Another LS3 no oil pressure.

[LTRS777]

Yeah I definitely wish there were more studies out there. That being said OP apparently drives a lot like myself if he did 50k miles in 2ish years. I'm in the same boat though with 17k in 11 months lol

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

First oil change 500 miles. Second oil change 1500 miles. Then every 5000 miles after that. The transmission fluid I have changed twice and the rear end fluid 4 times in 50,000 miles. I really try to take care of it.

I am just really upset right now and am really thinking about what to do. A friend of mine and past member on here Tusk had 90,xxx on his car and his lifters and cam all pitted and blew the motor. That was a LS3. Since he had headers they voided the drive train warranty and he had to pay. There have been many more on here with that issue also. I just do not know if I can trust this car. Also notice stress cracks on the passenger side valve cover. GM is like not leaking so not going to fix it. So with my luck that will shoot shit after my 5 year power train warranty is up.

[rebelyell22]

Originally Posted by xc_SS/RS

I'm curious if it has to do with driving habits like short trips or not letting everything get up to operating temperature before shutting the car off. I always make sure mine is up to temp before turning it off which is ok by me since I get to drive it longer.

I drive 30 minutes each way everyday. She gets hot

[rebelyell22]

Glad I have an extended warranty

[LTRS777]

Originally Posted by Scott@Bjorn3D

First oil change 500 miles. Second oil change 1500 miles. Then every 5000 miles after that. The transmission fluid I have changed twice and the rear end fluid 4 times in 50,000 miles. I really try to take care of it.

I am just really upset right now and am really thinking about what to do. A friend of mine and past member on here Tusk had 90,xxx on his car and his lifters and cam all pitted and blew the motor. That was a LS3. Since he had headers they voided the drive train warranty and he had to pay. There have been many more on here with that issue also. I just do not know if I can trust this car. Also notice stress cracks on the passenger side valve cover. GM is like not leaking so not going to fix it. So with my luck that will shoot shit after my 5 year power train warranty is up.

Just curious what kind of oil you use?

[xc_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by Scott@Bjorn3D

First oil change 500 miles. Second oil change 1500 miles. Then every 5000 miles after that. The transmission fluid I have changed twice and the rear end fluid 4 times in 50,000 miles. I really try to take care of it.

I am just really upset right now and am really thinking about what to do. A friend of mine and past member on here Tusk had 90,xxx on his car and his lifters and cam all pitted and blew the motor. That was a LS3. Since he had headers they voided the drive train warranty and he had to pay. There have been many more on here with that issue also. I just do not know if I can trust this car. Also notice stress cracks on the passenger side valve cover. GM is like not leaking so not going to fix it. So with my luck that will shoot shit after my 5 year power train warranty is up.

Originally Posted by rebelyell22

I drive 30 minutes each way everyday. She gets hot

Well then I guess that's certainly not the issue. I guess it must be luck of the draw then sadly or I guess gunk might build up. I googled it to see if I could find any pictures and it seems the valve just gets stuck.

I still use Mobil 1 5w30

[rebelyell22]

Originally Posted by xc_SS/RS

I still use Mobil 1 5w30

Same. Serviced by the book

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

Pennzoil Platinum 5-30

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by GMTool

Well, my way of thinking about this type of subject which could lead to people and politics will never be discussed over an internet forum. It would be like trying to communicate with my wife when we both have ear plugs in and are drawing pictures trying to get each others point across with no talking. It doesn't work. I try not to take things too deep and serious on here. The lack of what it really takes to communicate is too great. In the context of the OP's trouble and from me knowing of his other L99 Camaro then this LS3 that he loved once, and then to interpret his wanting a little foreign car with a wing on the back just doesn't compute in my head. If my car's oil pump and or the whole engine goes south, I will get er fixed and go on.

I completely get what you are driving at for the most part. I wish I could not let things bother me so much.

[xc_SS/RS]

What's the normal oil pressure for a car that's fully warmed up? When my oil temp is at 200-210 the oil pressure gauge shows 25-30 psi when idling.

Fully guessing on the ranges of temp and pressure based on the 4 gauge pack.

[Scott@Bjorn3D]

Originally Posted by xc_SS/RS

What's the normal oil pressure for a car that's fully warmed up? When my oil temp is at 200-210 the oil pressure gauge shows 25-30 psi when idling.

Fully guessing on the ranges of temp and pressure based on the 4 gauge pack.

When fully warm at idle always below 30, would say 20-25

[S-eatin-grin]

Originally Posted by Scott@Bjorn3D

First oil change 500 miles. Second oil change 1500 miles. Then every 5000 miles after that. The transmission fluid I have changed twice and the rear end fluid 4 times in 50,000 miles. I really try to take care of it.

