[i_build]

99 Suburban 5.7 with 166,000 miles. Was putting mattresses on my roof rack and strapping them down. Truck was idling for a good 10 mins with my wife and kids inside and the air on. I get in and the oil pressure is a tiny bit above 0. The temp is good and you can hardly tell the engine is on... but the pressure is 0 and the check gauges light is on.

I have been worried that the pressure has been low and have been adding in some of the thick lucas stuff to keep it up... but I just changed to 5W30 and forgot to put the lucas in before picking up the mattresses.

If the engine was truly at around 0 pressure for 10 mins wouldnt the temp climb, the engine make noise... or even sieze?

Is it pretty safe to say that something is wrong with my sender or gauge?

Truck runs good, plenty of power, very quiet and smooth.....

 

[stephan]

I think the easiest thing to do would be to go to AutoZone or other parts supplier that loans free tools. Borrow an oil pressure guage from them. If the op checks out ok, try replacing the sender for the guage. It's a lot easier than your next option which would be the stepper motor or the guage.