Oil pressure gauge shows 40 at idle. Maybe I never noticed before, but needle goes up with engine rpm. OK, makes sense. BUT goes down in red warning zone if turn left hard, especially if downhill left tight curve. Sometimes red warning light comes on.
I did not do the swap but assume the oil pan was modified/exchanged.
Oil level is up to full line on dipstick. Oil looks fine, not dark.
Is this normal and I just never noticed because I glance at the instruments when idling at a stop light? Should I be concerned?
oil pressure should be very close to constant at all RPM. Is likely wiring or sender problem often worse if has iffy motor mounts etc. Or have similar problem w/ stock V6 w/ low pressure and bottom end wear.
Use a mech gauge to check.
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
Buddycraigg, I don't know but suspect the gentleman who did the swap will contact me fairly soon. He monitors Pennock's. Still, it's odd I had no symptoms for around five years with the same 3.4 and dipstick.
While you're there, would you think the oil pressure sensor would be the same in a 1995-era 3.4 pushrod and a stock 2.8? I was considering just buying a sensor, backing the car up on tire ramps, crawling underneath and changing out the sensor, checking the connection/wires at the same time.
An "oil pressure" search in previous Forum cases found at least two with almost identical symptoms. Both were due to oil pump intake tube dropping into the oil pan. Normal oil level was high enough for oil pump to suck up oil when the engine was level, but not high enough relative to the oil pump when cornering resulted in the oil accumulating on one side and the pump sucking air, so to speak. The two earlier cases shared the diagnostic tip of rubber hammer banging up on the oil pan. Loose intake tube "rattled". One of the previous posters had drained the oil, the other banged and heard a rattle with oil still in the engine.
Kudos to the Meineke mechanics in Ellettsville, Indiana. I called them with the rubber hammer tip, they heard the rattle. One mechanic in particular works on GM short block engines. He tack welded the intake tube in place before replacing the oil pan gasket and oil pan. He tack welds all the intake tubes on his hobby engines.
Many thanks to members of the Forum and to Pennock's for the search function.
------------------ John W. Tilford
[This message has been edited by John W. Tilford (edited 11-05-2021).]
Oil pressure gauge shows 40 at idle. Maybe I never noticed before, but needle goes up with engine rpm. OK, makes sense. BUT goes down in red warning zone if turn left hard, especially if downhill left tight curve. Sometimes red warning light comes on.
I did not do the swap but assume the oil pan was modified/exchanged.
Oil level is up to full line on dipstick. Oil looks fine, not dark.
Is this normal and I just never noticed because I glance at the instruments when idling at a stop light? Should I be concerned?
I was going to replace my 2.8 with a 3.4, but decided against it, since the engines look different and part of CA's smog is a visual. If the "FIERO" letters were missing on the intake manifold, they might have failed the car.
In the process of preparing for this, I got a 3.4 oil pan. There are no baffles in the pan. Maybe in later models there were, but not the one that I got. I replaced the old oil pump in the 2.8, and as mentioned in other answers to your thread, the pump and the pickup tube come as two separate pieces which are press-fitted together. It's the same for the 3.4. There are directions as to how the pickup should be installed and the measurement are critical with close tolerances. I was told by others in here that once I got the pickup positioned correctly, that I should tack weld it in a couple of spots to ensure the pickup did not come loose and sit in the bottom of the pan. I did this. So far, so good. My engine has been totally rebuilt so it is like a new engine. Like you, I get 40 psig at idle and around 60 at running speed. If you need an oil pan and a 3.4 pump, I have new ones I will sell cheaply. They are Melling brand components.
I was going to replace my 2.8 with a 3.4, but decided against it, since the engines look different and part of CA's smog is a visual. If the "FIERO" letters were missing on the intake manifold, they might have failed the car ...
ETI, just for Future Reference, there are several folks on here that have done the 3.4 pushrod swap in California and passed smog without any issues at all. If you look in my old post Ghost Mods you will see who they are.
ETI engineer, my 3.4 has the same (red with 'Fiero" label) intake manifold which formerly graced my original 2.8. The average person looking down on the engine would not suspect the swap.
ETI, just for Future Reference, there are several folks on here that have done the 3.4 pushrod swap in California and passed smog without any issues at all. If you look in my old post Ghost Mods you will see who they are.
