To start let's set what the oil pressures should be.
At idle : 10 psi minimum

At 3000 rpm : 50psi Minimum

My problem is

At idle the oil pressure is 60psi and on the head in VTEC the oil pressure is 25psi.

The pressure is high at the block and the pressure is low in the head VTEC oil passages.

Any ideas, I am going through the Acura service manual and going to check the Oil Jet and I guess the pump will be next. besides that I will take off th head and get the "head oil control orifice".

thank you
Any suggestions, tips and comments are welcomed

 

How are you measuring oil pressure at both locations?

The oil pressure on my car at idle is 28psi (2kg/cm) and at max pressure its 78psi. My reading is taken at the oil filter. I'm guessing the pressure does drop some what as it rises through the engine but i cant say to what extent. Are you sure the gauges you are using are accurate. I have seen friends buy cheap 65 different coloured ebay crap gauges and they read all over the place...i'm not suggesting thats what your using, just asking how good a quality your gauges actually are?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mugenracer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How are you measuring oil pressure at both locations?

The oil pressure on my car at idle is 28psi (2kg/cm) and at max pressure its 78psi. My reading is taken at the oil filter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

same shown for mine. I don`t think the pressure would drop that much when it gets to the head .

I sure hope it is from the faulty gauge.
Get another gauge reading using a different one.

good luck

 

I've used 2 different gauges and they both give me the same reading.
I get the lowest around 45 psi from the fitting next to the oil filter and max 25psi from the head when in VTEC. I am running 2 oil gauges so I can check both places at the same time.

I am plannig to take the head off Saturday and check the oil orifice.

 

i'd check with more people first on here before pulling the head and don't drive the car till then. manual asks for specific location to measure the pressure, maybe its different depending on where you measure, but what do i know.

 

does vtec work??

if so....then why are you worried?

 

VTEC is pressure (according to the Hondata Logger) goes on and off, I've been having problems with gettign power ever since last november when I had the headgasket changed and TodaB's put in, I did not make the power it was supposed to. I thought I could have been the combination of mods, so I went with a supercharger and with that I am only getting 155 to 160WHP so I began to troubleshoot everything. The last thing to fix that we saw was having problems is the oil pressure, which makes sense why I did not make any power with the Toda Bs, with low oil pressure it was not hitting the VTEC lobe. VTEC kicks in when it is set to, but it more like sputters. The tuners also says the car feels weird when it is in VTEC pretty much like it picks up and drops, and I've felt that on the highway before especially when going over a hill. It feels fine then all of the sudden it drops , slows down a bit, then picks back up.

This is another item on the list of thigs to check. I am planning for a new block the end of the year but I would like to know what the problem is.

 

Head is off, oil pan and other cover items are all off, it is basically naked block with the transmission in the bay. everything looks good, nothing blocking anything anywhere.

Perhaps the oil pump is bad, planning to take that off next and I guess just replace it.

 

Just thought I'd update since I never did, might help someone.
The whole problem was a missing vtec pin on cylinder 3 exhaust rocker arms. When Vtec engaged, and with the pin missing the oil woudl not build pressure to engage all the pins in the rocker arms and pressure would not build up.

I had purchased the head and rocker arms separate and did not check the rockers arms when installing, one must have fallen off from the person I bought the sets from. Rare but difficult to diagnose.

 

Wow. I'm impressed you found the problem.

 

It was frustrating, but in the end all it took was time and patience.
I pulled the head off the car and pressurized it with air to make sure all of the rocker arms were locking. ding ding ding, problem found.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Renegade &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It was frustrating, but in the end all it took was time and patience.
I pulled the head off the car and pressurized it with air to make sure all of the rocker arms were locking. ding ding ding, problem found.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

Thanks, you have gave me something new to look at. My brother is in Iraq and I am doing a Type R swap into his Del Sol for him. It runs strong, but has no VTEC. The first time I drove it it went "BLAP" 3 times and nothing since. I have only 35 psi by the oil filter (hot, cold, 1k, or 8k) and 0 at the VTEC check valve. This is not a power suply issue with the ECU. It has a new oil pump and there is still no VTEC. I will check this out in the next few days. Anyone else have an idea.

 

All I can recommend is what I went through when I ran into the problem. Start at the oil pickup and attache the pressure gauge anywhere you can along the way.
Your oil pressure should be much higher at higher RPMS.
You could disconnect the VTEC solenoid to see if the pressure builds as it should at high RPMs. If the loss of pressure is in the head/VTEC oil lines no allowing the VTEC solenoid to open would eliminate that area. This should tell you more if the problem is in the block or head.

Good Luck

 

thanks for revisiting this thread!
i cant count the number of times i do a searcxh and find no solution.

i dont have this issue but it taught me something.