Hi guys,
I have an 04 maxima automatic with 180k miles. Sadly, my oil light started coming on at low rpm and when idling but it goes away when I start to drive around 1500 rpm and up. A shop tested my oil pressure and said that it is lower at low rpm but once at normal driving speed the oil pressure goes back to normal. They also changed the oil pressure switch and that didn’t change anything.

They said it’s probably gallery gaskets or oil pump which is what I was thinking (based on some forum searching) the guy also said I can probably drive it and it might be fine…

Assuming it’s gallery gasket/ oil pump it will pretty much total the car to have it done at a shop so I’m planning to fix it myself. I’ve read that people change their oil more frequently and maybe use a thicker oil (maybe 10w-30 vs 5w-30) and run their cars like this and it’s fine, I’m worried I will just destroy my engine if I do this and I normally drive about 250 miles a week with this car as it is my daily for school and work.

Currently the car is sitting at my friends before we try to fix it so I’m using family members car/ my project civic until it’s fixed.

Do y’all think I should replace gallery gaskets and oil pump over my winter break (or anything else you think it might be) or just run it with more frequent oil changes until the car dies? Ideally this car would run for another 10k miles minimum

I change the oil every 4-6k miles with valvoline 5w-30 full synthetic. I do drive this car pretty hard as it’s a lot of fun with 3” straight pipe and intake, which maybe these habits is what caused this :/

Any help would be awesome,
Thanks

 

Judging by your explanation, I would say that the engine is on its last legs. That said, I would still confirm the oil pressure first just in case there is something funky with the electronics. If an oil pressure test confirms low oil pressure, then start looking for another engine.