Normal oil pressure?

[vw]

Just bought a stock 88 k5 blazer(v10), 350 tbi, about two weeks ago. At that time it had two leaks,(power steering and LITTLE coolant on starter) until I took it to the car wash to wash of all the mud and oil build up it had underneath. Then a new leak appeared, motor oil. I went ahead and did a semi tune-up; air filter, fuel filter, motor oil(10w40) & filter, plugs & wires, and pcv valve. When I went to autozone to get the motor oil, I was recommended to put in 10w40 valvoline instead of the sae30 penzoil I was thinking of. The oil pressure gauge had not been working correctly since I got it. At first after running it for more than thirty minutes it would drop from 30 to 0. Oil level was fine, power seems good, radiator is still full. Since the oil was leaking from oil pressure switch (unit), I replaced it with a new one from autozone. Now it reads 60 when I start it and goes down to 45 when I put it in drive. When I drive it goes from 40 to 60 depending on mph, and when I put it in park it will go to 30. I dont have a tachometer yet.

Sorry for the long story. I want to replace my power steering pump because of the mess its making on the driveway. But not sure how big of a deal this oil pressure situation is. The coolant leak is more of a drip on the starter and does not make it to the ground. I've tried checking underneath with flashlight, but don't see where it's coming from. I will be dropping the starter this weekend, (family time permits) hopefully to get a better look. I've driven it about 250 miles, some highway and some city. And the radiator is still full to top from previous owner. Exahust spits out white smoke if I give it gas when in park, and it smells like strong gas fumes.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Fordum]

So many possibilities.
The oil pressure should not be ignored, but you should not pay any attention to it.
Make sense? Maybe this will help.
Knowing how much oil pressure you have is vital. But at this point, I would not accept anything that gauge says.
If you don't hear the lifters rattling, then you have some oil pressure. You need to find a mechanical oil pressure gauge and hook it where that sending unit is now.
Does not have to be permanent, just long enough to compare it to the electric one and find out what is what.
Until you do, don't let that gauge spook you until you know for sure. But try to find out fairly quickly.

The coolant leak could be several things. Heater lines, maybe the heater core if there is a hole in the shroud.
Hopefully that is what it is, otherwise it might be a problem. Such as a cracked block from a freeze, or a rusted out freeze plug.
The plug is the better of those two, but I seem to remember one behind the engine that you have to pull the engine to replace.
Someone here should know for sure better than me.

The white smoke is slightly puzzling.
White smoke is usually coolant, which is a blown head gasket or worse. Remember the cracked block thought?
But I would suspect it of occasional hard cranking due to hydro-locking, a skip in the cylinder, and loss of coolant.
Blue smoke, which could look white, is usually valve stem seals which leak mostly at idle.
Not all that bad. You can drive it a long time like that.

However, white smoke could also be gas vapor. I don't think I have ever seen it from the exhaust like that, its usually from gas leaking on a hot surface. But that would correspond with the strong gas smell.

DO this. Check your oil level after it has sat for a while, and check it again after each time you run it for a while.
Look for the oil level to increase.

If it does do not crank it again, until you figure out how gas is getting into the oil.

I just realized this is Fuel Injected, so it won't be a leaking fuel pump on the block. So the likelihood of gas in oil is less.

Check the heater hoses closely, and see if the coolant is coming from behind the block of from the side.

 

[tRustyK5]

Is your truck missing the catalytic converter? That usually makes these TBI rigs smell horrible from the exhaust.

Small coolant leak and white smoke from the exhaust...I'm thinking you probably have a bad head gasket.

 

[Russell]

Your oil pressure sounds pretty normal to me, btw! Most of my old 350s used to have similar pressure to what you are describing

 

[Amtek]

Oil pressure seems okay, thats exactly how my fresh 350 runs with 10w30 right now. Puff of white smoke when gassing it is clearly running on the rich side. I bet you the coolant is leaking from the intake manifold-to-head gasket at the rear.

 

[vw]

Thanks to all for your help. Last night I dropped the starter and saw that the coolant leak was coming from the freeze plug next to the starter. Hopefully that wont be to difficult to take care of.

I have been checking the oil like crazy and it always stays at the same level (full), and good color.

The engine is pretty quiet at the moment, don't hear lifters.

Maybe catalytic converter, it looks like the original one.

 

[Fordum]

Ok, you can probably slow down on checking the oil. If you have enough gas leaking in while it was running to make white smoke out the exaust, it would have showed up by now.
You do need to check it regularly until you get a handle on the usage rate.
If you find out it uses a quart per 3K, then you can have a good idea of how often to check it.
Its best to check it each time you fill up, but if your engine does not use any between changes, after a while it gets old doing it that often.

The leaking freeze plug is better than lots of other possibilites, but it does have a downside.
Most of the time when one starts leaking, its due to rust.
Sometimes its from the outside in, especially in the rust belt, but usually its from the inside out.
Not only does that mean that the PO probably did not keep up the antifreeze, but it also means that the others are getting thin too.

So, be prepared to replace others soon.

 

[vw]

Thanks for the oil advice.

Hopefully the other plugs can hold up for at least 6 months till I get some funds together. I plan on doing something with the engine, either put in a reman or get one with a carb setup.