**LOW OIL PRESSURE, TURN ENGINE OFF**

[Joker853]

I'll add to the oil pump saga. I just put headers and a tune on my 65k mile beast, drive with my club all day today, roughly 75 miles, got on her a few times. Got almost all the way home, stopped to get some smokes. Started her back up, and the low oil message came up. Killed the engine, checked the oil (looked good), started her back up and drive 2 miles home (with no warning light). Just did some trouble shooting...against my better judgement, I let her run in the driveway for about a half hour monitoring the oil pressure on my trinity and it stayed level around 29psi...took it around the block going easy, highest it went was around 60ish, never dipped below 29. Maybe I should say screw the warranty and just buy the upgraded pump and pay for the labor at a local shop? What ya think? No knocking or ticking either.

Regards,
Jess

[jonnyb]

Originally Posted by Joker853

I'll add to the oil pump saga. I just put headers and a tune on my 65k mile beast, drive with my club all day today, roughly 75 miles, got on her a few times. Got almost all the way home, stopped to get some smokes. Started her back up, and the low oil message came up. Killed the engine, checked the oil (looked good), started her back up and drive 2 miles home (with no warning light). Just did some trouble shooting...against my better judgement, I let her run in the driveway for about a half hour monitoring the oil pressure on my trinity and it stayed level around 29psi...took it around the block going easy, highest it went was around 60ish, never dipped below 29. Maybe I should say screw the warranty and just buy the upgraded pump and pay for the labor at a local shop? What ya think? No knocking or ticking either.

Regards,
Jess

I would get the melling pump especially if the relief valve has already stuck once on you! Believe me it’s a cheap fix compared to the new engine I just had to buy.
BTW mine was not the oil pump but the Competition Cam came apart due to poor manufacturing. The pieces from the cam fouled the oil pressure relief valve. So disregard the above post. Now my anger is aimed at Competition Cams!

[jesusfreak]

I guess I will add my stories as well. Took my 1st for a road trip to see family from socal to Washington state Christmas eve morning. Just had first oil change 2 days ago, with 7th miles. Made it to Woodland, just outside Sacremento, where I stopped for coffee. About 5th Christmas eve. When I started the car, it gave me the low oil pressure, stop engine warning. Shut it down, hoping for a sensor faiure. Tried again a few minutes later, same problem. Brand new 1le, and I'm spending Christmas in a hotel room, provided by GM road service with on stars help. Dealer won't be open till at least another day, and I am 450 miles from home. Totally stock , with just a cold air intake. I really hope Chevy stands up on this. The question is, will they replace the faulty pump with the same thing?

[jesusfreak]

By the way, Merry Christmas everyone! We have received the greatest gift of all, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I know He drives a Camaro! Lol!

[kujo15]

Amen to that!

[jesusfreak]

The saga continues. The day after Christmas, 7:36 am, gave the dealer a call. They said they would check it out. 3 hours later, they said the warning would not come up, and they handed the car back. I am sure they know what the problem is, but would not fix it. 400 more miles north, and farther from home, it now seems to happen every time I start the car. I have to snap the throttle for about 5 seconds, and the warning turns off and oil pressure returns. I'm on extended vacation, and will have to schedule another appointment with the dealer. So much for a killer road trip. I've only lost 2 days so far, and Christmas in a hotel. How much worse can it get?

[Camarotobeornottobe]

When I had a TPMS warning, I had some luck by using Onstar. Next time it happens, pull off the road and call Onstar. Tell them to run a diagnostic, then make it very clear you need them to make record of the finding, i.e. the LOW OIL PRESSURE condition. Then, you can take it in and have them call Onstar for confirmation.

Also, I would snap a photo of the warning and email it to yourself with the exact date/time.

Lastly, if you get no resolution, elevate the matter to GM. While no manufacturer wants to spend $, it would seem you might get them to fix this problem in case it would otherwise result in engine failure.

Hope that helps.

[jesusfreak]

Made it all the way to Wa. state , and it did it again. Took it to the dealer tues. Morning before New Years. Took ' me a week to fix it. Holiday and all, I had to fly home for a week to go back to work, the fly back again to pick up the car. Lousy vacation. The dealer said they would pay for the flight, but I really doubt it. It's now two weeks later, and my clutch is sticking. Go figure.

[hoser]

long time lurker, first time poster...

Add me to the list...2010 ss ls3 21k miles first owner, 6 days left on my powertrain warranty. fired it up for the first outting this spring, headed for the carwash and got the dreaded ding and dash message just as I was pulling in. Killed the engine, checked google which brought me here (coincidentally the same place i ended up when looking up starting problems but thats another story for another thread) and then called AAA for a flatbed to the dealer, wrote a note and stuck on the steering while while I waited for the flatbed to come so the dealer knew not to start/run the car due to low/no oil pressure.

