PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

i just bought the 94 sle that i was looking at..

it was a 28 minute drive home ( hwy drive ).. so the whole time home the warning chime was constantly going off as the oil pressure was constantly low.. it would go up a lil when i would floor it but when i let off the gas the oil would go low again..

it smells burnt on the dip stick but does not look it at all...

last oil change was done in 5 months ago by jiffy lube.. she is not sure how many miles she put on since the last oil change..


i just dont want to cause any damage to the engine..

engine also feels a lil jumpy when stopped at a stop sign or red light..

thanks club........


and can i jump the computer with a paper clip on the 94 to pull the codes...

the service engine light is on.. thanks..

The Big question is, is the oil pressure really that low or is the oil pressure sending unit failing..?

Jrs3800 wrote:The Big question is, is the oil pressure really that low or is the oil pressure sending unit failing..?

well what i did was take off the oil cap from the valve cover and then reved the engine a lil and i did not see any oil what so ever come up into the valve cover..? what does this mean if anything..?

You'd have to remove the Valve cover. If there's no oil getting to the top end of your engine, then an oil passage is plugged, and your engine is toast from lack of oil.

00Beast wrote:You'd have to remove the Valve cover. If there's no oil getting to the top end of your engine, then an oil passage is plugged, and your engine is toast from lack of oil.

wow.. this is like the 10 thing that i was told could be wrong..

i was told it could be an sensor, sending unit, pump, clogged screen, faulty gauge clogged filter and now a plugged passage way..

what do you mean by a plugged passage way.. like a clog or debris in a line or hose somewhere..



and i feel like im going to have to cry.. i just bought this car yesterday as i was told if the engine is not making any noise then the low oil pressure is not a big worry..

but mostly everyone on here and bonnevillepro.com are saying my engine is toast..

i just got screwed by my wifes boss with a truck that had tranny problems and had to fight with him to take it back..

so i paid $600 for this bonneville yesterday and already like 20 people said my engine is toast or will be toast soon..

im not sure whats going on or even what to do now..


i dont want to replace 8 parts to try and fix the low oil pressure if my engine is supposidly shot..



what do i do now..?


help......


my wife will kill me if i just wasted $600 that we dont have to throw out like that.. plus she will kill me again as she will no longer have enough car money if the engine is toast and im out $600.


is anybody renting a room.............

Well, it's really hard to say. Pour some Seafoam in, drive it and get it hot, and then change the oil with a good filter. Then drive it and see what your pressure is. You could try a new sensor, just to be sure your current one is reading correctly. but I'm not sure where it is on a Series 1.

The oil is pumped to the lifters by way of the cam bearings and then through the pushrods by the lifters and then it is a gravity type return through the passages in the heads. If there was no oil getting to the lifters, you would definately hear it. If the return passages were blocked, all your oil would set in the valve covers and starve the pump resulting in a main bearing failure.

When I removed the cap from both of mine, I could see very little oil also (just some laying in the valleys), however when I did the rebuild on my 89, I started it without the valve covers and there was plenty of oil there.

As suggested above, you can either replace the sender to see if it is reading bad or you can get a mechanical gauge and plumb it in place of the sender and see what the actual pressure is.

88bonnsse wrote:

Jrs3800 wrote:The Big question is, is the oil pressure really that low or is the oil pressure sending unit failing..?

well what i did was take off the oil cap from the valve cover and then reved the engine a lil and i did not see any oil what so ever come up into the valve cover..? what does this mean if anything..?

Possibly, but you need to start down at the oil pressure switch/sender to see if you have oil pressure coming out of the block.

You can check it a number of ways... put a mechanical pressure gauge in place of the stock oil pressure switch/sender and get a reading of what is coming off the pump. Or simply replace the stock sender & switch to see if your in dash gauges start reporting oil pressure.

Once you really know if the oil pressure is low at the pump, you can make a decision on what to do (i.e. pull the pan and timing cover and replace the pump.) If it was just the sender going bad, then you don't have a problem with the motor.

i know the one on the left is the oil level sensor..but

what is the one on the right....?

is the the oil pressure sending unit..? the peice that everyone is saying i should replace...?

