I'm seeking advice.
We've got a couple of 2006 2500 HD Silverados with my wife's landscaping business. Both were owned since new, and have between 120 and 130k miles on them. I've been lucky enough to get the maintenance responsibilities of the trucks in the last year and a half. This usually consists of a crew dropping a truck off at my house sometime after the change engine oil indicator comes on, the brakes stop ginding (yeah, I said stop) and the truck won't stop, or something else catasrophic happens.
One of the trucks developed a problem with oil pressure. At idle, the dash indicated zero pressure on the gauge, and the idiot light came on with warning chimes. No unusual engine noise.
I got the truck and changed out the oil and filter with my standard PP 5W-30 and PureOne filter (the change oil indicator had "just come on"). Didn't help. Next, I changed out the oil pressure sender switch (thanks for the location of that beauty, GM). No change. Then, I bought a manual gauge to hook up and check the pressure. After finding the correct adaptor (metric 16 x 1.5 male to 1/8" N.P.T female in case you are interested) and then tearing up my hands to get it installed (thanks again for the location, GM) I checked out the pressure as stated in the manual:
R.P.M______Minimum Pressure (P.S.I)______Actual Pressure (P.S.I.)
1000_______6_____________________________12
2000_______18____________________________20+
4000_______24____________________________40
While the test met spec, I still have a problem with it because at idle, the manual gauge read very near zero. The idiot light and chimes seem appropriate when idling, even though the system passed the test at higher RPMs.
The truck did overheat a couple of weeks before this problem (small coolant leak, and they didn't bother to check the coolant level). It got hot enough to turn on the idiot light, but apparently was just over the limit (temp gauge was just into the warning area). No indications of a blown head gasket or warped head - it still runs great, with no unusual noises, and no fluids where they shouldn't be.
I'm at a loss as to what do do next. I don't want to put the truck back into service with an obvious problem, but I'd hate to have to tear the entire front of the engine apart to replace what may be a good pump.
We've got a couple of 2006 2500 HD Silverados with my wife's landscaping business. Both were owned since new, and have between 120 and 130k miles on them. I've been lucky enough to get the maintenance responsibilities of the trucks in the last year and a half. This usually consists of a crew dropping a truck off at my house sometime after the change engine oil indicator comes on, the brakes stop ginding (yeah, I said stop) and the truck won't stop, or something else catasrophic happens.
One of the trucks developed a problem with oil pressure. At idle, the dash indicated zero pressure on the gauge, and the idiot light came on with warning chimes. No unusual engine noise.
I got the truck and changed out the oil and filter with my standard PP 5W-30 and PureOne filter (the change oil indicator had "just come on"). Didn't help. Next, I changed out the oil pressure sender switch (thanks for the location of that beauty, GM). No change. Then, I bought a manual gauge to hook up and check the pressure. After finding the correct adaptor (metric 16 x 1.5 male to 1/8" N.P.T female in case you are interested) and then tearing up my hands to get it installed (thanks again for the location, GM) I checked out the pressure as stated in the manual:
R.P.M______Minimum Pressure (P.S.I)______Actual Pressure (P.S.I.)
1000_______6_____________________________12
2000_______18____________________________20+
4000_______24____________________________40
While the test met spec, I still have a problem with it because at idle, the manual gauge read very near zero. The idiot light and chimes seem appropriate when idling, even though the system passed the test at higher RPMs.
The truck did overheat a couple of weeks before this problem (small coolant leak, and they didn't bother to check the coolant level). It got hot enough to turn on the idiot light, but apparently was just over the limit (temp gauge was just into the warning area). No indications of a blown head gasket or warped head - it still runs great, with no unusual noises, and no fluids where they shouldn't be.
I'm at a loss as to what do do next. I don't want to put the truck back into service with an obvious problem, but I'd hate to have to tear the entire front of the engine apart to replace what may be a good pump.
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