Yet another Yukon with engine tick and low oil pressure

[j91z28d1]

park with the front of the truck facing down a decent steep driveway or put 2 extra qt of oil in it. if the oil pressure goes up it's sucking air. if it doesn't, it's fine.

 

[Geotrash]

Thank you for your input, it’s nice to hear other seeing similar readings. the mechanic also said that the oil pressure was normal and within spec even though the gauge shows oil pressure at idle a bit on the lower side

Keep an eye on it for the next several weeks. If that hot idle pressure continues to come down, then you'll know the time has come to replace that o-ring. With the pressures you have, in my opinion it's not time for action yet unless you just want to replace it for preventative MX as Don suggests.

I've had the oil pan off a couple of times on my 2012. You don't have to remove the differential on 4WD/AWD models to get the oil pan off. The frame crossmember has to come out, the steering rack needs to be unbolted and hang from the tie rods. All easy work with an impact wrench and a selection of extensions. The oil dipstick tube also needs to come out. For the diff, all you have to do is remove the axle shaft bolts on the passenger side and separate the CV axle from the flange. Then remove the 2 differential mounting bolts on the same side. The differential will hang plenty low enough to wiggle the oil pan out without having to drop the diff completely. With the pan off, just remove the oil pickup tube and replace the o-ring. There are 2 sizes - a thinner one and a thicker one. You want the thicker one.

It'll be the better part of a Saturday the first time you do it. There are folks on Youtube who claim you can do the job just by dropping the front of the oil pan and using a pair of forceps to remove the bolts. I tried this approach and it was so frustrating with the limited working space there that I gave up and just dropped the pan completely out. In my case it was preventative maintenance as part of a cam swap project.

 

[Geotrash]

park with the front of the truck facing down a decent steep driveway or put 2 extra qt of oil in it. if the oil pressure goes up it's sucking air. if it doesn't, it's fine.

^^^ +1. This should be your next step if the hot idle oil pressure drops any further in the weeks/months ahead.

 

[YukonDK]

Thank you again everyone for sharing your knowledge/input, much appreciated!

Seems like I need to have the shop look into that o-ring, already spent a substantial amount of money at the mechanic thus far, but seems like it will need a lot more work.

I did try the trick of parking the car on a very steep hill after an hour drive to see if that would make oil pressure increase, but that didn’t change anything, oil pressure on gauge stayed like it always does once warm and at idle.

However I did notice that the ticking sound is more pronounced when parked on a steep hill with a warm engine, when I’m parked on a level surface the ticking is very faint. Maybe I’m beginning to go crazy over this tick/knock thing. Never had any issues like this with the 2nd gen Escalade I had before the Yukon though - sometimes I do miss that Escalade.

 

[donjetman]

did you add 2 qts of oil? then park and run it with the front end a lot lower than the rear end.

 

[mattbta]

Parking nose down won't do much if you didn't put in additional oil (1-2 qts IIRC). You want to overfill it and parking nose down _should_ fully submerse the pickup tube.

 

[YukonDK]

If I overfill it, I will need to drain the oil and put in new oil and filter right? The overfilling is just to check?

 

[donjetman]

If I overfill it, I will need to drain the oil and put in new oil and filter right? The overfilling is just to check?

correct, it's just to submerge the oil pickup oil ring under oil so it can't suck air if it's cracked and/or broke.
Then drain out 2 qts and go about your business.

 

[15burban]

Oil Change Pump Extractor, 12v 60w Oil Extractor Pump Oil Pump Extractor, Diesel Fluid Scavenge Suction Oil Transfer Pump for Changing Oil, Oil Change Pump for Boat, Tubes, Truck, RV, ATV, Riding Mowe https://a.co/d/d6dUH9U

This is what I use to get fluid back out. It's cheap enough and works great for extracting fluid back out. I use it every time before I drop a trans pan if they don't have a drain plug. If you need something to get the extra 2 quarts of oil out.

If your oil in it is old and needs to be changed then disregard this and just change the oil afterwards.

 

[YukonDK]

Thanks again everyone.

That pump extractor looks great, I will get one, thanks.

I bought a scanner and hooked it up when the engine was warm and at idle, oil pressure fluctuated around 11.9 and 13.9 - so it is lower than what I’d like to see.