Plastigage

The width it crushes to indicates the clearance.

Here is a drawing of how it appears, used on a bearing.

You can get plastigage for a couple of bucks at an auto supply store.

Have you verified the pump cover is FLAT?

Is it really possible the pressure gauge could be bad?? If it reads OK when first started, then how does it go bad after it gets hot??

Thanks for the help....Im new at this stuff.

Motor oil gets thinner as it gets hot, & when the engine is worn the pump can"t move enough of the thinner oil to keep the pressure up. A good tight engine will keep oil pressure up against the relief valve all the time, so the guage doesn"t drop when the engine gets hot.

I"m not sure a pump rebuild will solve your problem. If you have worn bearings, then even a good pump can"t hold pressure when the engine is hot.

I"ll probably get shot for saying this, but you can try going to a thicker oil, say 20W-50. Depending on what kind of oil has been previously used & how long its been since it was changed, its also possible that there"s enough crud in the bottom of the pan to clog up the pump intake.

I"d drop the pan first & make sure its clean.

Keith

I know the head gasket is leaking as well...could that be a cause for low oil pressure? ... I would think that would taking a gaping hole to cause a loss of oil pressure though???

I don't think a bad head gasket would be causing your oil pressure problems.

Dropping the pan and removing the oil pump is pretty easy; fix it up and if you still have the problem look for other things wrong (like worn bottom end bearings).

Most likely fixing up the pump will cure it.

Good luck,
Bill

Thanks for the help!!