Hi guys, I have a question about my oil pressure. In the morning when I'm letting it warm up, its around the second thick mark(30psi?) and it stays there. I pull out of my driveway and go for the day and my oil pressure gets lower and lower as I drive(almost hitting nothing), and then builds back up when I stop, but never past 45psi I want to guess, it builds when I go to 3k rpm, but it hits a point and stops building. Are the pump lobes worn?
Thanks!

 

there is a pressure relief valve in the system so max pressure will be at 3k and above. cold oil is thicker than when at operating temp so cold pressure will be higher at idle than when hot. check the oil level. if it gets too low pressure will fluctuate, especially during hard cornering/acceleration as the oil moves away from the pick up tube. i have an aftermarket gauge but others will probably tell u the the stock gauge isn't really too accurate.

 

oil pumps on these engines rarely fail. i mean, i'm sure it has to happen, but it's so infrequent that you may as well say never.

my guess is you're probably looking at one of two main scenarios. either the connection at the sender is failing for whatever reason (dirty, loose, breaking, etc.) or maybe the o-ring in the front cover is failing. i would start with sussing out the possible sender issues first, then you can look more closely at the o-ring since it would probably be best if the engine came out for replacing it.


EDIT: Rxtasy3 posted while i was typing. consider what he said as well.

 

I was thinking about getting an aftermarket gauge because everyone says it's not too precise, but the current one doesn't look too dirty. Next time it's up on the lift, I'll pull the pan and see what I see.
Where would the leak from the front cover leak to?

 

it would leak back into the pan. it just bleeds pressure off the system.

 

I'd go with an aftermarket gauge to double check yourself, I don't trust the stock gauge much anymore. Get an electronic one with a sender, not one you need to run a copper pipe from the location you're drawing the reading from. I got a manual gauge and regretted it terribly - just spend the money and go electronic right away.