Oil Pressure

Hello!

I just purchased a 2002 V8 SR5. A few questions:

1. I had the oil pump and switch replaced, but mechanic said oil pressure was not reading well. They added Lucas Oil stabilizer, said it worked like a charm (they ate the cost of the oil pump and switch since it didn’t work). However, I’ve come across some people in various Tundra group’s that say they’ve had oil pressure problems too. Has anyone else experienced this?

2. What is the normal idle rpm for most people? Sometimes mine dips to 500 rpm at a light. Is this normal?

3. There is a ticking when I first accelerate after starting the truck and putting it into drive. The ticking subsides pretty quickly though, and doesn’t come back. Is this valve issues, or is this an actual oil pressure issue?

thanks for any input you may have!!

 

Welcome my guy. You need to take about 10 minutes and read through this thread: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/
What you are experiencing is mostly normal operation. It’s all explained in detail in the first 2 posts. Read it and then come back with any further questions.

 

Hey buddy, thank you so much for this link, I appreciate it! I’ll be sure to come back with some questions if I have any!

 

I think the thread linked will answer most of this but
1. It should just hardly be above the low mark at idle. If that's your only concern get that Lucas thickener out of there as it's not gonna help in any good way.
3. I'm sure your exhaust manifolds are cracked. If it goes away after warm-up, leave it be unless you just like spending money on new manifolds/headers.

 

Slight correction:

Needle should just be hardly above the low mark at idle on 2000-2004 trucks. The gauge cluster changed in '05+ so that, when all is normal, all gauges (minus gas) are at center.

But yeah, the Facebook groups are extremely hit-or-miss for information. I highly recommend avoiding them like the plague. There are too many (literal) idiots on there who are perfectly content feeding you extremely bad information. That community info thread linked above was our attempt, as a group, to put as much good, quality, factual, time-proven content in one place as we possibly could.

Welcome to the community, and congrats on your new purchase.

 

Yep, that's a normally operating first gen in a nutshell.

Replacing the oil pump seems drastic. Did the mechanic get an oil pressure reading on it first?

The gauge clusters aren't terribly accurate, or reliable on the early first gens.

 

I will say that on my 00 5vz, I replaced the oil pressure sending unit with the updated updated part number with no change. I reads little to none at idle and at 3k reads about a quarter. Has been like that for over a decade. Don't fret over that gauge reading.

 

This is a perfect example of not knowing the little idiosyncrasies of these trucks. Drain that oil to get rid of the stabilizer. You don't need it.

Perfectly normal.

 

I'm not a fan of criticizing mechanics when I'm reading a scenario second or third hand but I'm not confident that this mechanic's diagnosis was very good. Then again, if they keep using the parts cannon and then give the parts away they might not be in business very long.

 

I'm willing to bet that they threw away a perfectly good OEM oil pump and switch only to replace with inferior aftermarket parts. I would want to know what the replacement was, and if not OEM, they would be replacing again with only OEM.

 

This is the part that aggravates me most. Replace a factory part that will last 4x longer with a cheaper part, when it's something so critical to operations, and basically force your customer into a repeat visit sooner than necessary.

One mechanic I'd never go back to. Especially if they did it without bothering to ask. Replacing the oil pump in these trucks is major surgery. And if you're getting that deep into stuff, you may as well touch up the timing belt, water pump, pulleys, etc. while in there. Which, if I knew they were adamant about doing that work, I'd ask them to do. Although I probably wouldn't let them replace the oil pump because ... when was the last time you EVER saw anyone on this forum, with 200k-300k+ miles, ever need to replace the water pump? The only two times I saw someone wanting to, it's because they stripped the bolt hole on the tensioner pulley.

 

They replaced the oil pump with OEM and used all OEM parts with everything, I made sure of that (Aisin and Denzo).

It boggles my mind, because this shop has a very good reputation in my area. Maybe they just suck with 1st gen Tundras? Maybe the service guy needed money and made a fat ass bonus off of me?

In any event, glad to be here, wish I would have joined before I took it to the shop! I’m glad to know that most of these things are non-issues.

 

I'm not sure that is correct if you're meaning on an 05-06 idle is halfway/center....IMHO.

In all the tons of oil pressure threads we have had since I have been here, any and all comments or gauge pictures members have posted have shown that @ approx 2000 RPM the gauge will be half way/center regardless 00-06. In fact, in all 2UZ according to FSM specs idle oil pressure is 4.3, which means center won't be idle in an 05-06.

 

It's one less thing you'll have to worry about anyway. It's definitely a quirk of the vehicle.

I've joked on here and said the gauge cluster is cartoon depiction of what is actually going on with the vehicle, because it is. My fuel gauge doesn't work in cold weather, speedometer wanders in warm weather, gear selector indicators don't all work, overdrive indicator is toast.

They are pretty robust trucks. There are so many on the road still that you really don't even notice them. Plenty of brand new factory parts available. I think that's pretty good sign for a 20 year old vehicle.

 

Glad to hear this. Even though totally unnecessary.

 

So to reiterate, change your oil and get the Lucas out, it isn't doing you any good. May make the oil too thick as well.

 

One thing I learned on a chevy motor is the oil filter can definitely affect oil pressure. We had installed the cheapo oil filters we stock at work. This 5.3 tahoe had low oil pressure. Replaced oil pump, pickup tube o rings, oil sending unit, etc. Nothing fixed it.

I got to reading the Chevy forums and found this particular year range was sensitive to oil filters. We installed a Mobil 1 oil filter and BAM. No more low oil pressure. So I definitely recommend an OEM Toyota or Mobil 1 oil filter for any Toyota truck.

 

Toyota oil filter is PN

$32 90915-YZZD3 Oil Filter 1/2 Case (QTY 5)

90915-YZZD3

 

Swapped the oil yesterday, got the Lucas out!

 

I bought a few Wix filters for my 2000 AC and they seem just fine.

 

Wix makes a good filter!

 

Wix is usually my go-to brand. But been sticking with OEM after seeing too many videos on OEM vs. aftermarket, reinforcing how Toyota their filters with flow characteristics well-suited to their engines.

 

You might be right about Chevy, but this ain't no Chevy. As far as Toyota goes, I use OEM filters now, and have used Wix in the past, and oil pressure is commensurate with engine RPM. It is normal on these engines.