Oil Problem, need help please.
 

Alright, so I'm driving to a friends house tonight and I look down at the gauge cluster and notice my oil pressure is reading 0. I quickly pull over and pop the hood, check everything I can with no flashlight or anything. Checked the dip stick and it was fine, still plenty of oil on it. Check all the lines and stuff and they're all good, no leaks or anything anywhere. So I drive to a nearby gas station (was sorta in the middle of nowhere, not close enough to walk anywhere and no cars around so had to drive) and when there I grab a flashlight and start checking stuff. Check the dip stick again and its fine, check all over the engine bay and its bone dry, no leaks anywhere at all. Check the oil pan and its bone dry, not leaking at all. No smells or anything coming from the car, was running perfectly the whole time, totally smooth and rock solid. I had just had an oil change earlier today as well. So she's parked now and gonna wait till tomorrow when its cold to do a through inspection. But I just wanna know what you all think I should check. Is there anyway of checking the pump without pulling the oil pan completely off or anything like that? Also how would I go about checking the guage to make sure its working? Any help here would be great. This problem is occuring on my TII (mods in sig if it matters). Thanks.

later
-Justin

check to make sure presure sending unit is attached. I think its under the oil filter.

Check to see that the plug on the oil pressure sending unit is on , and dry. It is located on the side of the engine below the oil filter pod. Looks like a bronze dome, about as wide as a silver dollar, and will have a plug on the end. Alot of times when people do an oil change, they allow oil to drip down the side of the engine from the oil filter, and it lands right on this plug. Id almost bet thats your problem.

It's probably just the oil pressure sender. You may have knocked off the connection to it when you were changing the filter. It's the little brass round thing that should have a white rectangular connector on the very center / end of it.

Alright, I checked the sending unit and dried it off as best as I could. Tried to dry off the connector for the wire as best I could without pulling it off. Then started the car and still no pressure. Will I need to pull off the connector and mess around with it?

You need to perform this very simple test first-
Unplug the oil sender plug, and ground it out somehwere using another wire to the chassis or something. Make sure it is grounded well!!

With the iginition on (though it may work with it off, don't know) and see if the guage is pegged at the top.
If it is, then either your oil pump or chain went (vert rare and unlikely, plus you would most likely have heard a noise when it went) or the pickup tube fell off(also very unlikely, if not impossible- it's bolted on)
More likely- your oil sending unit just puked.
Unscrew it, and test it... I'm sure there is a voltage test outlined in the FSM

Of course, you could always loosen off the turbo oil supply line on the top of the engine, It's just behind, and underneath the alternator, on the drivers side of the engine- on the top of the front enine housing.
Loosen it off a tad, and start the car for a second, see if it squirts oil. Messy, but effective and definative.

Thanks a ton man. I knew there was some way of testing the gauge like that but could not remember how.

I'll try all this stuff tomorrow after work maybe, hopefully its nothing major as I cannot afford something major right now (or ever :p ). Thanks again guys for the help.

later
-Justin

Most likely your oil pressure sending unit went out.(pretty common on 7's) I would check that before you look at replacing the chain or pump.......

Update:

I pulled off the connector to the sending unit and dried it off as best as I could with a rag. Still nothing on the gauge. I did not try grounding it to see if the gauge is still working as it was way to dark to see what was going on and I was by myself. Will probably do that tomorrow.

Now I got a question. If I was to run premix and actually do still have oil pressure will that be bad for anything at all? I am a premix noob, all I know is its 15oz for a full tank on an S5. And if I am running only premix and have no oil pressure then could that have a bad effect on my turbo at all? Pretty much all I need to know is can I safely run premix in my TII right now and not damage anything? Any info is great guys. Thanks again for all the help.

later
-Justin