daboy155

So I have a build thread, but I'm clogging it up with posts about the low oil pressure problem I'm having- so I decided to post here. Rebuilt my b18b1, everything new except valve guides. Running 9.4:1 wiesco, eagle rods, stage 2 cams, aem cam gears, supertech valve train. the oil pump was ebay, everything else was pretty good quality.

The oil pressure is just fine when it's cold no matter what, once it warms up though the oil pressure dips to almost nothing (like 1-3 psi) at idle, I even ran 20-50 penn to test it out and it still dips and the oil light comes on. First thing I'm going to do is replace the oil pump, i'll check my crank journals and bearing clearance as shodan suggested, just trying to think of anything else that could cause this that I can check while I'm in there.

Thanks guys.

PyroProblem

EBay oil pump( Big Red Flag!) and/or clearances are incorrect.
Hopefully nothing's damaged.
Good luck.

PrecisionPerformanceParts

Check the head for one of the oil plugs missing. It might have been removed for cleaning and someone forgot to install it.

IN VTEC

iTrader: (3)

I made the same mistake on the first start-up. The difference was it was on a VTEC head. It's an internal oil passage plug; usually a brass NPT plug. Doubt it's an external plug because you would have figured it out by now.

zkidd91

Just wondering if Daboy155 was able to resolve the oil pressure issue? Or not? Either way, I'd love to know.

I'm having a similar issue with the fresh rebuild of my J30 V6 engine.

daboy155

I think I figured it out, or at least a workaround. I'm pretty sure it was due to the lightweight flywheel in my case, or something like that. My RPMs were dropping pretty low at idle (especially when coming out of gear and into neutral) and that was causing the low oil pressure problem. I increased my minimum idle RPM on my engine management system to 1,000 and never had the problem again after that.

zkidd91

I'm happy you got it figured out!
Got my issue resolved as well, As PrecPerfParts noted in this thread.... It was the 2 small seals in the heads. Oil passages. Those seals do not come with the "head gasket kit" from autozone, so had to get them from Honda. Also would like to note the Honda Oil pump is the way to go. It's more expensive than Melling or another OE but it comes with the Oil Pressure Sensor. (that alone is like $100 separately at the dealer).

The 2 small seals on the top of the pic were the issue.