I am looking at installing either a oil pressure gauge, or a warning light in my ITA Civic.

What is the typical pressure range that a D16a6 would experience on track? If I was to install only a warning light, what would a "safe" oil pressure to activate the light at? When I say "safe" I am wondering what pressure would possibly allow me enough time to shut the engine down and minimize possible damage.....

Thanks guys

Ok, I will throw this in too:

What would the appropriate oil temp gauge for a Honda be? 100-340 degree(electric)? Or maybe a 140-280(mechanical)?


Modified by jisu009 at 4:12 PM 6/2/2004

 

hi.

i would say 30 to 40 psi light/alarm would be good on track. my LS motor never sees less than 50-65 psi when on track, so if it ever dipped to 40 or so i'd be gettin nervous....

for the oil temp gauge, try to get one that goes at least to 300, preferably more. on hot days you might see more than 300, especially without a cooler....

good luck, and installing the parts you are talking about is definitely in the realm of "an ounce of prevention....."

 

Jeremy, In my street CRX I have the VDO part #323-055 14mm thread Drain Plug Sender that I got from "Larry's Offroad Center" Phone number is (800) 375-4546.

The sender is an electrical sender that will work with any electrical guage.

In my red crx I have the (stealthy): cockpit series #VDO 310-012 guage. It goes to 320 degrees I believe.

I think the drain plug sender is the most effective and easiest sender to install. Not to mention it's at the bottom of the pan so it measure the temp of the oil just before it goes back into the oil pump. Pretty accurate reading if you ask me.

 

I have a Buzzer set to go off if my oil drops lower than 50psi. There is also an ON/Off switch so I don't have to hear the buzzer while in the pits. It's a simple circuit I built up that looks at the voltage on my auto meter pressure gage.

 

Warning light at 20psi or you'll be really iritated driving around the paddock with a big red or yellow light on all the time. Our pressure will drop down to 5-10 psi at idle, when hot coming off track, which is why you see us holding the R's at around 2K. Even then we are only seeing 38-40.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rice_classic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">In my red crx I have the (stealthy): cockpit series #VDO 310-012 guage. It goes to 320 degrees I believe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

If you ever see 320 degrees of oil temp, call me for the tear down, I am highly curious to see the results.

Rick

 

**Down in here in sunny Sebring Florida**
Without an oil cooler, you can see oil temps above 300 after only 30 minute session. I remember my old VW GLI was clocking above 320s but that was usually at the end of my 30/45 minute session.

 

Wow. I never let my Golf 16v nor the Honda see anything north of 230. I have always been under the impression that serious damage would occur in the mid to upper 200's.

Rick

 

I saw 290 on track with my old Jetta VR6 that was supercharged....

 

So can we get a consensus of what the ITA guys are running for fuel pressure?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rice_classic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So can we get a consensus of what the ITA guys are running for fuel pressure?</TD></TR></TABLE>
err OIL pressure?

i asked a similar question a long time ago. heres the thread. ppl back then seemed to say a 15 psi light was more appropriate. i never did much with it yet.

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=346690

 

ERrrr.. uh.. my bad. Ignore my last post!

 

A good healthy honda should never drop below 20-25 psi at idle. On the other hand if you have a huge oil cooler and long lines, you could see pressures well below this. Set your warning for 20psi....that should give you plenty of time to shut it off, and wont get on your nerves when idle or in paddock. You actually have a couple seconds to shut it down even after it reaches zero. If you run a good quality oil like Motul you can get away with it even longer.

 

If you have a drop in oil pressure because long lines or oil cooler, it is time to change to bigger lines or less restrictive cooler. Any drop of oil pressure is never a good thing.