Alternate locations to install oil press gauge?

[Jet-Motors]

I have a 1999 K2500 Suburban with 6.5L Turbo Diesel. Where are some other, alternate, locations to install an Oil Pressure sensor?
I want to put in another Oil pressure gauge to get a second opinion so to speak, the manual kind, no electronic sensor.

My oil pressure is currently reading near ZERO when oil is hot and engine comes to an idle. The "Check Gauges" light comes on. No engine knocks yet but am concerned. I have recently replaced my Oil Pressure Switch when oil pressure readings were going wild and very high. That fixed that problem. Now recently oil pressure reading at or near zero at hot idle.

[Yukon6.2]

Just remove the oil pressure sensor and add a tee plumb the oil gauge into the tee

[Jet-Motors]

Thanks, I thought of that but knowing there isn't much room there and how hard it was to get the Oil Pressure switch changed out decided not to pursue that avenue. I will check that out again since I'm gonna replace the OPS again tomorrow. Hoping like heck my hot idle low oil pressure is just another bad OPS.

[Yukon6.2]

That is your chance to correct the problem of room.Get a piece of hose and mount a manifold/tee somewhere easy to get too and put the OPS and gauge hose to it

[Jet-Motors]

thanks for the reply, I got another new OPS yesterday and a bunch of brass 1/4" pipe threaded fittings. Decided I didn't want use a bunch of fittings that might break off when trying to remove/install new OPS down the road. I could just see myself trying to get an easy-out down in there to remove a broken-off fitting.
I thought of getting a hose made up and T from that, just like your reply suggests. That is really the best solution to avoid having to remove the intake manifold etc. Also I noticed yesterday that the oil supply for the Turbo could also be T'd from at the engine but it is also under the intake manifold at the front of the engine and equally difficult to get to.


With new OEM Oil Pressure Switch installed I'm finding my Hot oil pressure at idle is still near zero. So to be safe added some STP and now pressure does not go below 10-15 psi when hot. Running oil pressure at about 45psi hot. Looks like an overhaul coming or new short block.

[Yukon6.2]

Your engine has oil squirters that are basically holes in the oiling system.That was done for piston cooling.
It's pretty normal to have very low pressure on hot idle on the blocks with the oil squirters.
There is slim chance that you may have a stuck oil pressure relief valve,but it's probably fine.

[DmaxMaverick]

What brand and grade oil are you using? Some oil brands (Rotella comes to mind) sometimes doesn't work well with some engines. No 10W-30 should be used, in any 6.5L, unless in extreme cold locations (-40-ish).

[56pan]

Your engine has oil squirters that are basically holes in the oiling system.That was done for piston cooling.
It's pretty normal to have very low pressure on hot idle on the blocks with the oil squirters.
There is slim chance that you may have a stuck oil pressure relief valve,but it's probably fine.

I thought all the squirter blocks came with the higher flow oil pump? I have a squirter block engine that replaced the non-squirter eng. in my '93. It holds better oil press. at hot idle than the previous engine did back when it was low-mileage.

[Jet-Motors]

I'm using Chevron IsoSyn 15W-40. Back when I first noticed this issue I had put full synthetic Delo 5W-40. Pressure went so low the "Check Guages" Warning light kept coming on at idle. I quickly drained and went to 15W-40 IsoSyn and still the same warning light. I don't think it's an Oil weight/Brand issue, wasn't doing this before.

[Jet-Motors]

What do you mean "it's probably fine"? Having stuck valve or low pressure? I'm uncomfortable with the low pressure I was having and the "Check Gauges" warning coming at idle. I'm going to proceed with installing the manual guage I bought and compare readings with OEM dash guage. It's nice I'm not hearing bad engine sounds for now.

[JohnC]

You may just have a bit of carbon or something stuck in the oil pressure relief valve preventing it from closing at idle.