2012 Chevy Tahoe low oil pressure/ shop says I need new engine!

[Aburns70]

I cannot get over the $185 part - I did mine for the low pressure issue and the warning messages. The sensor and screen helped a little (enough the messages didnt return) however, I bit the bullet and pulled the oil pan. I think I am all in at this point with new O-ring, pan gasket, sensor and screen, oil cooler filter, and 2 oil changes with filter - must be less than what that "professional" shop charged. That hurt just looking at the bill but, in your defense, you were in a bind and trusted they knew what they were talking about. If it were me, do the O-ring on the pick up tube and roll with it - FWIW, I run the recommended oil with a PF63 filter and mine runs about 45 cold and 25 hot with the gauge climbing when the loud pedal is pressed.

Do you know how much they quoted you to pull the oil pan? I live in the Twin cities and I am going to call around to try and find someone that is willing to do that. the shop that I went to didn’t want to remedy the solution or try anything else after they tried a heavy weight oil after the low oil pressure warning came on after replacing the sensor, which resulted in the same issue happening again.

 

[Fubar0715]

I did it at my buddy's house who had a lift but it could be done in a driveway, especially if put up on jack stands. The heavier oil is not going to remedy a o-ring that has become flat creating a low pressure scenario - its still sucking air due to the bad seal.

 

[suzique146]

I am experiencing the same problem. My 2014 Tahoe, long story short we had the oil sensor changed. oring oil pump all replaced. Still get the warning. The mechanic said we need new motor, offered to buy at trade in price. Said it was ok to drive but when light comes on turn off and let it cool down. My husband was driving it home the red light warning came on he put in in neutral, shut car off, then turned back on and warning was gone. We change our oil every 3k, mechanic did not say metal in pan or oil. We love our Tahoe and don't want to put another 6k into a motor. Also when warning comes on we check the oil and it is full. Not sure could it be an electrical or computer issue?

 

[Trey Hardy]

New to the site, first time posting but have been reading many of the other posts about the low oil pressure warning everyone has experienced.

Please bear with me as I am not a car person at all.

Situation: 2012 Chevy Tahoe 150k miles. Wife was driving it about 20 miles to our sons appointment, when ‘low oil pressure turn vehicle off’ warning came on. She drove it about 5-10 miles to the destination then turned vehicle off. I met her over there checked to see if there was any oil leaks, there was none, and to make sure there was oil, which there was. It had probably gone over 1k miles over recommended oil change. We had it towed to a shop near our house, we just moved and are new to the area and didn’t have a mechanic that we knew so tried this one spot with good reviews.

They said that it was probably the oil pressure sensor. I saw many people saying that was the culprit online so just assumed it would be a fairly straight forward fix. The quoted me 1k to diagnose, change sensor and give the vehicle an oil change, I felt that was fairly steep but like I said, I am no car person. So they went a head did the fixes and we picked up the vehicle on Friday the 15th. Drove the vehicle home, about 1 mile, no issues. Sunday I took the vehicle to the store about 10-15mile around trip and after the vehicle warmed up, I noticed I was getting less than 20psi on the gauge. So Monday morning I wanted to drive it to work which was about 20ish miles away. it was about 20 degrees out that morning, started up around 40psi, let engine warm for about 10 minutes, when I came back out it was down to 20, and progressively kept getting lower as I drove, until the ‘low oil pressure shut vehicle off’ warning came on again 5miles from work. Had it towed back to the shop, and it was there a couple days before getting a call today from them. They said that the oil was shiny, they tried going to 10w-30 oil to see if that helped, drove it about 7 miles and once the engine got up to temp, pressure dropped again. The mechanic told me that because the oil was shiny and it can’t keep pressure that the bearings were too warned down and that the only option was to rebuild the engine, and that it would cost in the ballpark around 5k to do that, but they wouldn’t rebuild the engine and we would have to find someone else to do that.

I have no idea what to do, would love to hear if anyone else has any tips or suggestions, or if I should look to get a second opinion.I can’t really afford an engine rebuild at this time, and not sure what to do.

Thank you in advance!

They screwed you on the sensor and more then likely if it isn’t the oil pressure sensor then I would try that oil pickup tube in the pan before I would rebuild the engine. And 5,000$ you’re probably able to find a remanufactured engine vs taking the chance on that shop to screw you again.
My Tahoe has about 400,000 miles now ORIGINAL POWERTRAIN.

I think I need to do the oil pickup tube o ring on mine because when I had it on the scanner the other day oil pressure was around 15-19lbs and 25lbs at wide open throttle.

