so I was getting the infamous oil light at warm idle. I installed a digital oil pressure gauge and sure enough I'm getting about 7psi at warm idle. I ordered new pump gears, timing chain etc to do the necessary repairs or so I thought. Long story short I removed the front cover and the gears look good, the pan was clean no metal debris whatsoever. But when I went to pull the oil pickup tube the bolt that mounts the tube to the crank girdle was completely loose to the point where the bolt was ready to fall off. Do you think my pickup tube could've been starving the pump because it was getting too close to the pan?

 

Yup. Oil pump pickup tube can also get clogged with RTV and other internal junk over time. I'm about to drop my oil sump pan to clean that very thing Monday.

*other causes of low oil pressure can be worn bearings or thin oil (e.g. 5w30)
**camshaft bearings have been seen to "walk" which can also reduce oil pressure

 

I doubt that particularly since you said no debris found. If it had been loose on end of pipe with o-ring starvation possible.

Still likely a faulty pump. Your plans to change should remain the same and good a idea to also change o-ring mentioned above.
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