I am just really upset right now and am really thinking about what to do. A friend of mine and past member on here Tusk had 90,xxx on his car and his lifters and cam all pitted and blew the motor. That was a LS3. Since he had headers they voided the drive train warranty and he had to pay. There have been many more on here with that issue also. I just do not know if I can trust this car. Also notice stress cracks on the passenger side valve cover. GM is like not leaking so not going to fix it. So with my luck that will shoot shit after my 5 year power train warranty is up.

Stress cracks on the valve cover? That can't be good. Go get the pump replaced, de-mod the car as much as your can, sell off the parts and trade it in on something before it breaks. I owned a 2010 ss and modded it up. SC, CAI, headers, injectors, twin fuel pump, suspension mods. I sold it and it was running fine. 2 years later it blew up. I was shocked. It had 15K miles on it. I don't know what happened. The guy I sold it to said the cabin filled with dark smoke while he was driving. The shop he took it too said #5 cylinder had no pressure, took the heads off and it was damaged badly along with less severe damage to other cylinders.

It was tuned right so it should not have gone lean..I though maybe the cats melted or the oil pump failed. The shop never did tell the guy what they though caused it....anyway I would get out while you can.

[MrChrisLS3]

Originally Posted by GMTool

Well, my way of thinking about this type of subject which could lead to people and politics will never be discussed over an internet forum. It would be like trying to communicate with my wife when we both have ear plugs in and are drawing pictures trying to get each others point across with no talking. It doesn't work. I try not to take things too deep and serious on here. The lack of what it really takes to communicate is too great. In the context of the OP's trouble and from me knowing of his other L99 Camaro then this LS3 that he loved once, and then to interpret his wanting a little foreign car with a wing on the back just doesn't compute in my head. If my car's oil pump and or the whole engine goes south, I will get er fixed and go on.

Yeah, without getting into conspiracy theories, or big companies afraid of going broke over a $5 part theory. I have to look at it in the practical sense. What we have here is an intricately designed oil pump. Designed and manufactured the way it is to serve the purpose of keeping the engine running at a high level for a long time. On the grand scale, it does it's job well. But, inherent in such a design, there are parts that will fail from time to time. This is one of those examples.

So, then the question is, "If they know about this problem, why are they still using the same design?" Great question. Simple and to the point. The problem is that the answer is not so simple and to the point. First, just exactly how unreliable is this part? What is it's actual failure ratio? Given this forum is just a microscope of the population that own these cars, how many have actually had this problem? The percentage number will be greatly inflated in an enthusiasts forum, but how much?

Then there is the question of what to do about it. Is there a better pump that will serve the purpose, fit the application, and the price point necessary to do the job, and be able to fill the necessary order demand? Then there is the old saying, "Every problem has a solution, and every solution has a problem." So, perhaps the solutions have been found to create more problems then they solve. While other pumps looked at may not have issues with a valve sticking, perhaps they had issues supplying enough oil in general for the application, creating more widespread longevity issues.

Any part in any machine can fail at any time. There is no such thing as fail proof part. So, to say that GM sucks because .03%( a number pulled out of the air) of the valves in the LS3 oil pump fail is just ridiculous.

[xc_SS/RS]

Originally Posted by MrChrisLS3

Yeah, without getting into conspiracy theories, or big companies afraid of going broke over a $5 part theory. I have to look at it in the practical sense. What we have here is an intricately designed oil pump. Designed and manufactured the way it is to serve the purpose of keeping the engine running at a high level for a long time. On the grand scale, it does it's job well. But, inherent in such a design, there are parts that will fail from time to time. This is one of those examples.

So, then the question is, "If they know about this problem, why are they still using the same design?" Great question. Simple and to the point. The problem is that the answer is not so simple and to the point. First, just exactly how unreliable is this part? What is it's actual failure ratio? Given this forum is just a microscope of the population that own these cars, how many have actually had this problem? The percentage number will be greatly inflated in an enthusiasts forum, but how much?

Then there is the question of what to do about it. Is there a better pump that will serve the purpose, fit the application, and the price point necessary to do the job, and be able to fill the necessary order demand? Then there is the old saying, "Every problem has a solution, and every solution has a problem." So, perhaps the solutions have been found to create more problems then they solve. While other pumps looked at may not have issues with a valve sticking, perhaps they had issues supplying enough oil in general for the application, creating more widespread longevity issues.

Any part in any machine can fail at any time. There is no such thing as fail proof part. So, to say that GM sucks because .03%( a number pulled out of the air) of the valves in the LS3 oil pump fail is just ridiculous.

The other problem is we only hear about the pumps failing. So obviously if you do a search on the subject all you get is a bunch of threads where people complain about it failing. You never see people posting to say their pump still hasn't failed at xx,xxx miles.