01 Chevy Silverado oil pressure
Asked by Dtravisr Aug 16, 2016 at 10:32 AM about the 2001 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 LB 4WD
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My oil pressure is at zero on start spikes to
20psi holds there while driving then drops
you can here valves lifters tapping at zero
before all this I changed the oil sending
unit as it was leaking filled it w 5 w20
pressure perfect steady 40psi. Running for
about an hour or so then pulled up to my
house and it dropped to 0 suggestions
please
6 Answers
5w20 is pretty thin oil for a 2001 Silverado. Did you have 5w20 in it before working on the sender? The correct oil would be 5w30 and your choice of brand. If you hear lifters ticking your oil pressure is too low. The oil pressure sender only measures oil pressure and it would have no effect on how much pressure the oil pump is putting out. Either the oil pump, oil pick up screen or the engine clearances are at fault here. Has any other work been done to the engine recently? How many miles on it?
There is 187k on it no other major work has been done on it should I drain it fill it up w/ 5 w 30 keep my fingers crossed and hope the pressure goes back up Or should I pull the oil sending unit and try to get the screen out to clean it the last thing I wanna do is take it al apart to pull the oil pump any suggestions
Oh and sorry yes I did have 5w20 in it prior to putting the sending unit in
It's a known thing that the pickup tube oring can fail and start sucking air causing low oil pressure. I've seen a few do this. The oil pan has to be dropped to fix this. and yes, your motor calls for 5w30. 10w30 would be acceptable but never go thinner
I fired it up today after work 0 oil pressure tapping gave it a little juice the oil pressure Jumpwd to about 36
And again today it seems to be running w steady oil pressure I'm going to run some sludge detergent through it tomorrow let it run for an hour or so then do an oil change with heavier oil 10w30 or 15w30 new filter and hopefully the issue is fixed thank you
