My oil pressure gauge is telling me I'm running 10 psi at idle. We just swapped in a built b18b in my car last night so I guess I'm still working out the kinks. When I first start it up it's at around 70 psi or so. I had a previous oil pressure guage on my car with the old motor but it was mechanical and it crapped out so I never really got a feel for where the oil should be. I'm not sure, but I would think the oil pressure should be higher then 10 psi at idle shouldn't it? Where should the oil pressure be at different times, like under throttle and at idle.

 

it also depends on wat weight of oil your using, thinner oil and heat will thin it out even more, causeing lower pressure

 

I'm using regular 5w-30 to break it in on. I went outside and started the car again to see if anything changed and the guage had 0 psi on it. I looked at the line and there was oil in the line to the guage, just no psi. I started it up again, and it was at 0 again, then jumped up to 20 something psi. When I step on the gas, the psi goes up, I'm just not sure if they are to the levels that they need to be at.


Modified by Rooftop voter at 1:39 PM 6/27/2007

 

Is the gauge zeroing out properly or just not reading anything? I would definetly make sure it is a gauge problem before you keep starting it like this.

 

What do you mean zeroing out. I'm gonna check the actual guage when it gets a little cooler out. But I think the connections are square.

 

Checked the connections and they look good. I'm not really sure what's the problem, or if there is a problem. If I remember correctly while driving the oil pressure was at about 40-50 range I think at about 70 mph in fifth gear.

 

It also depends on where/how your guage is hooked up. With mine i have a oil line going of of the pressure senderon the block to a distribution block on the firewall which in turn feeds a oil pressure guage/ an oil temp guage/ and the turbo all being fed with a -3 line and a restrictor... i dont see any more than 50-55psi at idle cold and 10-15 psi warm using 10w30 mobile 1. My particular block is Benson sleeved/built b18c5/acl's/Earl assembled and has been making 300+whp for 35k miles. My oil pressure hasnt changed since day one with this motor.

Its just my 2 cents...Good luck.

 

Hmm. Maybe I have an oil leak somewhere. My buddy installed it yesterday in my car and it was his block before and it only had 600 miles on the rebuild. I am checking the oil, but it's all clear and it's really hard to tell if I'm low or not. I smelled burning oil on the drive home, but I figured that it was just oil and crapped bieng burned off the motor. Maybe it was leaking. When we first started it up I was getting 75 psi on start up cold, and then lower while running, but then I noticed later on that it was steadily dropping. Now that I'm thinking about it, I have a feelint that's it. I'm going to put some more oil in it and see what happens. What is the worse that happens if you over fill just in case I'm ok on oil and I go over?

 

well if thats the case you need to fing your leak asap!

 

Yup.

 

Ok, I put a quart in it and it went up to 70 psi, but dropped down to about 50 in about a minute. Is that normal. I'm pretty sure I have an oil leak now, and I want to make sure that's my only problem. Is that normal to have the pressure drop that quick?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Rooftop voter &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok, I put a quart in it and it went up to 70 psi, but dropped down to about 50 in about a minute. Is that normal. I'm pretty sure I have an oil leak now, and I want to make sure that's my only problem. Is that normal to have the pressure drop that quick?</TD></TR></TABLE>

When i had my b16b(CTR), at idle i would see about 40psi at idle and about 70-80 at rpm's above 4k if i remember correctly. Have you checked your oil level? I think 70 at idle is a bit too high.

IMO, if the leak is that bad you would be able to spot it. And i don't think it would affect oil pressure that drastically.

 

^ not necessarily true. cold motor will go that high after a few minutes it will fall down. i run 20w50 and it idles between 15 and 20

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mr HYDE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^ not necessarily true. cold motor will go that high after a few minutes it will fall down. i run 20w50 and it idles between 15 and 20 </TD></TR></TABLE>

Well that being that it is warmed up of course.

These readings are based on that motor, when i went to my current motor, b18c, i noticed that my oil pressure dropped to 20 at idle and maxed out at 40-45. I had perfect amount of oil no leaks.

 

it's hard for me to tell the oil level since it's not dark. I keep looking for the oil but it seems like it's all over the dipstick. What is an Un-safe level of psi at idle and on the road. It seems like if I'm at least 15-20 psi at idle, and 35-45 at normal driving conditions is ok? As I said, if I'm driving and it drops to 25 psi, is that unsafe? What will happen if I put to much oil in it. I heard it will just burn out, but I want to make sure.

 

My oil pressure is similar to what you just described. I have my manual gauge teed into my -3 feed line. ran a few months like that and no problems whatsoever.

Someone had suggested to me that i bleed the line but never got around to it and never heard about that from anyone else.. ?

also, oil level does affect oil pressure and i'm pretty sure that is perfectly normal.. I dont understand why though.. anyone?

 

Ok, I was able to get home and check my haynes manual ( I was at my buddys house when I posted so I couldn't check it myself and didn't wanna drive it home. I had to have my GF get me when she got off work) Anyhow, for those who are interested, the book says at idle when hot it should be at 10 psi, and @ 3k rpms it should be at 50 psi.