I'm having low oil pressure on an '04 engine. Pressure readings are:

Cold
Idle - 15 psi
2,000 rpm - 30 psi

Hot
Idle - won't read on my gauge (less than 6 psi)
2,000 rpm - 25 psi

The engine runs great otherwise, and just started having pressure issues. The engine has about 85k miles.

The oil pump/timing gear cover combo doesn't seem to be available anywhere, but the gears are readily available (and much cheaper). Just wondering if anyone has swapped the gears themselves.

 

You may be in trouble, don't even try to restart that engine or you may be looking for a replacement instead of a pump gear.
Has the oil light been coming on, if so when and how long?

 

Just started this week. It's making me pretty sick b/c I just swapped this engine into the truck about two months ago. It had been running great (still is). My aftermarket oil pressure gauge wasn't working at the time of the swap (sending unit went out), so I don't know what the pressure was when I first swapped it. The light flickered last week, so I bought a new sending unit and now the gauge is working again. If I keep the rpm's up around 1,000 when I stop in park, the pressure stays above 10 psi, so that's what I'm doing in the meantime b/c I can't really park the truck. I need to limp it through this week, and my plan is to swap the oil pump gears next weekend. I know it's a risk, but I don't want to rent a car for the week, and since I can keep an eye on the pressure with my gauge, I have a little comfort.

Mike, what's your opinion on just doing the gears? First of all, are there any tricks to doing them? I've had the timing cover off before, so I'm not worried about getting to that part. Is there an advantage to buying the whole cover versus the gears besides ease of installation? I've heard the covers are backordered everywhere but the dealer...and they want over $1,000 for it.

 

You didn't hear me, quit driving it, you are still doing additional damage and a new replacement engine will be in your future again.

 

IMHO, a rental car is a lot cheaper than a new engine.

Eric