Oil Pressure

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7amannnyy

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Hi
I have 2009 Yukon Denali running 280k kms
Is this Oil Pressure Normal ?
At idle it sits around at 130 kPa and between 130 kPa and 275 kPa at cruising speeds
It does sits at 275 kPa at cold start later it comes down

Is this normal ?

Thanks in advance
 

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OR VietVet

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Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

It would help to have a "changeover from kPa to lbs. Also, what is it normally or did you just buy it? Any engine noises? CEL?
 
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7amannnyy

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Welcome to the forum from Oregon.

It would help to have a "changeover from kPa to lbs. Also, what is it normally or did you just buy it? Any engine noises? CEL?
Thanks a lot
I am new to Denali
This is my first one
I have had this one for about a month now
When i bought it
The needle was in the middle
i.e 275 kPa = 40 psi
But recently some days back
When its at idle
The pressure comes down to around 130 kPa = 18 psi
And at running its between 18 psi to 40 psi

The only thing that took my attention and why am here is that i heard a very faint ticking sound at idle
Same as a hemi tick when the pressure was at 18.5 psi
But once it goes over 20 psi the ticking goes away

I am worried maybe the pump is on its way out
Or the oil pickup6tube o-ring is bad or the oil pressure filter
As i have gathered this information from some forums

Thanks in advance
 

JPVortex

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Hi @7amannnyy, first of all welcome! As @OR VietVet stated first suspect is sender or sender screen. Remove and while you're there do yourself a favor and attach a mechanical oil pressure gauge, and report back here with the results.

I am skeptical of it being a sender itself due to the fact you stated you get an engine/valve train tick when the pressure is low. That inclines me to believe that the reading may be accurate, and the pressure is a bit low. Could still be that screen restricting flow though. Check there first.

If the mechanical gauge shows low, next step I would do is drop the oil pan and see how that pickup tube o-ring looks, as well as cleaning any crap out from the pickup tube screen itself. If the truck is a 2wd pan removal is much easier, 4wd requires dropping the front differential off the mounts and lowering it a few inches for pan clearance. Can send a good video if needed.

A test you can do before you pull the pan and start looking at the o-ring condition, is overfill the engine with around 2 quarts extra of oil. Raise the rear end of the vehicle up pretty high and run the engine at IDLE(don't risk damage by revving the snot out of it while overfilled). If pressure returns to normal, get ready to replace that pickup o-ring. Basically by overfilling it you're ensuring the oil level is over the level of that o-ring. It'll be submerged in oil, which will temporarily seal it and stop a worn o-ring from sucking up air.

The thing is, removing the pickup tube o-ring is basically half the job of replacing the oil pump. If you felt inclined, you could continue to removing the front accessories and removing the front cover to replace the oil pump. May not be necessary, but not a terrible idea at your mileage/kms. However, if the pickup o-ring isn't the problem, and it was the oil pump, you'd have to tear the pan back out, basically redoing the work you already did plus some. The prerogative is yours. On my 2002 Suburban I replaced just the pickup o-ring and pressure is still lower than ideal, although it did go up some(around 28psi at idle), the oil pump may be bad but my bearings may also be just about smoked as well. I can say I continued to run the engine for a couple of weeks before doing the o-ring job, and I have earned myself a permanent lifter tick on the intake side of cylinder 4, so try to get this sorted out ASAP, before you're looking at minimum of cam and lifter job in the future like me.

Hope this helps guide you as to the most common possibilities, of course there's the chance that the issue is none of the above, and the engine has worn bearings or something, but I'm a positive thinker. As long as maintenance has been kept up with that's highly unlikely at your mileage!
 
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Marky Dissod

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When did you change your oil last?
If you don't change oil (AND filter) often enough, even with zero oil consumption, you'll notice lower oil pressures.
5W30 that has been subjected to a billion revolutions in 6 months behaves more like 10W20 (that's NOT a typo).

Even if you don't idle excessively, small amounts of fuel do make it past the piston rings into the crankcase.
This is the other reason why even motor oil in the cleanest possible environment needs changing more often than GM OE recommends.
Of course, once fuel dilution crosses a certain point, oil consumption becomes an issue too.
 

petethepug

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Welcome from SoCal, sounds like your up North.

My 09 6.2L had the oil pressure sensor replaced 18 Mo ago. It failed in 90 days. The Indy tech likely did not use an OEM part.

The 09 6.2 takes the same sensor as the rest of the 10-14 Denali with the screen on it, # 12673134. Fortunately like the 07 & 08 you’ve also got no AFM to worry about. 07/08 don’t have a screen.

Mine ticks when below 44F from piston slap. The o ring on the oil pump and exh mani gaskets are new. The tick goes away after warm up.

Verify your exh mani bolts are tight and the gaskets are intact. They’ll also make a tick til warmed up if leaking. Do change the oil pump o ring asap. I’m at 302k kms on my L9H and about 20k kms into the newly rebuilt trans.
 

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