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Expensive Low Oil Pressure Repair vs New Engine

woof

SM 2007
Full Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2006
Messages
522
Location
Denver, CO
Hello, well after getting back into a 13LT just 5 months ago, we have had some challenges. The dealership replaced the oil pressure sensor a couple of times in the last month and is now telling us that we need to have the oil pump replaced for $2800. The truck has 144K miles on it and after already having spent $4800 on repairs, I am getting some serious heat from the wife, and getting frustrated myself. Is it worth it to have the repair done? Is this a fair cost for the repair? Should I just replace the engine at this point with a new one (maybe a 6.0) since this seems to be half the price already? Many Thanks in Advance for your advice!!!
 
DId you get second opinion?

Seems steep price to replace pump.
Why replace pump?
Have they checked to ensure AFM is working properly?
Anyone use old fashioned mechanical oil pressure gage to check what you have?

Hard to say what to do from this end...need more info..

but go get second opinion from local good mechanic.
 
Second opinion.

I had the oil pump replaced in my EXT with a high volume Melling pump and it didn't cost anywhere near that.

My experience is a dealer shop will charge way more than a qualified repair shop, for a lot of repairs.

My vehicles only go to the dealer for factory recall work, any more.
 
Thanks for the info. Sadly the second opinion was in agreement with the dealer, they didn't see the sense of replacing the oil pump in a motor with so many miles on it. The idle oil pressure was manually measured at 23 PSI. The DTC error was P0521.
 
The idle oil pressure at 23 psi is fantastic, get a second and third opinion. 144k is not a lot of miles for a GM motor but with that said AMF is an engine killer thou.
 
I had the oil pump installed in my 2004 EXT at 225K miles.

Granted the truck is currently down and waiting on a new engine.

But, that problem is not caused by the low oil pressure situation that prompted me to install the new Melling high volume oil pump.

As a matter of fact, the oil pressure in that engine is the best it has ever been for the entire time I have owned it.

If this were my truck and all I was seeing was an error indicating a low voltage value from an (or several) oil pressure sensor and NOT any indication from the engine itself that it is experiencing any problems, I would be having a new oil pump installed before I put a new engine in it.

A reading of 23 PSI at hot idle is not dangerously low oil pressure.

It may be low enough to trip an error code, but I have come to understand the GM spec for acceptable oil pressure is 10 PSI per 1000 RPM.

At idle RPM, you are well above that.

That's lower than I would like to see, but if it supplies enough oil to the engine for GM, I would have to think your engine is not damaged at this point.

Now, are you experiencing anything else wrong with the engine other than the one error message you are reporting?

If not, then the engine is most likely fine and the error is being thrown because the oil pressure, regardless of the oil pressure sensor you are using at the time, is low enough to trigger an error code.

That code does not mean the engine is about to self-destruct just yet.

A new oil pump may solve that problem once and for all.

Oh, and I didn't even buy my EXT until it had 116K miles on it and my Z-66 had 241K on it.

You have a fresh truck as far as I am concerned.
 
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23psi oil pressure is not a low oil pressure by any means, you only need a layer of oil to keep the system from eating its self and 2psi can do that at idle, operating oil pressure is read at a specific rpm for normal operating and not read at idle (42 psi at 4200 rpm) for instance.

;)
 
Thanks all for the feedback. However, we decided it was best to throw this fish back. I'll be first in line when chevy releases a new avalanche. Thanks for all the support and friendly conversation. L8r for now :(
 
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