1st: No oil pressure / 2nd slight amount of oil in cooling system

1997 CHEVROLET LUMINA
250,000 MILES
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SYDTRACKED1
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I have a 1997 Chevy Lumina 3.1 with sudden oil pressure (as in none) It was running fine & when I came to a stop to back in to my drive way it died. I restarted it & it barely had any RPMs & not even enough power to back up the curb. The oil light was on & there was valve train clattering noise (upper cylinder noise) Yes the oil level is fine, 250,000 miles on original motor. Could it be the oil pump? Any ideas?

2nd question: & probably not related to the zero oil pressure, for the past year I have noticed oil in the cooling system, not much but slight. The pan oil is fine (not milky at all) Am perplexed on this matter also?
Jun 29, 2012 at 12:14 PM
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RASMATAZ
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1. No oil pressure-if it was verified by using a mechanical gauge-could be the oil pump gave up and engine bearings wiped out

2.Oil in cooling system if its actually oil in it-could be a blown headgasket,cracked head or block and an intake manifold leak-you can pressure test the cooling system and see if it'll hold pressure if not there's a leak somewhere
Jun 29, 2012 at 12:44 PM
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SYDTRACKED1
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I dint run the motor for even a minuet after the sudden oil pressure loss...so what the possibility that I didn’t damage the motor & changing the oil pump may take care of the problem? Guess I would just have to find out? But less than a min might not have caused damage?
Jun 29, 2012 at 1:05 PM
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RASMATAZ
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Dunno the possibilities-you just have to open it up and check the pump clearances and mike out the end bearings-could be clogged pick-up screen/oil galleries, etc hard to say
Jun 29, 2012 at 1:13 PM
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