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Oil pressure lost

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ORCoaster:
I thought I had this problem figured out the other day but it happened to me again tonight on the way home.
As I leave work I drive slowly through a puddle of water that is about 3 inches deep.  I know there is a place where there is a crack or a hole that causes the front end to drop a few inches so I don't want to be racing through and do damage to the car.  But what happens as the front end does that quick drop is that I then loose oil pressure.

If I continue the few feet around the corner and turn the engine off then back on I can generally get the pressure to come back up again.  Trying to figure out what is going on here.

I removed the vane style vacuum pump last weekend and shimmed it up so that the gear would not jump back up about a half an inch.  I am wondering if the oil pump itself is loose from the block and dropping out of the vane pump.  I did get a pair of vise grips on the shaft and pushed and pulled on it from above and didn't get any movement. 

Just wondering if removing the pan and checking for a loose pump is worth laying in the rain in the driveway.  I have other vehicles to drive but this needs to be fixed as I am looking to sell it in the spring. 

Let me know if you have had this same problem and what the fix was that made it go away. 

Thanks

fatmobile:
Maybe the oil is splashing and your plastic oil pump baffle has broken and allows air to be pulled in.
 Oil level OK?
Got the right dipstick?

ORCoaster:
The first time this happened I did pull the dipstick, it is the stock one, and it was a qt low so I added that much from the emergency bottle in the trunk.  That stopped it from popping the light on, but I think it was more about the vac pump engaging with the oil shaft.  I have the older diaphragm pump style vac pump on the engine.  It is all in tip top shape as I just tore it apart to figure out why it was detaching from the oil pump drive shaft.

We are scheduled for rain for the next 3 to 4 days so laying on the driveway might be out unless I get on it first thing in the morning. I would have been able to do it today but swapped my work day from Sat to today so I didn't have to dig holes in the rain or lay on my back under a mobile home in the rain.  Good that the Rabbit only needs to go a short distance to get me to work.  The Caddy has brake issues so I am holding off on driving that for a bit.  Need a new proportioning valve. 

I think I will pull the pan and see if the pump is loose.  That is the most direct route.  It pumps good pressure as it gives me close to 100 psi on start up and about 40 at idle hot.  I think I have adjusted the valve in the bottom of the pump in the past. 

wdkingery:
Cannot belive this is still going!

ORCoaster:
What the car or the problem?

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