I have a sinking feeling I might be busy on the forum this spring. So my truck has great oil pressure within the specifications. 52psi cold start, fluctuates between 25 - 52psi driving after warm up. 2000 rpm is 40psi + hot. Truck has the hot idle tick, temps are consistent between 195-204. No other strange noises. So twice in the last several weeks I start the truck and the oil light stays on AND the Glow Shift gauge reads zero. They read from different sources but close together.
I quickly shut it off, wait a few seconds, start again and normal. Light goes off quickly and gauge jumps to 50+ psi. These are not first (coldest) starts of the day. Outside temps in the high 40's.
I know the oil pumps can be pesky, but would one work great then nothing then great again as a sign of pending doom? Can you have a situation where the filter drains out creating a air pocket? Do I feel lucky? Weird.

 

I would change that oil pump ASAP

 

Have you seen what a cracked oil pump looks like? That can totally happen. When cracked the gears could be aligned for a while and then not so much.

 

Yes, you're flirting with disaster. I'd dig into the oil pump and pickup tube, now.

 

Uggghhh. I was concerned it might be this. I am capable of doing the fix but timing is bad. The truck is currently a dd shuttle. I thought making it through the sub zero January weather without a hitch made me clear for a good spring. Here we go...

 

it's not terrible and can be done in a day...I will recommend powerwashing the crap out of under the vehicle prior to doing it. I just wrapped up hg and cam install (oil pan and front cover had to come off) and holy crap the amount of crud under my truck was terrible...needed a face shield to do anything under there without having a terrible time. Also a great opportunity to replace the water pump while the front cover is off. They are cheap and it's way easier to clean off old gasket when the cover is on a bench vs in the vehicle.

 

Fortunately mine is super clean underneath. No oil leaks or old crud, so that's a plus. guess I know what I am doing this weekend. Weather looks promising.

 

if your truck is lifted or maybe even not, I'd recommend dropping the pan and then deflating the front tires to make leaning in for all the accessories that much easier to access.

 

Looking into parts. Do I need a new woodruff key?

 

I did not remove mine. I'd do a new timing chain though. I bought new sprockets but honestly they were made by allmakes and looked to be in worse shape than the existing parts, so I reused the existing sprockets..