

 

Put some flushing agent into the oil, drove around for close to an hour, then carried out an oil & filter change. Problem seems to have been solved. I suspect something was blocking the pick-up, even though I inspected it when IO had the pan off. Shutting the engine off and waiting a little while before restarting it would be fine again for a short time. Interestingly, it didn't seem to happen when the engine was cold, only when hot.