Backfires and oil pressure gauge fluctuates

Tiny
ELWIN HOLLOWAY JR
  • MEMBER
  • 1993 GMC C1500
  • V8
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 135,000 MILES
When I start the truck I can here little pops I also hear rattling in the muffler, once the truck is warmed up and I drive it. I can see the oil pressure gauge jump up and down depending on if I push on the gas or let off. The truck also wants to shut down when I come to a stop, the oil pressure gauge goes almost to 0, I have to put it in neutral to stop it from stalling out. Can you all help solve these problems?
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020 AT 9:02 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
I suspect we have two issues. First the popping and rattling noises is most likely fuel related. We need to start with checking fuel pressure and go from there with that.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-check-fuel-system-pressure-and-regulator

As for the oil pressure dropping that is most likely a separate issue. Oil pressure will raise and fall on older engines when you raise the RPM due to speeding up the oil pump because it is connected to the crank shaft. So when the crank spins faster the oil pump spins faster and builds pressure.

The oil pressure is created no only by the pump spinning but it pushes the oil through the tight channels and in between the bearings. When you push the oil through these tight spots the PSI goes up. As the engine wears these channels and bearings begin to "open up" and the pump is not able to build as much pressure and it begins to fluctuate more because there is less resistance.

The other possible cause is the oil pump is failing and the gears inside cannot build the pressure. Here is a guide that will help with this. The fact that we have a gauge saying it is low, we should hook a mechanical gauge to the engine just to confirm the gauge is accurate.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/high-or-low-engine-oil-pressure

Let me know about this and we can go from there. Thanks
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Thursday, May 21st, 2020 AT 9:22 AM

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