oil pressure

[Jesh]

how much oil pressure is too much? i just did a rebuild and put in a mechanical pressure gauge and at a hot idle at 800rpms I'm getting 19psi. but at cold idle 1200-1400rpms i'm getting about 85psi. nothing is leaking but it kinda has me worried. oh and going 55 mph at 2300rpms (i have a 10% taller 5th gear installed) I'm getting about 45psi. i await your wisdom /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Jesh]

i should probably add that i'm using Mobile One full synthetic 10w-30. and i'm in alaska so its about 45F in the morning right now and about 60F in the afternoon.

 

[boostedinaz]

Those are pretty normal numbers. In AZ during the winter our temps are about the same and I would see similar pressure with my mechanical oil pressure gauge.

 

[Jesh]

sweet, thanks for the fast reply. I'm still thinking of switch to 5w-30 for the winter. I'm a little worried i might snap the needle on my gauge if i do a -20F startup with 10w-30.

 

[boostedinaz]

We have a local DSM guy that just moved here from Alaska (can't remember what city) that needed an oil pan swapped. He was bummed because he lost his oil pan heater since it was glued to the pan. Kinda crazy to see the end of an extension cord sticking out of a bumper.

 

Mine has similar levels of pressure at similar rpms. I'm told I need to mod my OF housing.

 

[boostedinaz]

^^^

It's not always needed. Most people will do it when they remove the balance shafts since that further increases pressure. With the blanace shafts in I think the extra pressure is perfect since we tend to drive these cars harder than most. I also don't think there would ne a noticable gain in HP by reducing it although I've never seen a back to back test.

 

[Jesh]

Quoting boostedinaz:
We have a local DSM guy that just moved here from Alaska (can't remember what city) that needed an oil pan swapped. He was bummed because he lost his oil pan heater since it was glued to the pan. Kinda crazy to see the end of an extension cord sticking out of a bumper.



haha yeah that is really common up here to see oil pan heaters and block heaters on the same car. some people even throw in a heated battery blanket to make it easier on startups. the extreme weather change makes it really hard to build a car thats purpose is to go fast, but i really have nothing better to do /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[thecman02]

There is an oil I would look into for winter. 0w-30. It is great for cold start ups. Without it my gauge will peg for quite awhile. Still has 30 protection at temp.

 

I have my balance shafts removed. So would it be wise to do the mod, or simply leave it be. I definitely don't believe it's a HP mod for sure, just thought the oil pressure seemed extremely high.

 

[Hertz]

Purpose of the modification to reduce oil pressure is to keep from blowing out your turbo seals if I'm not mistaken.

 

[iceman69510]

Or your oil filter gasket, as I recall.

 

[Jesh]

is there a how too on this modification?

 

I've have also been having my dip stick blowing out on me. It is old and the rubber o rings are worn, so I crushed in the tube slightly so it holds, but I don't want to bandaid a potential problem. I'd rather take the steps on a correct fix for the problem. Just not positive on the steps I should be taking to eliminate this.

 

[cheekychimp]

The dip stick blowing out isn't related to higher oil pressures directly, that is caused by blowby (compressed gases getting past the piston rings). That said I have argued before that higher oil pressures can manifest themselves in other problems that could lead to damage of the rings/bores and therefore blowby.

But to answer your question the steps you should probably take would be a compression test and physical inspection of the piston rings and bores.

 

[SouthCaliVR4]

Another cause of this & the fire's that result, wrong or bad pcv valve. use only the mitsu one or turbo boost can pressurise the crankcase causing the dipstick to pop, along with a host of other problems that are less obvious.

 

The engine was freshly rebuilt 86 miles ago, and compressions good. Rings seated properly. So guess that leaves me with a possible bad PCV valve which I haven't checked. Is there a way to test it, or is it cheap enough to just replace it? I've replaced just about everything else, might as well.

 

[FlyingEagle]

PCV valve from RTM Racing was 7$ CDN and change for shipping with a few other items. I would say do it and know that yet another piece of fresh.

 

Quoting Hertz:
Purpose of the modification to reduce oil pressure is to keep from blowing out your turbo seals if I'm not mistaken.


Quoting iceman69510:
Or your oil filter gasket, as I recall.



There have also been cases of failed oil pumps due to ridiculously high oil pressure.