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For those of you that have noticed oil pressure drops, etc. There IS a screen below the oil pressure sending unit that does become clogged!! I have an 07 GMC Sierra, 4x4 Crew Cab, SLE2 package, 144,000 miles. 5.3 litre. I change my oil faithfully at 3000 mile intervals, use Castrol GTX High Mileage oil and Purolator oil filters. Air filter gets replaced every other oil change. Now for what happened...... very cold day, pulled out onto the Interstate and accelerated only to hear the truck rev, and go nowhere. Dropped it out of overdrive and got going, then lost that gear. Limped it to a shop in 2nd....yes the tranny went out. Had a new tranny installed and the mechanics called me and said when they test drove the truck, it had lost oil pressure and shut down. They replaced the oil pressure switch, and it had 40 psi of pressure but slowly dropped down to nothing and shut off. By now the first thought was oil pump or pick up. I called a couple of shops to get answers, and no one ever mentioned (or had even heard of) a screen located just below the oil pressure switch. Called local GM dealer and did confirm that there indeed is a small screen below the switch. $5.80 filter screen. We pulled the old one out, put in the new screen, reinstalled the new pressure switch and all is good. Now some of you may know about this little screen/filter. But I did not, and neither did a few reputable shops. Basically I am posting this to inform others. That's what we're all here for. I'm not sure if this filter is installed on other engines, or even what model year. Maybe someone that knows can chime in. In this case it really paid to call a GM dealership with a good service department. I might have been pulling an engine over a $5.80 filter screen. As to why it plugged up, I'm not sure. We cut apart the oil filter, and no sludge or foreign material. Hopefully this post will help inform someone and save them some big bucks............Or maybe I live in an area where we are way behind on our info on GM vehicles....lol

Approximately 2 years ago while driving my CEL came on. The code reader indicated low oil pressure and the oil pressure gauge was around 17-20 at idle. I changed the oil and filter and the pressure returned to normal (oil change #1). On that oil change I did two filter only changes. When due according to the oil life indicator I changed oil and new filter (oil change #2). That oil and filter was changed according to oil life indicator (oil change #3) Today while driving, once the truck warmed up, (15% on oil life monitor) the oil pressure dropped to 0 suddenly and shut engine off light came on. I pulled over shut the truck off and waited, checked oil (plenty of it), and started the truck back up. Oil pressure came back to normal and then dropped back to 0. I was close to home (<1 mile) and was able to limp home with start-stopping multiple times to maintain oil pressure. I changed oil and filter (oil change #4) and oil pressure returned to normal. Can anybody comment on what is happening? I would like to avoid running into an oil pressure issue on a longer trip, if I am only addressing the symptom and not the cause. Could the cause really be the filter getting full, or the oil degrading despite the oil life indicator suggesting there is more life?

2017 sierra 5.3 with 230k kms/ 140k miles. Oil pressure when hot drops to 10 psi at idle. Spikes back up as soon as you hit the gas. It's always dropped low to like 20psi since new but seems to be getting worse very gradually. At highway speeds it's up around 35-40psi. If I step on it it will jump up to 60 or so. Local shop is recommending oil pump replacement which is a pretty pricey job. Anything else this could be before we go ahead? They checked with a mechanical gauge and otherwise the pressure seems correct so don't think it's a sensor issue....

my 6.0 with 230xxx has low oil pressure but no knocks maybe a little tick though. When i bought the truck it had maybe 5-9psi cold dropping to 0 warm. Thought it may have been a pickup tube oring or oil pump so i went ahead and replaced the pickup tube, o ring, and pump. it now gets 20 cold 7 warm at idle and 0 warm at idle and 20 warm running 1700 rpm. Which is a lot better but still a problem. I am aware the bearings may be shot and need a total rebuild, that is not out of the options. It is not electrical or sensor based issue same psi with a mechanical gauge. However I need to replace my harmonic balancer and take off the timing cover again so i was looking at it and could it be as simple as a o camshaft retainer plate? it has a build in thin o ring which if fails will drain pressure as it connects the oil gallys. Am I correct in thinking that this could solve my issues? Any input is helpful, thanks.

I have a 2017 Silverado 5.3L. Used to stay around 40 pounds of oil. Now when idling, is goes down to 20-25 ish pounds. It’s not throwing any codes up but does have a bit of a knock if I floor it without letting the pressure build back up first. Cold start it’s just below 40 pounds but at operating temps (210) it drops like crazy. It’s not oil quality or level, I just changed it last week and it was good for half a day and went back down.