so here is the story i have a 93 Honda Del sol i got it up and running with a d16 series and i installed a oil pressure gauge works fine i think not sure the problem i have is that the oil pressure reads about 5 or so at idle then goes up when i hit the gas. I thought it was the switch cause i had a bad wiring harness and such also the oil light will flash at me when i **** when pressing in the clutch so i was driving it back home and i blew the motor. So i figured oil pump went bad or so. Well i get a new block this time a 1.5 for a mini me swap and put in a new wire harness and such i started the car up last night everything seemed to be fine pressure was about 50 or so everything cool this morning i go and i start it up let it run then take it down the street and the oil light comes on and i notice the pressure is at a little above zero same thing that happened before i blew the other one so i just park and stopped the car could it be the gauge that is messing it up or what would be the cause of it

 

The OPG wouldn't mess it up unless u have a hole in the line and it is slowly pissing out oil but u should notice that (I would think). Haven't seen any fluid trails in the street, driveway, or in ur car? Is ur oil full when u check it? I guess I should ask is the gauge mechanical or electronic?

 

The gauge is electronic and no this is no oil leak at all and the oil is full

 

Could it be that a value is sticking would it stick all the time then when i press on the gas the pressure opens it up

 

I can't think of any valve in the oiling system that works like that, there is a pressure relief valve in the pump. It only opens when the pressure is 80+ psi tho. This is an odd situation, same exact thing on 2 different engines. What viscosity oil do u use? Ur oil pan isn't bashed in on the bottom is it?

 

What i was talking about is the valves on the head my cousin had said the something with it cause it is the same head just different block the oil pan is good a little ding up but it is to the same oil pan i can switch it out cause i got three of them. I have a set of 1.5 heads that i can try also too.

 

have u considerd running a thicker oil like vr1 oil or something mine did that low oil pressure and my oil get hott and thin out so i ran vr1 oil and ran fine

 

There is alil oil restricktor in the back side of the block under the head, if that is missing it would cause a big internal oil leak. That's all I can think of that ur cousin is talking about.

 

the oil plug you are talking about i believe is out located between cylinder 2 and 3 right. If so i was told by several people that comes out in a mini me swap for vtec to work on a non vtec block and as for the oil my oil use is castrol gtx with 2 quarts of 10w-30 and the rest 10w-40 i have always ran that way but i will try the vr1 but i dont want to put expense oil and keep draining it i never had got a chance to really run the car for the car to break down the oil it happened right after i fired it up for the first time after the swap

 

IDk who told u to take that out but even the Vtec SOHC's have it installed in there, I would put it back in and bet ur problem goes away. Do u have one to use from a SOHC Vtec engine? I haven't compared them yet but I beleive they r the same inside orface.

 

I do have one from a vtec engine but if that is the problem then the one from the vtec is bad because this is the same problem that i had i will check when i get home and will update then thanks for the help

 

the oil restrictor plug on the block is suppose to come out in a mini me swap because the vtec head has one built into it and if not remove it will build up pressure to where vtec wont work. I have bought a manual oil pressure gauge and will change that out along with a new oil pan too to see if that takes away the problem

 

I don't remember it having it built in so I will have to look at the one I have at the shop tomarrow, u maybe right but not from what I remember.

 

Well i think that i solved the problem for the oil light i think that it was the pan cause i put a different one one and now it is running fine no more oil light. One more question what should be the normal oil PSI for idle speed and i looked on my 1.6 block that i had an no plug was there at all

 

Normal oil pressure is anywhere from 3-10psi at idle