Guages

[Byrd]

Hey,
I just recently bought a 93 chevy 1500 pick up V6 with about 123,000 miles on it, I've been noticing that The oil pressure guage usually sits around 60, not exactly on it but near it. When im driving its in the same spot, but after i let off the gas it drops down to i guess would be considered 45 or 50, every so often it may be at 30. but sometimes it also sticks in the same spot right under 60. I was wondering if anybody may have had this issue before or if maybe its a faulty gauge. When i start the truck up i do see a puff of blue smoke which I believe represents burning oil, but only when it starts, when im driving there is no smoke. I dont hear a valve tap under the hood either, starts up and runs smooth.

....Also my tempature gauge only goes up quarter of the way, it does seem that it works when the truck is warming up after a cold start. but i have yet to ever see the guage in the normal tempature reading.

Im hoping that maybe i just have some faulty guages, but i do appreciate any helpful info to these issues, unfortunately i have never owned a chevy i used to always deal with my previous Honda which would be a pain almost everyday. Hence why I bought something American. Im hoping that this truck runs for awhile for me. because I cant afford to have it in the shop every other week as i did with my last vehicle.

Thanks Everyody,
Matt

[mrjohnwayne]

It is not uncommon for oil pressure to drop after slowing down. The motor slows down which slows the oil pump down lowering pressure. Especially after the motor warms up and the oil thins out. As for the temp guage it probably has a low temp thermostat in it. The puff of smoke on start up sounds like valve seals are bad. It won't kill the motor, but it might foul out the plugs after a while. Not a hard fix just a little time consuming.

Hope this helps

[mikejr1226]

i agree with mr wayne on that comment. but i will tell you about a past experience that my friend had with his car. He had a 1993 Mercury Cougar with 83,000 miles, "I know that this is a truck forum but this one can slip"...anyway, every time that he would stop at an intersection, the car would idle well but the oil pressure gauge would lower to 0 and occasionally the temperature gauge would go up. he had it sent into the shop and they said that it was some kind of sensor or something, i forget where, and maybe the oil pump also. he did not have the money at the time to fix it, and yes that was his fault, he drove it for another 2 weeks like that keeping the rpm's as low as possible back and forth to work. then one day it started clanking really bad"it threw a rod...shortly thereafter on his way home it just died and locked up...that is just pure stupidity driving a car with no oil pressure i think.

Hope maybe that helped a little bit.

[Byrd]

I was also told to check out the oil sending unit because it was common for those to go bad, so i heard. but mainly my question is, with the oil pressure guage hanging around 60 is that bad for the truck? Thanks for the temp guage idea, i didnt even think of that.

[mrjohnwayne]

no 60 psi is a very good pressure

[worm]

At idle my 97 will be arond +/-40 psi and will get up to around 60psi when rpms go up.

[Byrd]

thanks Mr JW..... i thought that if even at idle if the pressure is still sitting at 60ps it wasnt a good thing. But it does look like im gonna have to take care of the valve seal problem....... looks like im gonna have to get me a chilton book. i dont feel like waiting 2 weeks for a mechanic to fix it at the dealership i got it from..... if anybody has any suggestions on things feel free to let me know, i would like to absorb as much knowledge on our trucks as much as possible.

Thanks again all.....

[chevyguy]

Sounds like its working properly to me.