The one on the right is the pressure unit. Id say change the oil, the pressure unit and see what it does. What was your gauge saying your pressure was on the way home?

88bonnsse wrote:what is the one on the right....? is the the oil pressure sending unit..? the peice that everyone is saying i should replace...?

That's the one. If you have a mechanical presure gauge available, you can screw in a common pipe thread hose barb (brass, local hardware store's plumbing isle) to connect up the mechanical gauge and see if you have oil pressure coming out of the pump.

The oil level sender can go right back in the pan, it isn't involved in an oil pressure problem, as it just floats on the oil in the pan till you are about a quart low.

01bonneSC wrote:The one on the right is the pressure unit. Id say change the oil, the pressure unit and see what it does. What was your gauge saying your pressure was on the way home?

it was going ding ding ding ding......almost all the way home it was close to or on the redline...... very low..

jimmyfloyd wrote:
Step #1: change oil
Step #2: check cyl pressure if you can get a kit
step #3: check sensor/replace and check.
Step #4: Tune up.
Step #5: Oil Pump.


Step #2 will tell you if you have bad rings.
Steps 1 and 3 are easy and will rule out those two as being issues.
Step 4 is for good meansure since we have checked the three major things.
Step #5 will be more like a last resort issue thing where if it is still getting low oil pressure at that point, then that is a last culprit.

You will also want to check for oil leaks and low oil too, but I am assuming you have already done that.

Oil pressure sensor in accessable from under the car, near the oil pan gasket area on the block. can't remember which side it is on.

And I agree, low oil pressure is one thing that I would have walked away from. While it can be something simple like the sensor, it more often than not is something worse.

Good luck with it, and keep us posted on exactly what is going on with it.

And I don't think 94 can do the paper clip trick.




o.k i just did step 1 and 3... i drained the oil which looked clean and clear/yellow and while the oil was drained..
i was going to replace the oil level sensor but it looken new and the glass was still clean and yellow as opposed to the one i got from the yard was black and used so i put mine back in.. and i replaced the oil sending unit by the filter as well. filled it back up with new oil and the pressure is still the same.. but let it be known i used junkyard parts as i could not afford new parts if they were not the problem...


and what is the kit called exactly for step 2.? and how much is it about..?


and there is a pretty bad valve cover gasket leak or upper manifold gasket leak.. the oil pan and bottom of the ingibe is drenched with oil but there has not been no oil leakage on the floor while i have the car parked and running..

but the oil level on the dipstick was pretty good before i did the oil change..

OK, first thing that needs to be understood is the oil flow in the engine.

1.The oil is picked up from the oil pan by suction from the pump.
2. It is then pumped to the filter (housing contains the sensor and the pressure releif)
3.From the filter it is routed to the cam and crank by way of passages in the block.
4. The lifters pump oil from the cam up through the push rods to the rockers
5. Gravity returns the oil off the crank, cam and rockers to the pan. Passages in the heads lead to the pan.

So, considering the mileage on the car, I would do the following:

1. Oil change
2. NEW pressure sensor
3. Check pressure with a mechanical gauge
4. NEW pressure releif spring and plunger (intese kit or other), my thoughts are based on the way the releif works.
5. Check oil pump clearances etc according to specs
6. Suspect bad crank or cam bearings (excessive clearance will bleed pressure off)

As for the pressure releif, it works by spring pressure. The pressure on the plunger from the spring is what determines the pressure out of the housing. If the rating is set for 40 psi and the plunger sees 60, it will force the plunger back enough to allow the excess to bleed back to the pan. So, suppose that 40 psi spring is weak and is only providing 20psi resistance, you will lose pressure out to the engine. Also, if you have bad main or cam bearings, they can cause a loss of pressure too.


I am thinking this because of the reverse of adding the Intense kit to my 2k. I was running around 40psi before and now I am seeing around 60 - 70 psi.

The kit mentioned in step 2 is nothing more than a compression gauge. It doesn't point directly to bad rings, there could be a valve sealing issue also, but neither of those will affect oil pressure as they are serviced from splash. He is directing you there for the roughness issue. I would start with a good tune up and filters first. Also check for vacuum leaks.

