Oil pressure issue
 

Ok, so at a cold start up, my oil pressure is around 44 psi, which is great, but as the car warms, it slowly drops down to around 20 psi. Once its near 160*, it dips to as low as 17 psi. I'm thinking I pinched the o-ring for the pickup tube when I swapped out my stock oil pump for a ported LS6 pump. But I wanted to get some feedback, seeing if it could maybe be something else. Thanks :-D

i assumed this would be an LT1 thread lol

same thing that happened to my car. ended up seizing the rods. on the dash the needle on the gauge doesnt jump but if you hook up a manual gauge you will see it jump from like 17 to 22 and back. thats it slurping air. don start the car again. bc it could last minutes or seconds.

learn from my mistake

pinched, rolled or torn o-rings sounds most likely if that's the last thing you touched.

happened recently to a buddy on his motor after doing a 6.0 swap

I'd throw the stock pump back on after carefully looking the ls6 pump over for oring issues. Make sure the bolts are torqued properly as well.

Ok so a little update. I dropped the pan enough to inspect the pickup tube o-ring, and it did have a slight pinch in it. I put a replacement in extremely carefully, and after getting everything back together, I still have oil pressure issues. I don't get it. It idles at 17-20 psi and jumps up to 45 when I touch the gas. I took it out for a quick test ride, and the pressure is fine as long as my foot is on the gas. When I come to a stop, it dipped to almost 10 psi, bogged, and the Check Gauges light came on. I'm going to end up tearing the motor apart again. What should I look for?

The pump gear itself may be damaged, or the pressure relief got stuck and its bleeding the output back into the pickup side. You could also check the cam retainer plate to make sure that is tight and the seal is good.

My lt1 does that with pressure. The warmer it gets the pressures gonna go down

Lt1s always had lower pressure then ls1s

Figured I'd post a little update in case anybody has ran into this problem.

I went ahead and finally tore the front of the motor apart with a new cam retainer plate in hand, and after further inspection, that was the problem. It may have not looked like the seal was bad if I didn't have a new one to compare it to. What a difference though. After weeks of procrastination, I finally put the motor together. I'm currently idling at ~60psi and crusing at ~65psi with no bogging or hesitation.

A suggestion for anybody doing your first cam swap - go ahead and buy yourself a new cam retainer plate with the countersunk holes & matching bolts. It will definitely save you the countless headaches and hours upon hours of diagnosing an oil pressure problem.

Much appreciated Kirk.

Just happened to me on my new motor 8/ I was so careful when i installed it as well. Glad you found it

Glad you found the issue, even though getting to the retainer plate is a like doing the cam swap all over again. I had the same issue after my cam swap and the oil pressure got progressively lower until I tore the front apart again. The issue wasnt a matter of careful install alignment or damaged parts, I just didnt think to loctite the bolts and they slowly backed out. A real PITA to diagnose, and usually the last place to look once everything else checks out.

whoops I read it wrong thought he was reffering to the oil pump o ring.