I think the o ring is cracked

 

Thank you

 

^^^O-ring at pickup tube^^

 

A 3 dollar o ring will solve the problem.

 

It could be the oring but I did put a pump in the same year van with 300,000 miles and fixed it.

 

I'll do a new pump and ring

You guys just made my day........if this fixes it I can avoid having to make a decision due to mileage and condition

 

How about doing the timing chain at the same time since it is apart?

 

Fram oil filter? Change that 1st

 

No shit.

 

The LS pump is a vert stout stock item.. Before buying any parts I would suggest you , remove stock electric sender and verify with a mechanical gauge what the oil pressure really is. The 6.0 knock is very normal and is piston slap ( you said you do not have that though , thats great) .. The o ring on the pickup is another item that can create this issue.. as well Many times the mains are worn in them and replacing bearings, ( you have some high miles there) will give you the oil pressure back.. Just had a 5.7 have 8 psi at idle and maybe 20 at peak.. Took it apart pump & o ring where fine pistons& cylinders looked great.. bearings where rough, new mains and rods and happy happy ..

 

pull it out, put it in a foxbody with a turbo and run 9's.

 

Screen on the pick up might be clogged with shit too. Make sure you back flush it.

 

Very common with our older Chevy fleet trucks. It's very likely it's just an oring. On ours we always do a new oil pump and water pump and let em ride and they'll be back to normal.

 

mine is doing the same thing ... 2006 2500hd 6.0 ...... guess its time to fix it ....... 206k miles

 

YES! REPLACE THE OIL PUMP, CLEAN AND INSPECT THE PICK UP TUBE/SCREEN. ..
SEEN A BUNCH OF PEOPLE LOOSE AN LS BY WAITING TO LONG!
Hopefully, this is not you.

 

I found a 105,000 mile 5.3 for 600 bucks and will do a swap.........the labor to do the oil pump in a van isn't fun and I'll feel better with a fresh engine.......fresh to me at least

I'm going to do that and rebuild the factory front end from the Pitman arm out.......almost forgot 2 new pre cat 02 sensors also

I want to keep this thing around for another 3 years.....I cant find a loaded 1 ton cargo van in the same condition for the 1500-1800 I'm going to spend on it so I'm doing it

 

That's a good deal!
In some cases you can "sneak" the oil pump out... but if you drop the pick up tube, your screwed & gotta drop the pan.

 

Put a piece of electrical tape over the oil pressure guage.

 

You can test the o-ring by filling it full of oil. Usually about 14 quarts to get the oil level higher than the o-ring. That way it can't suck any air. Only run for a minute or less at idle.If your oil pressure goes to normal, you need an o-ring. If it doesn't you need a pump or engine....

 

Damn! That's some serious miles on that thing!

 

I wanted to pull it at 400k and do a Chinese turbo/gate with flipped manifolds......Stuff it in a Fox body with a rattle can paint job and piss off some mod motor guys

 

Cam bearings.

 

I talked to the shop owner that does all the stuff for me I don't feel like doing and he said the exact same thing

 

Done plenty of these on high mileage engines
Pull the oil pan as you can't get to one of the pickup tube bolts and replace the the tube o ring and clean the tube and screen. Don't waste your time pulling the front cover

Haven't seen a cam bearing problem in these engines yet

 

I have.

 

All you need to do is black tape over the oil gauge, turn the radio up and ride on man
:-weed

 

Might be a bad o-ring, more likely it has worn out cam bearings. Bought a 6.0 a year ago that had 200k on it with just low oil pressure. Pulled it all apart and the rod and main bearing looked real nice for 200k. Pulled out the cam and all the bearing were showing copper bad. Put in new cam bearings, did a VJ, and reassembled it. 40 psi.

 

I had a Z71 do this and it ended up being a chunk of oil crud blocking the oil pressure sensor on the top behind the intake , screwed it out and cleaned the port out with b-12 and fixed the problem, I would check that first cause it's easy and could be the problem , usually if it's an o- ring the lifters rattle like a bitch, if it's quiet I would check the sensor

 

For those saying cam bearings , it was mentioned that they install the cam bearings in these engines and then align hone them thus showing copper .... Not sure how valid this is but I seen a few mention that

 

Coulda spun some cam bearings. I didn't tighten the cam plate enough once and I had to cut the cam bearings off my ls6 cam with a dremel to pull the cam out. Through the cam in a spare race motor and went 9.96@139 a couple weeks later. Lol

 

Spun cam bearings in the first 355 in my rail - machine shop saved my Lunati roller cam, block wasn't worth saving. So everything was transferred to a new block and became the the first engine I ever assembled. Ran 8.77 @ 152. Don't know of any of my friends having the same problem with an LS though.

 

I've put 700 miles on it since I started this thread.....I'm not doing a engine swap.....She ticks at idle but has 20 PSI under load....I turn the radio up and drive

By mid Summer I plan on replacing with the same thing only a 2010 or newer.......I want the 6sp auto and 4.8 with 3.42 gears

 

And you have the nerve to call me a hillbilly