(( also my oil gauge goes deep in the red zone and then the car constantly goes ding ding ding over and over and over again while the check gauges light on the dash flickers on and off and on and off constantly..


i thought the check gauges light is supposed to stan on and not flicker.. atleast it dont flicker in my 95 if im running low on gas or when i was leaking anti freeze and my car was getting hot...

is the check gauges light supposed to flicker with low oil..? or constantly stay on..

i layed under the car and had my ear to the oil pan wwhile the car was running and had my wife turn the car off while i left my ear on the pan and i heard oil dripping back down into the pan when the car was shut off..? does that mean the oil pump is good or could still be on its way out and just working a lil..? it dripped back into the oil pan for only like 2 or 3 seconds.. not alot of oil at all according to what i heard fall i would easily say only a coule of ounces came back down into the pan when the car was shut off.. how much oil should have came back down..? does any one know..?



and for the tune up... i am afraid to spend money on the tune up as incase i have to buy a NEW oil pressure sender/switch
and oil pump i cant afford everything really..

and if i give it a tune would'nt it be pointless as i was told by many not to drive the car incase the oil pressure is really that low as the engine can suffer severe damage...and im asking cause i dont know much but what would the tune up have to do ( if anything ) with very low oil pressure..?



well tomorrow i will check the air filter and some spark plugs to see how they look and i also have a used gauge cluster that i got from the junk yard at harrys for only $5 so should i try to put this on tomorrow just to see what happens since i have the part already..?

oh and where is the # 4 located.. the pressure relief spring and tensioner like you said..?

Since you are dealing with a financial issue here, I would tackle the oil problem first. Get a new sender and find a gauge. I think you need to verfy if the oil pressure is actually that low before you go any farther. If it is just the sender then it is a cheap quick fix. The mechanical gauge will tell you exactly what oil pressure the motor actually has.

The pressure releif spring and plunger is inside the oil filter adapter. The same part the sender is threaded into.

The rough idle issue can be investigated cheaply by looking for vacuum leaks first. Do a thorough inspection of all the hoses and fittings first. Next, get a can of carb cleaner and spray all the hoses and fittings and see if the idle changes in speed.

As for the check gauges, disconnect the sensor on the oil pan and see if it stays on continuously. The oil pressure and the low oil level will both set off the light.

By the way, could you get a short video of the oil pressure gauge while driving the car from an idle to any speed and back to idle, preferably when the engine is warm? A couple of pictures will also help.

I also noticed you haven't reported any codes yet. Is there some way to get them read. Some auto parts can do it, but you have that funky 1.5 set-up.

myfirstbonnie wrote:Since you are dealing with a financial issue here, I would tackle the oil problem first. Get a new sender and find a gauge. I think you need to verfy if the oil pressure is actually that low before you go any farther. If it is just the sender then it is a cheap quick fix. The mechanical gauge will tell you exactly what oil pressure the motor actually has.

The pressure releif spring and plunger is inside the oil filter adapter. The same part the sender is threaded into.

The rough idle issue can be investigated cheaply by looking for vacuum leaks first. Do a thorough inspection of all the hoses and fittings first. Next, get a can of carb cleaner and spray all the hoses and fittings and see if the idle changes in speed.

As for the check gauges, disconnect the sensor on the oil pan and see if it stays on continuously. The oil pressure and the low oil level will both set off the light.

By the way, could you get a short video of the oil pressure gauge while driving the car from an idle to any speed and back to idle, preferably when the engine is warm? A couple of pictures will also help.

I also noticed you haven't reported any codes yet. Is there some way to get them read. Some auto parts can do it, but you have that funky 1.5 set-up.

i am trying to pull the codes but i have 3 scanners and none work on the darn car..

i have the actron scanner with the gm cartridge but the slug made cable i got dont work on any of my cars... weird huh..


i just got off the phone with actron and they said i can use the actron cp9142 cable with my actron cp9110 to pull codes from my obd 1.5.. im searching for that cable now

here are 2 quick videos....

They're wrong. You need the CP9115 cable for your car.

Videos mean nothing to us without knowing your REAL oil pressure. Is your sender good or not? Your topic in General Chat should be heeded along with this one:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13426

Please verify your oil pressure in one of two ways:

A known good NEW sender
OR
a mechanical gauge.