Oil Pressure issues! Need Help!

travismorris03 · July 10, 2012

Hello all, I'm needing some advice and my dealer doesn't seem to be the place to get it. Can you guys help!?

Here's the situation. I have a 2011 Sierra 4x4 SLE 5.3l AFM with just 14,000 miles on it. I bought it brand new about a year ago and this first year of ownership has NOT been a pleasant one. A few month's after purchasing, the truck was already back in the shop getting a new front main seal. That got fixed without much hassle, but now 9 or 10 months later, I'm suddenly having very low oil pressure issues. I first noticed it when the engine light came on while driving home from work. I scanned my gauges and noticed next to nothing on the oil pressure gauge (somewhere around 5 lbs), so I stopped right there and got it towed into the dealership.

A week at the dealership and they tell me that they replaced the oil filter and the sending unit, and now I'm "back within spec". Go pick it up, and the check engine light was off, but oil pressure is still terribly low. Especially at idle. If you want to see how low, look at my profile picture (couldn't figure out how to put my pic on this post, so I just made it my profile pic). Anyways, it's somewhere around the 6-8 lbs of pressure when I'm at hot idle.

It increases dramatically when I start driving, but it still never reaches the 40 mark where it use to always hang out. So obviously somethings gone bad.

Well I take it back to the dealer, and he tell me the "spec" for it is a very minimum of 24 lbs at 1000 rpms. So he hooks it up to a mechanical gauge in the shop and tells me it reads exactly 24, so I'm "in spec" and there's nothing he can do for me. Well when I get out and drive it and have the engine at 1000 rpms, the gauge shows about 18 or 19 lbs. I photograph the gauges at 1000 rpms's showing this and show the picture to him, and he just says that the gauge I'm looking at in the dash while driving isn't as accurate as the gauge they have in the shop, which said I was within spec, so sorry.

So now I'm stuck with a brand new truck, that can't hold oil pressure. Think I'll even make it 20k before the engines gone?

And just because the dealers always ask, yes I use the dexos approved mobil 1 oil, and ACdelco oil filter.

So does anybody have any advice on what to do here? I boggled. I've never in my life seen oil pressure this low in anything, nor has anybody I work with.

Doug_Scott · July 10, 2012

factory gauges are normally not very accurate. They used to not put numbers on them, just put the word normal over a range that went from just off the low mark all the way up to just below the high mark. You have reported it, if anything comes from it, they will take care of it. Did you ask the dealer what part that they installed fixed the light coming on? That is important information.

ruggedlife · July 10, 2012

i would make sure it's noted in their system, and/or try to take it to a different dealer, if not just drive it till they have to put a motor in it

CKNSLS · July 10, 2012

You don't have a problem dude. Mine reads the same way yours does. It does the EXACT same thing. It has the SAME READINGS.

I have 18,000 miles on my 2011-5.3 Crew Cab.

These motors are spec'd to run (as the dealer told you) with very little oil pressure.

I just towed a 5,000 pound travel trailer 800 miles and the pressure never went past 30 psi.

Don't lay awake at night and worry about this.

AirForceAngler · July 11, 2012

The engine also has a 5 year, 100K mile warranty on it. If it's going to blow for low oil pressure, it'll do it before then.

GMCustomerService · July 11, 2012

I would have to agree with the previous posts. This is something that the dealer has noted and checked for you. They have recorded it in case there is a related concern in the future. I would recommend keeping an eye on the concern, if it gets worse feel free to contact me. Thank you.

Tricia, GM Customer Service.

travismorris03 · July 11, 2012

Alright thanks guys! That makes me feel at least a little better.

I just thought it was crazy that I use to always have 35 to 50 lbs of pressure, and now all of the sudden all I have is 6 to 30, and their telling me nothing is wrong. Obviously something has changed. But your right, it's under warranty, so if it anything goes haywire because of it, it's all on the warranty. I just gotta hope it doesn't decide to happen on my 3000 mile drive to go elk hunting in a couple months...

Any ideas of what actually caused my pressure readings to change so much?

Thanks again for the responses!

Black4x4Z71 · July 12, 2012

I would bet the seasonal difference in outside temps were the cause of your preasure change. Perhaps the oil preasure read higher during the winter months when temps were a lot cooler.

David_L6 · July 12, 2012

Possibility......

Had to have the oil pump replaced in our 2008 5.3 Silverado yesterday. 79,000 miles so it was replaced under warranty. I bought the truck new in May of '08. That's the only time it's been back for warranty repair.