Alright, i have been dealing with this issue for some time now. I have probably searched and posted on 5 different boards now and researched and looked around for like 5 hours+ lol and have yet to find any answer.

I have a d16z6, i had a shop build it for me, SRP pistons, eagle rods, notched block, polished/balanced crank, measured/replaced all of my bearings and assembled everything with new rings, headstuds ect. So i threw the rest of the motor together, used old oil pump, new timing belt, headgasket, t belt, water pump and other gaskets and such. Put the thing together, put it in my hatch, and it started up great, ran fine (Idle bounces around some, will worry about that later) Anyways, i notice the oil light comes on, so i turno the car off and take off the valve cover, pretty dry. We replaced the oil pump with another one we had laying around, primed the pump, still nothing, i bought a new pickup gasket and BAM, shit loads of oil coming to the head (had oil cap off and it made a mess) Anyways i was happy about that. So i hooked up my oil pressure gauge and im reading ZERO. Took off my oil filter-dry. I read that fram filters get a stuck valve and oil doesnt circulate into it. Replaced filter-still nothing to the filter or sensor. Im clueless, how can oil be everywhere in the head but none reading on my sensor or filter? i tried to fill the filter up with oil when i replaced it too and nothing. Im just confused and growing impatient, this is my first build and i have my full turbo setup laying around doing nothing and id like to get this done but im starting to feel like this is hopeless lol

 

well does it sound like it has low pressure? It wouldn't sound healthy when it ran if it did. Try replacing the sender.

 

the motor sounds fine, running really smooth(minus a little bounce in the idle) and i have tried 2 seperate oil pressure senders from other blocks i had laying around and i currently have an autometer oil press sensor in there for the electric gauge i bought

 

Are you 100% sure that you're putting the sensor in the right hole?

Also, are you sure that nothing was dropped into the oil passages when it was being worked on/put back together?

Is the gauge you're using mechanical or electronic?

 

im positive its in the right hole, and i have an autometer electonic gauge, alright so yesterday i took the filter off and started it up, nothing, let it idle for about 20 seconds or so and then a steady stream of oil started coming out finally. So i put my filter back on and took off the auometer oil pressure sensor, started it and oil streamed out of there too. So finally it seems to be getting SOME oil pressure, i will throw my oem sensor in when i get a chance and see if the light is on or not, i think the gauge/sensor is fucked tho, and i dont know why but i guess maybe i needed to let it idle for a little while to build up pressure? or having thefilter off built up some pressure? im not sure

 

I was asking if you had an electronic sensor because I wondered if you'd wired the sending unit up correctly or if the problem could be a bad sending unit or gauge. I was hoping you weren't relying solely on the gauge. You've diagnosed this exactly as I would have suggested you do. I think you've pretty much figured it out. Good job.

 

hey thanks for the help man, yeah its electronic sensor/gauge and i checked and re-wired it like 3 times now, so im going to have to ay the sensor is broke, when i connect the power the needle moves to zero, but when i start the car and even rev it past 3k it moves nowhere, so i will throw a stock sensor in and see how it looks, appreciate the help though!

 

It happens. Sending units commonly fail. Keep us updated.

 

As it sounds like this is a new build/break-in, I recommend that you stop starting the car and just letting it run now that you've pretty much diagnosed the oil pressure problem.

Before you go any further, read this: http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

This is how I broke my motor in and it works great.

 

yeah i planned on breaking it in like that since i started the build, i just wanted to make sure i had oi and didnt destroy the motor in the process lol