99 S80 oil pressure issues out of nowhere

methdon3 · Post by **methdon3** » 22 Jan 2015, 14:21

Hello I have a major issue at hand with my 99 S80 non turbo 2.9L . I was driving back from queens and The oil light came of with the message that oil pressure was low so I pulled over and checked the oil it was fine. So I drove home and the light blinked off until a few days later it stayed on constant so I connected a Pressure gauge to the block and was getting 30psi on start and a constant 10 when I revved the engine to 3000rpm. So I did the typical fix with the oil pan seals, cleaned out the pan, resealed it in place with the expensive liquid gasket and changed the oil to synth 10w/30 .Put the gauge on the car and got 80psi on start and a constant 35 on warm up with the gauge going up 10psi per 1000rpm.. started driving home from the shop and 10min later the light came back. Put the gauge back on and snaked it to the windshield. drove around and got good pressure at first then it would steady out between 18-30 psi when driving regardless of RPM. Now On my way to the shop to fix the oil pan gaskets I would drive then shut the car off and turn it back on when the light came on. When I did that the second time the check engine light came on but the oil gauge never came back on the rest of 10 min drive. When I connected dice/vida it said the cam position was out of spec so I cleared it. So in a nut shell I am confused about the issue and wondering if the cam position warning could be part of the oil pressure issue.

Post by **jimmy57** » 22 Jan 2015, 16:47

The cam position code sets when there is low oil pressure not the other way around.
When you dropped the pan to do seals did you find sludge or was the engine clean below?
The oil pressure relief valve that is part of the oil pump (behind crank pulley) could stick and not be fully closing. could be an oil pump problem.

methdon3 · Post by **methdon3** » 22 Jan 2015, 19:26

V V T correct? so it uses oil to manipulate the cams and low oil will cause it not to work.. When I dropped the pan the seals were brittle and flat but the pan wasn't that bad TBH it was dirty but not sluged up. the pick up tube had some small metal bits in the screen so I clean it out. Don't get me wrong the Pressure was much better on startup after I replaced the seals but stay constant now at 15-30psi. I was thinking about the oil pump and the relieve valve being the issue also. My plan is depending on time/money is to remove the engine and just tear it down to find out the issue. I already priced out used long blocks between $700-900 shipped to my buddies auto shop. Oh and my car only has 106000 miles on it and it was well taken care of before I got it.

methdon3 · Post by **methdon3** » 24 Jan 2015, 16:51

Well I ended up putting the oil sensor back on and take the car for a 45 mile drive for an hour half locally, And the oil pressure light never came back on or even flickered. I'm dumbfounded with the issue I had.. Oh and I have to replace the heater core o rings. I have a puddle of water on driver side floor mat and what a pain in the A$$ it was to re-seat the seals and put those horse shoe clips back into place.