150,000 miles these motors are just getting broken in!

I would seriously recommend finding another shop maybe try a mom and pop place that won’t just try to get your money find someone who will say if it’s broke fix it and if it’s good it’s good a lot of these shops now a days are after 1 thing! YOUR MONEY! The more you can learn about these vehicles as far as maintenance the better off you’ll be in the long run you’ll save yourself thousands. I work on everything myself and if I don’t know how to I figure it out.
Just my 2cents
If the oil really had metal flakes in it I would’ve wanted to see it in person
Before you bite the bullet throw a magnetic oil drain plug in her and change the oil again yourself and verify if there really is metal shavings or not. I highly doubt the bearings are shot this soon unless someone dogged the immortal shit out of the vehicle it’s whole life and even then I would doubt it.

 

[Trey Hardy]

That’s what I was kind of wondering, the engine temp never overheated, and I never heard anything out of the ordinary from the engine noise, and performance hadn’t changed. So I wondered if I could manually check the engine pressure to see what it was actually reading, versus what the pressure sensor was reading.also wondering if they replaced the sensor but not the filter.

And yes if they diddnt change the screen when they done the sensor id take it back and raise hell because 3/4 of the time its the screen clogged and gunked up causing the issue

 

[Trey Hardy]

I am experiencing the same problem. My 2014 Tahoe, long story short we had the oil sensor changed. oring oil pump all replaced. Still get the warning. The mechanic said we need new motor, offered to buy at trade in price. Said it was ok to drive but when light comes on turn off and let it cool down. My husband was driving it home the red light warning came on he put in in neutral, shut car off, then turned back on and warning was gone. We change our oil every 3k, mechanic did not say metal in pan or oil. We love our Tahoe and don't want to put another 6k into a motor. Also when warning comes on we check the oil and it is full. Not sure could it be an electrical or computer issue?

Sounds like a bad sensor. I’ve gotten two bad sensors doing this job and it’s not as uncommon as you thing for a new oem sensor to be bad out the box it sucks having to do the job twice but sometimes that’s just what you got to do

 

[89Suburban]

Damn this is nuts this thread wow. Fkng hate to see people getting taken advantage of

 

[ivin74]

I am experiencing the same problem. My 2014 Tahoe, long story short we had the oil sensor changed. oring oil pump all replaced. Still get the warning. The mechanic said we need new motor, offered to buy at trade in price. Said it was ok to drive but when light comes on turn off and let it cool down. My husband was driving it home the red light warning came on he put in in neutral, shut car off, then turned back on and warning was gone. We change our oil every 3k, mechanic did not say metal in pan or oil. We love our Tahoe and don't want to put another 6k into a motor. Also when warning comes on we check the oil and it is full. Not sure could it be an electrical or computer issue?

How many miles are on the Tahoe? How long have you had it? Did you read the entire thread? The fixes are on this thread.

 

[BG1988]

They screwed you on the sensor and more then likely if it isn’t the oil pressure sensor then I would try that oil pickup tube in the pan before I would rebuild the engine. And 5,000$ you’re probably able to find a remanufactured engine vs taking the chance on that shop to screw you again.
My Tahoe has about 400,000 miles now ORIGINAL POWERTRAIN.

I think I need to do the oil pickup tube o ring on mine because when I had it on the scanner the other day oil pressure was around 15-19lbs and 25lbs at wide open throttle.

150,000 miles these motors are just getting broken in!

I would seriously recommend finding another shop maybe try a mom and pop place that won’t just try to get your money find someone who will say if it’s broke fix it and if it’s good it’s good a lot of these shops now a days are after 1 thing! YOUR MONEY! The more you can learn about these vehicles as far as maintenance the better off you’ll be in the long run you’ll save yourself thousands. I work on everything myself and if I don’t know how to I figure it out.
Just my 2cents
If the oil really had metal flakes in it I would’ve wanted to see it in person
Before you bite the bullet throw a magnetic oil drain plug in her and change the oil again yourself and verify if there really is metal shavings or not. I highly doubt the bearings are shot this soon unless someone dogged the immortal shit out of the vehicle it’s whole life and even then I would doubt it.

HIGH PRESSURE oil pump get one my hybrid has the high pressure oil pump were looking at 45 idle and 60PSI with the throttle going...

 

[Trey Hardy]

HIGH PRESSURE oil pump get one my hybrid has the high pressure oil pump were looking at 45 idle and 60PSI with the throttle going...

I’m going to tackle that when I do the oil pan gasket and pickup tube