Thanks for letting me know. When I had my 2.8 rebuilt, they installed larger valves and hardened seats and a mild cam. When I put the engine back together, I used all new parts to include injectors, etc. I bored the manifold ports out to get rid of their restrictive nature, as much as possible. I just got through the CA smog BS today with flying colors. So now, I can advance my timing back to where it was. I passed with the performance chip in the ECM, but with the timing at the stock 10 degrees BTDC. I can now kick it back to the 14 degrees I had before. I can already tell that the engine has more power than it did before. Once I get it broken in, it should be a lot of fun. Again, I appreciate the information in case I decide to do something in the future. But I am thinking that anything else I do from now on will be pre-smog. Tired of dealing with the psychotic state of CA!!!!
Thanks for letting me know. When I had my 2.8 rebuilt, they installed larger valves and hardened seats and a mild cam. When I put the engine back together, I used all new parts to include injectors, etc. I bored the manifold ports out to get rid of their restrictive nature, as much as possible. I just got through the CA smog BS today with flying colors. So now, I can advance my timing back to where it was. I passed with the performance chip in the ECM, but with the timing at the stock 10 degrees BTDC. I can now kick it back to the 14 degrees I had before. I can already tell that the engine has more power than it did before. Once I get it broken in, it should be a lot of fun. Again, I appreciate the information in case I decide to do something in the future. But I am thinking that anything else I do from now on will be pre-smog. Tired of dealing with the psychotic state of CA!!!!
Thanks again...
This will be great data for fellow California sufferers, since now we know these mods pass: which valves? which cam? which ECM chip? Can you tell if you have a 30-year old Cat or a relatively new one?
This will be great data for fellow California sufferers, since now we know these mods pass: which valves? which cam? which ECM chip? Can you tell if you have a 30-year old Cat or a relatively new one?
I am not sure on the valves. I will have to check with the engine builder. The chip came from Hypertech, and the cam specs and part number are shown below. I did not specify what cam to put in the engine as I am not that knowledgeable. This was decided by the builder. He has been in the business for over 40 years and seems to know a lot about just about any engine there is. He guaranteed me that the car would pass smog with the mods he made and it did. The catalytic converter was new, as was the whole exhaust system beyond the manifolds. My specialty is large bore diesel engines for which I used to teach the teardown and rebuild. (See photo below of me standing next to one of the engines I used to teach about. It's an old EMD 567, 9072 c.i. turbo, 2-stroke engine). For you CA sufferers, just make sure that before you go in to get your car done, that your timing is as 10 degrees BTDC. This is the first thing they check. I knew this from the first time I went to get my car smogged, three years ago.
ETI, just for Future Reference, there are several folks on here that have done the 3.4 pushrod swap in California and passed smog without any issues at all. If you look in my old post Ghost Mods you will see who they are.
Did you use the cast iron heads? The engine I got was a '95, but the heads were aluminum and they required different intake and exhaust manifolds, completely, so the FIERO logo would not be there. I told the people who sent the engine to me, that I had specified that it have cast iron heads, but they got it wrong, twice. I had to get the Michigan BBB involved to get my money back. Kudos to them, too. They told me that they have had trouble with these guys (Accurate Engines) before and they went after them like a mother bear. They were great!!! Is the block on the 3.4 just a bored and stroked 2.8? Just curious...
Just to emphasize the 3.4 F-body engine swap situation in CA; You would have to crawl under the car to look at the sides of the block to even see the differences between it and the 2.8.....And the 3.4 block is actually a LEGAL swap in CA- GM did not build 2.8 or 3.1 replacement blocks- only 3.4L. GM had the 3.4 certified Smog Legal in CA.
I never had to have mine Certified, nor go to a referee station- just normal test station every other year- only didn't pass once because the CAT had died. It has passed TEN tests in 21 years.
You might be pleasantly surprised by switching to a ECM from a 1985 V-6 Fiero.
The HyperTech chip is properly named - for the Fiero application it is all hype. The 85 ECM will offer a much better performance boost.
Search the Forum, there is plenty of good info on the advantages of the 85 vs HyperTech in a Fiero application.
Thanks for the information. Will the '88 still pass smog with the '85 ECM? I only bought the chip because it was one of the CARB legal things I could get away with in this psychotic state. The one I got for my '97 S-10 gave me all kinds of programming options. Not the one for the Fiero. As you say, it was probably all hype, but I do notice a difference when I put the old one back in.
