Another 2004 5.3L Oil Pressure Problem

[maddog820]

I know this has been covered many times before but I'm out of ideas.

2004 Silverado 5.3L with 207,000 miles, owned since new, oil changed regularly.

Oil pressure almost zero at idle and 30 psi max at 4000 rpm.

I've changed the sensor, oil pump, oring and cleaned about an inch of sludge out of the pan and cleaned the pickup tube. I couldn't find a screen underneath the sensor, 04 doesn't have one I learned.

None of this helped at all. Tried Purolater and Fram filters with no change.

I'm guessing the oil galleries are plugged up or something. I was suprised to see so much sludge in the pan.

So just drive it until it dies? Engine sounds fine, no ticking or knocking.

Anyway to clean out the oil passages without doing any harm? Of course I'm frustrated and would appreciate any help.

Thanks.

[diyer2]

The easiest would be to add a engine cleaner to the oil to see if it helps. This means more frequent oil changes to remove the dirty oil/ sludge.  

[richard wysong]

Try running a higher viscosity oil and see if that helps, it may be the bearing clearances are worn to the point that it can't pump enough volume to raise the pressure. I run Castrol 20w50 conventional in my 98 due to that problem and it helps

[maddog820]

1 hour ago, diyer2 said:

The easiest would be to add a engine cleaner to the oil to see if it helps. This means more frequent oil changes to remove the dirty oil/ sludge.  

Thanks I'll try engine cleaner. I always thought I did a good job keeping the oil changed but after finding the sludge in the pan it made me wonder. But then again 18 years is a long time,

[maddog820]

30 minutes ago, richard wysong said:

Try running a higher viscosity oil and see if that helps, it may be the bearing clearances are worn to the point that it can't pump enough volume to raise the pressure. I run Castrol 20w50 conventional in my 98 due to that problem and it helps

Thanks I'll give that a try.

[txab]

49 minutes ago, maddog820 said:

Thanks I'll try engine cleaner. I always thought I did a good job keeping the oil changed but after finding the sludge in the pan it made me wonder. But then again 18 years is a long time,

No sludge in my pan. Same year model.

Definitely try higher viscosity oil. If you're doing 5W now, I'd jump to 15W-40 next, then 20W-50 if that doesn't work. My .02

[CamGTP]

The camshaft retainer plate has a gasket on it, if that gasket is flat and it likely can be at 200,000+ miles it will leak out oil pressure.

 

Just another possible thing it could be.

[maddog820]

This is a great video. My guess is I have a bad cam bearing. I wish I had known to take off the windage tray and look at the cam bearings. Live and learn the hard way I guess.