Just Under 20 Over

 The older I get the less I let little annoyances mess up my day. I was blasting down my favorite back road in the big ass station wagon jammin out to "Everybody Wants Some" and wondering what version was playing. There was a definite sound coming from the percussion section that didn't seem to fit. It wasn't more cowbell but close. It was more of a chime. I glanced down at the dash and found the source of the chime and it wasn't Alex Van Halen.

 
  A generous crank to the right of the volume knob took care of that noise real quick. Later I found that if I turned the key back one click the engine would quit but the tunes would still roar. Upon restart my oil pressure came back. 

 The only problem with a rolling restart is that it confuses the little elves monitoring the traction control. No big deal, if the engine blows then stabilitrak ain't gonna work anyway. FYI the red lights trump the orange lights and when the oil pressure dropped off again the elves didn't seem as concerned about traction control.

 The most important gauge in the above pics is the lower left. Unless I'm rolling down a big hill this pig ain't moving without gas! All the other stuff can be worked out with a little duct tape and a few zip ties.

 So whats really going on here? If you've been following this blog long enough you know about my two past experiences with low oil pressure on this rig. There is a mesh screen ahead of the oil galley that feeds the system that drops cylinders for better fuel economy. It uses oil pressure to hold valves open but I forget the name of the system. I have it electronically deleted because if it takes a crap it can get expensive. Much more expensive than the few MPG gain I would get by using it. I think GM has worked out the problems with this system but the big ass station wagon is older than that fix. Anyway, the oil pressure sending unit is on the clean side of the screen and gunk is building up on the pressure side of the screen. When I shut the engine off the lack of oil pressure allows the gunk to fall clear of the screen and we're golden again until the screen plugs up. One observation I've made is that the screen plugs worse at higher RPM. That means when Jackyl or Ted Nugent come on the radio my oil pressure light comes on. Willy, Waylon and the boys never seem to trigger the light.

Later.