Took them about 14 hours, I think the water pump added another hour of labor.

 

Ugh - just got the P0021 code and the car sounded like a tractor engine. I restarted the car a few times and it sounds good now, but then it happened again shortly after.
Going to a local mechanic to read the oil pressure this weekend, hope its not low, but from everything i'm reading here, sure sounds like it will be.

93,200 on the clock and never had a mechanical issue before this.

 

UPDATE:

Mechanic connected a pressure gauge and the Oil Pressure is 35psi at Idle!!! I'm stoked!
So I guess I just maybe need to perform the tune up i've been putting off and hope for the best? Still on original plugs with my mileage, thinking maybe thats the issue?

Any other ideas?

Also could bad gas cause this? My wife filled up last week at a shady gas station. How about using regular instead of Premium? She's not sure what type she used

 

Will, to be honest, the fact that they read 35 psi at idle makes me suspect they didn't do the measurement correctly, because that is too high of a reading to be getting at idle. I'm not saying that oil pressure is your issue, but there is just no way you should be getting 35 psi at 650RPM. It would appear they flubbed making measurement per factory specs.

 

I was thinking the same...

 

Maybe he's idling at 2k

 

Oh crap really? I saw the gauge for myself...
Thats what I get for going to a local shop, maybe his gauge was malfunctioning.
I'll just bite the bullet and take it to the dealer for diagnosis, I just don't trust dealers to tell me the truth, my mechanic lets me get all up inside the work area to see things for myself

 

Was the car cold or at normal operating temp?

 

Normal Operating Temp

I drove around for about an hour, dropped the wife at home, went the the garage and they put my car on the lift right away.
Pressure was checked about 20 min after the car was put on the lift and the car was turned off.

 

Should I even bother giving it a tune up this weekend? I know for sure three things need to be done...plugs, clean my K&N air filters as it's been more than a year and they are black and clean the TB - i've never cleaned the TB plenums.

Would any of the above three items throw this code?

 

To my knowledge no but I'm NO EXPERT just a follow enthusiast. I also thought the car needed to be running to check oil pressure.

 

Sorry yes the car engine was running at idle when the pressure gauge was checked. Forgot to mention that part.

• Arrived
• Car on lift
• Car turned off
• Pressure gauge installed
• 20 minutes later car turned back on
• Pressure around 32psi at idle

 

What were the rpms at idle? Did they monitor that? If it was idling at more than 650, then the readings would go up significantly with the increase in rpms. Even an extra 50-100 rpms can raise it by 5-10 psi.

 

crap they didn't look at the RPM, I just started it and we all rejoiced that it was above the 14 PSI previously mentioned.

Guess maybe it's time for a re-test

 

Yeah, if it ever comes to a dealer for a warranty claim for low oil pressure, in addition to the PSI, they will closely observe the rpms, oil temp, oil specs, filter type, and any aftermarket products that may affect it. When I took my car in, they made me change the oil, the oil filter, and remove the oil pressure gauge I had hooked up before they would consider any PSI reading to be accurate (for warranty purposes).