03 SSEi oil pressure trouble...

[nick426]

i have an 03 ssei i just bought a few days ago, i got it home, shut it off, and now everytime i turn it on the gauges go left to right and back to zero but now the oil pressure stay set at zero and tells me to check gauges, i have oil and it doesnt seem to be warming up, it isn't knocking, but i want to know if its safe to drive or not

[00Beast]

First thing I would do is change the oil and filter. Normally, when the senders fail the pressure is pegged at 120. I'm betting that the filter is plugged or it is some other issue. Get a GOOD quality oil and filter (Pennzoil, Valvoline, Castrol, etc.) Either conventional or synthetic, but for this circumstance I'd recommend conventional, as you don't wanna blow $50 on oil in a possibly bad engine. For filters do NOT get Fram, get a Mobil 1, Wix, Purolator PureOne, NAPA Gold, or similar. Don't cheap out on either, change it and report back. Do not start it until you replace the oil and filter. Also report back the brand of filter and how the oil looks (dark, milky, etc), and the pressure. If this doesn't fix it, the next step will be to test the pressure manually.

Oh, and Welcome from another 03 SSEi owner!!

[nick426]

thanx for the welcome, changing it right now

[00Beast]

Ok, sounds good. Let us know what happens. What oil and filter did you get?

[nick426]

valvoline maxlife and a purlator PureONE oil filter

oh and it got too dark by the time i got my ramps so ill go at her tomorrow,btw i work at advance auto parts and i used to work at midas for 3 years, so the intake is not leaking, the oil is not milky on the cap anyways, but i will report back tomorrow, i just hope i didnt get a bad car, but the best news is it is not knocking, so thats a good sign

[00Beast]

Cool on your jobs, I worked at a repair shop last summer.

Ok, definitely keep us informed.

[RJolly87]

It is not completely unheard of for them to fail in this manner. My dad's '97 Ultra at first would read zero, than switch to 135psi, back and forth. Resulted in oil light and chime as he was first accelerated.

[00Beast]

Good to know. I've only seen them fail high I guess. If the filter doesn't change it, then you'll have to borrow a mechanical oil pressure gauge from work and see what the pressure is according to that.

[nick426]

ok, the oil change didnt help, oil came out clean and the filter was new, but it didnt hurt to change it but i have driven it 300 miles like this and it hasn't started making any new noises, dealership i bought it from said it was ok but im worried about it, just because, but the oil psi light in the gauge doesnt come on, i looked in the valve cover, i dont see oil spewing all over but it is getting oil so, i mean could it be a bad gauge? im still going to manually test the pressure, how would i go about that?

[2000Silverbullet]

It could be the sender or it could be the gauge. Are all the other gauges reading correctly? Oil sender failure is more common than a gauge and less expensive.

[00Beast]

Get a Mechanical Oil Pressure Gauge from your work and screw it in the oil pressure sender port right above the oil filter, have someone start the car and see what it says. If there is truly no oil pressure, this will confirm it.

[nick426]

well i dont have that one at store 8016 in mt. pleasant, so ill have to got az but, ill try the switch first

[00Beast]

Try the gauge first, it's cheaper than a new sensor.

[1fatcat]

Are you sure? I think the sender would be cheaper. Especially with an employee discount at a parts store.

[00Beast]

You can borrow a gauge for cheap/free at most parts places for a deposit.

[Archon]

As the dash gauge does its sweep on start up, that is not likely the problem. It is quite probable that the sensor is the problem. I'd just replace it and save yourself the extra work.

[nick426]

thanx guys, putting her in either tomorrow or the next day, my poor bonneville, just sitting there...all dormant :( but she'll be good to rock and roll after this! thanx a mill for the help!

[nick426]

well i had it put on the pressure tester and i got pressure, now i just need to get the sender and we'll be all good thanx a ton for the help