Oil pressure 40cold/20-25hot, safe to drive?

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m1dn

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Hey folks!

Noticed i have lower than ideal oil pressure when yukon warms up.
Pickup tube seal most likely.

There is also small oil leak from the oil pan that i was going to tackle somewhere around April when it warms up and would be replacing pickup tube seal as well.

Wondering if it’s safe to drive with given pressure right now in shorter distances until April or park it and wait until i warms up?
Dont want to get down under the car for few days while it’s cold and ****** outside
 

Blackcar

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Hey folks!

Noticed i have lower than ideal oil pressure when yukon warms up.
Pickup tube seal most likely.

There is also small oil leak from the oil pan that i was going to tackle somewhere around April when it warms up and would be replacing pickup tube seal as well.

Wondering if it’s safe to drive with given pressure right now in shorter distances until April or park it and wait until i warms up?
Dont want to get down under the car for few days while it’s cold and ****** outside
What was oil pressure hot before?
 

91RS

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That oil pressure is just fine. The oil pressure light doesn’t come on until 6 PSI. The aftermarket world says you need 10 PSI per 1,000 RPM so you’re good there too unless it can’t keep up at higher RPM.
 

iamdub

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Hey folks!

Noticed i have lower than ideal oil pressure when yukon warms up.
Pickup tube seal most likely.

There is also small oil leak from the oil pan that i was going to tackle somewhere around April when it warms up and would be replacing pickup tube seal as well.

Wondering if it’s safe to drive with given pressure right now in shorter distances until April or park it and wait until i warms up?
Dont want to get down under the car for few days while it’s cold and ****** outside

+1 for the pressures being "safe". If it's a sudden drop from what it has always been, then you're right for being concerned and should perform some diagnostics to at least try to get an idea of the cause. As @OR VietVet mentioned, overfilling the oil by about two quarts and putting the car in a nosedive to ensure the O-ring is submerged is a surefire way to confirm or rule it out. Other possibilities are leaking VLOM gasket or (far less likely) a cam retainer plate gasket.

If the average pressures have been gradually dropping over a length of time and you're just now getting concerned, I hope you've at least checked to see if you're losing coolant and if your oil is milky.
 
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m1dn

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That oil pressure is just fine. The oil pressure light doesn’t come on until 6 PSI. The aftermarket world says you need 10 PSI per 1,000 RPM so you’re good there too unless it can’t keep up at higher RPM.
Gotcha, thanks! It’s about 20-25 when idling or cruising at 1000rpm when fully hot, going all the way to 40-50 when i hit the gas
 
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m1dn

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+1 for the pressures being "safe". If it's a sudden drop from what it has always been, then you're right for being concerned and should perform some diagnostics to at least try to get an idea to the cause. As @OR VietVet mentioned, overfilling the oil by about two quarts and putting the car in a nosedive to ensure the O-ring is submerged is a surefire way to confirm or rule it out. Other possibilities are leaking VLOM gasket or (far less likely) a cam retainer plate gasket.

If the average pressures have been gradually dropping over a length of time and you're just now getting concerned, I hope you've at least checked to see if you're losing coolant and if your oil is milky.
Checking everything periodically!
It has been the same since the purchase in September.
P.S the VLOM plate bolts were loose, i have new VLOM plate and bunch of gaskets ready, will be replacing in few weeks
 

iamdub

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Checking everything periodically!
It has been the same since the purchase in September.
P.S the VLOM plate bolts were loose, i have new VLOM plate and bunch of gaskets ready, will be replacing in few weeks

Sounds like you're ready to tackle this from all angles. :thumbsup:

Did you get the updated VLOM? Have a new oil pressure sensor and screen ready (or clean the old screen) to go in when you have uninhibited access to it during the VLOM replacement.
 

Dustin Jackson

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Another thing to consider is the last time you had your oil changed. My brother texted me because he was getting an oil light on his Tahoe but said he was long overdue for a oil change so I said start there and it ended up fixing his problem.
 

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