Coming from the sportbike world and doing lots of mods and spending some time running trackdays with new bikes i was already familiar with M/M warranty act but figured I was going to be headed into an argument or a big bill since the car has intake/exhaust and a cam/tune. turns out the dealer actually had some common sense, didn't bat an eye, knew the mods didnt cause the oil pump failure, ordered the parts and replaced it no questions asked. but, when i went to pick up the car, i got the keys went out to start it and it sounded loud, some valve chatter and an odd sorta squeak in the bottom. I thought maybe it was due to it being pulled up into a corner of a few brick walls so I backed into a clear spot in the lot and the noise was still there, took the wind outta my sails at this point...

Walked back in and told the service writer, who witnessed that I didnt leave the lot, he pulled the mechanic that changed the oil pump to listen, guy said the noise wasnt there after the oil pump was replaced, figured i was heading down the argument road again...

This was a friday, ive been working away so I left the keys yet again and they said they'd call on monday. turns out that even though I shut the car down right away it must have been lacking some oil pressure for awhile before the DIC warned me, cam and crank and various bits and pieces in between were toast. service writer called and asked if I had the stock cam, so he could use it when dealing with GM, dropped it off to them and he said they'd take care of me. Even stated that he knew GM would have a hissy if they knew about the mods but he knew what I had done to the car wasnt the cause of my problems, nobody needed to know about the cam but us.

A week later I picked it back up sounding good as new, minus the cam lope... They did a rebuild, pretty much everything but the pistons and i was as happy as i could be under the circumstances. Lost the cam and tune in the process but at least I didn't get to foot the bill for the rebuild... Even with the lost cam and tune (and a door ding when i picked it up, that they fixed the next morning) I gotta hand it to the dealer, they far exceeded my expectations of what I thought I was going to go through.

I tried to push them into some sort of an extended warranty since the factory warranty was up by this point, said it was a no-go with gm but they'd stand behind the work done at the dealership, although they wouldnt come right out and tell me exactly how long they'd stand by it...

My girl and I (shes a gearhead, awesome chic) were working towards supercharging, possibly this summer but after the problems its had and some of the horror stories I've read on here with these first run 5th gens I think we're just going to leave it as-is, with the intake/exhaust and not ask for anything too crazy outta it, at least for awhile... It still gets up and goes and turns heads wherever we are... We have an old fox body mustang that i think is going to turn into our project car and the camaro will be able to get a little more daily use than we originally intended...

anyhow, thats my story, great site, great info here, i think you all will be seeing more of me.

ps the new 6th gen doesnt excite me the way the 5th gen did, although i do dig the interior.

pss inferno orange FTW!

[bct10985]

Add me to the list. 27k miles. Tearing it apart now to put in the cam and melling oil pump. Hope there isnt any further damage

[hoser]

sorry to hear man... is a terrible feeling to see that warning pop up and to think about this beast of a motor being starved for oil because of a critical oversight on such a vital part...

had big plans for this engine but im afraid now...

[Criticalmass]

Originally Posted by Camarowguy

I have a few questions for you guys that have had an oil pressure problem.
-how often are you changing your oil?
-what oil filter are you using?
-is this isolated to 2010 models or have 2011 models been plagued with this too?
-are you using synthetic oil and are you using 5w30?
-do you baby your car or drive it spiritedly?

If you don't want to answer these questions on the open forum, please pm me
. I'm worried about myself having a problem and since I tuned my car before I even found out via this forum that dealers are voiding warranty because of it. And I might trade this thing in before 10k miles and stay away from chevy because of it. I've had 9 brand new Honda vehicles and never had to worry about a warranty issue because Honda takes care if their customers no matter what. I'm sorry but I don't want to be wrenching on my brand new car and having to change an oil pump because of a factory defect and the dealer being lazy and pointing the finger at my tune....so give me your input guys if you don't mind.

I'm sorry but that's just not true. I know for a fact that at least one honda dealer would pay his employees to go to race night and write down plate numbers for all the newish honda's that show up on the strip, and when they came in for service, the dealership would void the warranty on the spot.

[Criticalmass]

Originally Posted by techtoys617

So, how did the dealer know you guys were tuned?

There's a counter on the ECU. Any time it is flashed, that counter moves up 1 tick. They can match what's in the system (how many times it has been reflashed at the dealerships) with how many times it hasn't. That's how they can tell.

[bct10985]

Crazy how this little bastard valve sticking can toast your whole engine.