So I recently got my 1988 S10 2.8L back from one of my relatives. With 195,000 miles on it. It had been parked in a garage for about 3 years when I decided to get it back. Before I attempted to do anything like starting it I charged the battery overnight and filled all of the fluids. It did have an oil leak (I beleive from the oil pan seal) for a long time. The oil pressure gauge was reading in the top third of its ability. So I drove it for about 10 miles with some smoke coming from the exhaust and just attributed it to the motor clearing itself out. WRONG. As soon as I hit the highway it started blowing smoke like hellfire (impossible to see through) and I looked down at the oil pressure gauge and it was reading nothing and about 3 seconds after that I heard the rocker arms clicking and therefore signaling me to turn off the motor. So my question is do i need a new oil pump, i know i need a new oil pan seal, but is there anything else I should be concerned about?

 

first thing check the oil ,if full put a manual gauge on it to verify the pressure ,these baby's work with low oil pressure check the service manual .it can be the oil pump pickup fell off or came loose ,i have a 1988 s-10 w-2.8 v 6 and the pickup got loose an was flopping around ,and broke a rod (it still ran ) put in a new engine a high volume oil pump .the said 10 psi stock was good at idle ,no way man it pumps 60 psi cold 45 psi hot now .you have to verify what you have before you can take a course of action .good luck keep us aprised with whats going on .