help troubleshooting oil pressure

[Kartoon]

I have a 2006 Denali XL, 145,000 miles. Everything runs and works great. When I bought it the oil pressure gauge was pegged to 80. Thought it was the oil pressure sensor, changed that with a new AC Delco part, and no change. The gauge would start acting erratic and go down and up and down. Would hit 0 and the dash would rear oil pressure low. Motor never changed sound, everything was still as smooth as always.

Figured it was the stepper motor in the dash. I just changed that and it still is reading at 80psi. Whats the next step to check? Is the only other component the oil pump? Is there an easy place to put a mechanic gauge on and see if the oil pressure is normal? Also, is there a way to unplug the chime for it? When it drops to 0 and it starts dinging it drives me crazy. If I know that the oil pressure is normal and I can get the dinging to go away I would be ok with it for now. If its the oil pump Ill just change that if I know it will fix the issue. Let me know if there are any ideas.

 

[OR VietVet]

When you changed the oil sender that was the time to attach a gauge and get an oil pressure reading at cold and then while engine warmed up.

 

[Kartoon]

Thats easy enough to get to the OPS and remove it and put a gauge on it and check that. Ill have to make some time in the next couple days to check it.

If the oil pressure is fine with a mechanical gauge, what would be the cause of the dash gauge to be acting erratic?

 

[SRTH8R]

The cluster itself maybe messed up. They extended the coverage on full size trucks and SUVs for stepper motors failing. Not unheard of.

 

[Kartoon]

Does anyone know if i just unplug the oil pressure sensor if it will make the gauge just read zero? Its driving me crazy going up and down and I would like to just get the gauge to read zero for now.

Just want to make sure if I unplug it, it won't effect the actual oil pressure and the gauge will go to zero.

 

[ieastsidechevyrider]

Yes it should


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[Kartoon]

Alright, doing research I found that if I unplug the sensor and the gauge reads 80, the stepper motor would be bad. If I unplug the sensor and it stays at 0, the sensor would be bad.

I unplugged the sender and the gauge stayed at 0. A year ago I bought a new AC delco sender and put it in thinking it would solve my problem and it didnt, and now this is telling me that the sender is bad. (And I just replaced the stepper motor a day ago)

Should I buy another AC Delco sender for the $50 and see if it fixes the problem? Or would that be a waste of money to do it again?

 

[ieastsidechevyrider]

I bought my unit from AutoZone. It wasn't AC Delco. The one I bought has a lifetime warranty.


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[Kartoon]

Well, even if I bought a different brand, would it be worth spending the money? Or should I be looking into other problems.

 

[ieastsidechevyrider]

This may be a stupid question but when you installed the new unit are you positive that you pushed the plug onto the the sending unit until you heard or felt it click? I know when i installed mine last summer and started my truck it still read zero. I went back and pushed down on the connecting plug until i felt it click. Started her back up and it worked.


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