ive personally never experienced this problem but you might want to have your oil pump looked at. thats a common part that causes low oil pressure. if its not the pump then id have your oil pan dropped and make sure everything looks good.

 

Not sure what the problem is, but I would start with do an oil change and filter change to see if that helps. Sure, you still have some life on the current oil change, but maybe there is something stuck in the filter or who knows. Make damn sure you are putting in the correct oil, which should be 5W30 I believe for your truck.

Did you do the last oil change yourself or did a shop do it?

 

my thought would oil pressure sensor, but since you already went that route it could be oil thickness or something of that nature as well possibly? Is the truck higher mileage? or still decently low?

 

Not sure what the problem is, but I would start with do an oil change and filter change to see if that helps. Sure, you still have some life on the current oil change, but maybe there is something stuck in the filter or who knows. Make damn sure you are putting in the correct oil, which should be 5W30 I believe for your truck.

Did you do the last oil change yourself or did a shop do it?

Last oil change I got the oil and filter, Hi Mileage 5W30 & M1-133A filter, then brought it to the garage where they did the work.

 

my thought would oil pressure sensor, but since you already went that route it could be oil thickness or something of that nature as well possibly? Is the truck higher mileage? or still decently low?

Truck has high mileage, 230,000.

 

There's a 2013 thread with the same problem as mine
06 Silverad0 5.3L - Low Oil Pressure only during cold starts

His problem was the O-RING in between the pick up tube and the pump. According to the post, he dropped the pan and replaced the O-ring. Here's a quote from his thread:
"The o-ring left residue inside the pump socket and on the tube it slides onto. I used the only solvent I had available which was acetone to clean it off. I coated some food grade lubricant on the o-ring before inserting the pick up tube. Took my time cleaning up the pan etc. You will need the o- ring, new pan gasket and the external cooler lines gasket. It worked."

I'm not sure what he means by external cooler lines gasket...But is this a relatively quick and cheap job if I ask my garage to do it?

 

seeing as you have a 4x4 the front differential will be in the way for them to get to the oil pan. its not something that takes forever but i doubt it will be cheap but every man has a different view on whats cheap. like i said earlier i would get the pan dropped and make sure there isnt any junk clogging things up. 230,000 miles is a good bit especially if the pan has never been dropped.

 

Thanks very much for the replies. I checked a video on dropping the oil pan and yeah there's a bunch of work involved. I'll ask my garage about the cost, and if it's not inexpensive then I think it makes sense to just do an oil/filter change first. If that doesn't help then dropping the pan and replacing the O-ring is probably the next step.

 

"I'm not sure what he means by external cooler lines gasket"
He was most likely referring to the engine oil cooler lines.

 

Thanks very much for the replies. I checked a video on dropping the oil pan and yeah there's a bunch of work involved. I'll ask my garage about the cost, and if it's not inexpensive then I think it makes sense to just do an oil/filter change first. If that doesn't help then dropping the pan and replacing the O-ring is probably the next step.

Yeah, I would try just doing the oil/filter change first, synthetic oil, of course.

 

I hope that fixes your issues. I had all of those symptoms and the o-ring was the issue. Replaced it and instantly went back up to 40+ PSI at idle. It was $90 in parts for gasket, o-ring, oil/filter. But took 4 days on my back in driveway. The axle only needs to droop about 2-3" but you have to unbolt it all to get there. Ignore the piece of cam lobe I found in pan.

 

Hi Alex, thanks for your reply! You did the job in your driveway?? Wow impressive
I totally think the o-ring is my issue. You mention needing the o-ring and gasket. Sorry for the newb question, but what is the gasket? I know the o-ring is the red rubber part that goes around the end of the oil pickup tube. Is the gasket the small metal piece in your pic? Where does that go?

 

I think that is the piece of cam lobe in his hand. He is referring to the oil pan gasket.

 

Oil pan gasket. Make sure that your o-ring matches your application. There's orange/red and green. The oil cooler bolts to pan with its own gasket but you may not have that option. I didn't. I replaced with a red o-ring and it's been 7 months no problem. I bought the truck for $1100 because of the pronounced knock. The o-ring was the cause and the sheared off #2 intake lobe was symptom. All fixed now. But back to your application, I would strongly suggest o-ring if it's never been changed.

 

Got it, thanks for the clarification. Much appreciated!