Oil pressure/pump issue

[1996SSE]

First time poster, long time lurker. I have a 1996 SSE that has been grandma driven it's entire life (my mom) and was hers up until 3 years ago or so when my parents dropped it off in my garage. Main reason was the driver side rocker was rusted away. After a year and a half of sitting in my garage with infrequent drives, I finally fixed the driver side rocker, but the passenger side is pretty bad too. Sucks for me. It sat all last winter and I've been driving it primarily this summer, 5 months or so. Ran flawlessly, just turned 100k a month ago, been a great car, I really like this car.

Now the bad. As I was pulling out of my garage Monday on my way to work, the check engine light came on and the oil pressure gauge was at 0. I put it in neutral and rev the engine a little bit and the gauge starts working. I only live a mile from work, and during that short trip the needle moved all over the place, a lot more than normal. Whatever, I'll look at it later. On my way home from work, the needle stayed at 0 the entire time. I get home and check the oil level which was just a bit under full. So I turn the car on and the needle stays at 0 still, and I can kinda hear a noise from somewhere in the lower belt area. I didn't want to let the car run for too long with this issue. So, I get in it the next day and there is now a loud ticking coming from somewhere - don't know where as I turned the car off right away.
My initial thought was the oil pump, but I did some searching on here and it sounds like those rarely go. What would be a good route to start at? Pull the pan and see what I find? I originaly was going to park it once the snow started, and I would do the intake gaskets that are due to be replaced. If I have time before I go to work today, I'm gonna try and get a scanner on it and see what that says, if anything. Not to sure what else to try, never had to really touch the motor yet.

[Bing]

What kind of noise is coming from the lower belt area?
Can you try to locate the noise exactly?

You can use a long handle screw driver with your ear against the end of the handle, with the blade of the screw driver against the oil pan and other various spots on the motor with it running to try and pin point it. Be careful when doing this!

Also check to see if the oil has a metallic look to it.

This could just be that the oil pressure sender went bad on you too.

[willwren]

Any L36 owner should first check their coolant level and the color of the oil for mixing. If that looks good, the oil pressure sender is a possibility, although they usually fail HIGH. AC Delco only if you replace the sender.

When (not if) the upper manifold fails in the EGR stovepipe area or the LIM gaskets leak, coolant enters the water pan. If not caught, it will cost you a motor. A more permanent fix is available if you have a few simple tools and a couple hundred bucks. But that's preventive, it won't save you if the damage is done already.

[1996SSE]

The oil looked good - no metal that I could see in it. The coolant was also filled to the top and good up to -45°.

The noise kinda sounded like it was coming from the a/c pump area, with a very faint ticking. But the next day when I started it, it was very loud - sounded like the valvetrain. Not positive on that though since I turned it off right away.

Put a scanner on it for sh*ts and giggles - no codes found.

Why would the engine start ticking loudly from just a bad sender? The car doesn't leak oil - not a drop under it on the garage floor.

Where is the o/p sender located?

[Bing]

The noise wouldn't come from a bad sender. If you're hearing a ticking from the bottom end, its usually not a good sign.

Has the UIM ever been changed by the previous owners (I know parents car)?

If the noise seems to be coming from the front down by the A/C it might be the oil pump has taken a dump.

A bad UIM can leak coolant into the valve train and make its way down to the bottom end. When this happens it can mix with the oil and then make its way to the bearings. This leads to pitting on the bearing surfaces and eventually the bearing spins. As the bearing rotates it chews up the journals and you start to get a knock. This can contribute to fluctuation in oil pressure readings, but also so can a bad pump.

The sender is located on the oil filter housing just above the oil filter.

[myfirstbonnie]

The car has been sitting and with the noise down by the ac, do this.

Remove the belts and start the car. If the noise goes away, it is most likely the harmonic balancer. If it stays, then you have other issues.

Lower end is usually bearings if it was the valvetrain it would be at the top end of the motor.

[1996SSE]

Not sure if the IM gaskets have ever been changed, I'll call my parents tomorrow when I wake up and ask them. The car has been dealer maintained since they owned it, not sure if that is something the dealership offers or not. I even had a free year of oil changes and maintance from the dealership because pontiac went under and they were thanking us for being a loyal customer. It passed their test's with flying colors, but who knows if they were just yanking my chain or what. I've personally never even had to change the oil on this car - I was going to last weekend, but now I'm glad I didn't.
I guess I'll try the belt removal idea. I'm just pretty leary of starting the car. When the oil pressure is at zero and the motor starts ticking, first thing I think of is the oil pump or pickup. Where is the oil pump located?

[Bing]

The oil pump is located behind the front cover on the pulley side of the block. This is behind the harmonic balancer and water pump. The front cover is also what the water pump attaches to.

[willwren]

You're not looking for metal in the oil. Check it after a short drive, and inspect it through the fill hole in the front valve cover for a milky color, indicating mixing with coolant/water. If the Upper manifold is GM, it should be changed very soon. If the LIM gaskets are black plastic (the edges are visible), they should be changed ASAP. If you're still running DEXcool, it should be flushed and replaced with Prestone 'mixes with any' at the same time.

www.dex-cool.net (and that doesn't cover the major issues with the upper manifold).

Try the belt trick first, then take a closer look at the condition and level of your oil and coolant.

[1996SSE]

Alright, finally got around to it tonight. I tried removing the belt, and it still made the same ticking sound - not a loud one, but you can definetly hear it.
I got all the service records from my parents and they had the water pump and IM mani gaskets changed just before 80,000 miles.
What else is there to try, or do I need to pull the pan?

[willwren]

And how many miles ago was that? Are the new gaskets aluminum framed, or still black nylon? Was the upper manifold changed at that time? Were those parts changed for a reason? Did coolant ever mix with the oil at that time?

The 'repair' that was done at 80k may very well be a non-permanent fix.

Get a mechanic's stethoscope and home in on the noise. Give us more details. Does the ticking change frequency with the rpm's, or does it go away with light revs?

[1996SSE]

On the service report it says there was a coolant leak from the water pump, so it was replaced. There was also a fluid leak from the lower intake, so the upper intake manifold was replaced along with upper and lower mani gaskets. It also had it's oil changed too. This was done about 20,500 miles ago.
I don't know if they are aluminum or not, I haven't taken the engine cover off yet. This car taking a poop on me wasn't supposed to happen - my garage isn't quite ready for this yet. I'm in the midst of moving a bunch of stuff around and I don't want any car parts laying around possibly getting lost.
Is running this car and reving it up really a good idea if I'm not getting any oil pressure?

[locowbl]

The screen on your oil pickup tube could be stopped up. How often was the oil changed? When you take off the oil filler cap and look in at the top of the valve train is it clean?

As for driving or reving the motor more than likely the damage has already been done the bearings or crank shaft journals.