Changin an oil pump CAN SHE DO IT :) :(

The pump housing is cast into the timing cover on the 3.8, so yes, it's very doable. Are you sure you have no oil pressure? Check it with a mechanical oil pressure gauge. If you truly had NO oil pressure, lots of lifter and rod noise would be evident followed very shortly by the sound of parts trying to escape the engine. If you already have these noises, then a new pump would pretty much be useless. There are 2 common issues with this motor that can cause low, or no, oil pressure. One is a broken pump drive. Remove the distrtibutor to check it. Another is bearing wash. This is caused by coolant in the oil, usually from current or recent head gasket failure. The coolant washes the bearing material off of the bearing shells. Verify, inspect, then determine if the motor is worth saving.

"Burgymi via CarKB.com" wrote in news:559879b0de428@uwe:

Let's analyse here.. you said you changed the 'switch' do you mean 'sender'? (sensor)

Somewhere around that year, Tbird went to a fooler gauge.. pressure SWITCH as the sender..

That causes the needle to stay steady as long as it has pressure at all

there's a 20 ohm resistor in cars that use the fooler gauge.

If your pressure varies from very low (but higher than ign on) at idle to just low at speed, check for that 20 ohm resistor by grounding the sender lead. If it goes to midrange of the word "Normal" it has the resistor.

If it goes to top of gauge it doesnt have resistor and a "low" reading IS low.

On a 93, for instance, the resistor is on back of cluster, just solder a small wire across it to use a real sender.

I hear on others it may be in the lead at the sender end.

Never mind...I dont think you can do it...

"Burgymi via CarKB.com" wrote in news:55998d2a1bfac@uwe:

The rest of you reading this, keep it in mind next time you ask the parts counter person a quaestion.

This is pretty basic stuff.

Backyard Mechanic wrote:

When in doubt, use a master (mechanical) gauge to verify oil pressure. It is the oil pressure itself that matters, not the gauge reading... therefore, it stands to reason that we should first worry about the pressure. If oil pressure is poor, additional engine damage can result from our attempts to repair the gauge rather than addressing the root cause.

We would normally expect to hear increased engine noises resulting from inadequate oil pressure..... If I've learned anything in these nearly 40 years of doing this, it is "don't take anything for granted....".If we are to commit an error, we should do it conservitavely...

"Jim Warman" wrote in news:chi2f.8947$S4.5208@edtnps84:

Forget it, Jim... she either cant read or she's an idiot.

My kid had a 93 cougar.. came with a variable sender... my two 93 Tbirds both had the fooler switch.

I DONT know how much clearer I can make it!