Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

your O PSI regulators was stuck open

I'm sorry, but you lost me with that one. What is(are) that(those)???

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

I'm sorry, but you lost me with that one. What is(are) that(those)???

in the oil fliter adapter (where you oil fliter goes onto then that bolts to the front cover

[BobDoLe]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

In regards to the oil pressure "gage" (wtf is up with that - no one spells it like that anymore. who writes these manuals?)

This gage tells you if there could be a problem with
your engine oil pressure. The gage shows the engine
oil pressure in psi (pounds per square inch) or
kPa (kilopascals) when the engine is running.
On the 3800 V6 engine, the oil pressure should be
20 to 120 psi (140 to 827 kPa). On the 5.7L V8 engine,
oil pressure should be 20 to 80 psi (140 to 550 kPa). In
certain situations such as long, extended idles on hot
days, it could read as low as 6 psi (40 kPa) and still be
considered normal. It may vary with engine speed,
outside temperature and oil viscosity, but readings above
the red area show the normal operating range.
Readings in the red area tell you that the engine is low
on oil, or that you might have some other oil problem.
See “Engine Oil” in the Index.

I changed my oil the other day and noticed the pressure dropping just a hair under 60. Prior to the oil change, it would always stay above 60.

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

in the oil fliter adapter (where you oil fliter goes onto then that bolts to the front cover

Oh, you talking about the oil filter bypass valve. (not to be confused with the oil pump bypass valve)

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

Viper: Ok, I see where your comming from. If the oil filter bypass (0 psi regulator) was not closed, oil pressure would bypass the filter and the oil pressure indicated would be higher because there would not be a PSI drop across the filter. This would not be a good thing because that means that the oil is not being filtered:eek:

I have to do a oil change today or tommorrow (if I can find some time) and to confirm oil flow through the filter I'm going to cut open the filter and look for dirt, debris, or things that can confirm flow through.

I it looks like there is no oil flow (or low flow) through the filter, I will have to check out the bypass valve position and operation.

BobDoLe: Maybe this has something to do with your slight change in pressure. Maybe your valve is slightly open.

I can't see how if the simple action of installing a filter can cause the valve to offseat. Not close enough to each other for one to interfere with the other.

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

OK, did my oil change this weekend and after I removed my old filter, I cut it open and unraveled the paper element. There is definitely oil flowing through that filter. For currositiy sake, I ran a magnet over the filter paper, and picked up a couple of very small chips and some blackish fuzz. No difference from when I used to see when I cut open and inspected aircraft engine oil filters.

The oil I drained out was still somewhat transparent, but not as if new, and I also ran my magnet throughout it all the way to the bottom. No collection of particles what-so-ever. Now I know the magnet is only going to collect ferrous materials but that's all I'm really looking for as an indicator for oil filter effectiveness.

I'm convinced that the oil filter bypassing is minimal and and that on my car 65-70 psi oil pressure is normal.

[Mogobs30th]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

i bet your O PSI regulators was stuck open..... what ever you did is making it work right now...... long as it goes up to ~60 at WOT your have nothing to worry about

That is something that concerned me before, the pressure is only at 60 psi or more after a cold startup. Once warmed to normal operating temperatures, the psi NEVER hits 60 again, WOT or not.

I think that since the pressure has never dropped below 30 psi since its been running again, and also because I don't trust my gauge, I don't think I have much to worry about. I never hear any clicking from the valve train, or rough sounds or anything that would indicate the oil is not properly flowing thru the engine.

BTW, oil pressure wouldn't be properly read at WOT, since the engine rpm's are all over the place as the engine shifts thru gears drive. I can't trust a gauge that would check pressure in PARK because of the lack of load placed on the engine, which I would believe to be false without load. Proper readings would be sustained within a certain RPM, not WOT.

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

I agree with you that the pressure developed by the oil pump is a function of engine RPM and not just WOT.

I'm sure that with a stock engine the oil pressures that you are seeing are OK. Thats what the manual is telling us.

If your going to demand more than stock rated HP (by incorporating power adders) it would be best to run the highest oil pressures possible. Years ago, one of the first things on our list whenever we built our motors was to either install the Highvolume oil pump or the higher pressure pump bypass valve/spring. Higher oil volume/pressure gave longer lived high HP engines.

[3.4 slow to go]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

which is reccomended more for this engine, high volume or high pressure?
(off topic sosme, but: on Poncho engines, high volume is preferred over high pressure., fwiw)

[Turbo V6 Camaro]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

which is reccomended more for this engine, high volume or high pressure?
(off topic sosme, but: on Poncho engines, high volume is preferred over high pressure., fwiw)

volume > all but more psi = some more volume but we dont have high volume fule pumps so highpsi is the only choice

[CDNFB]

Re: Low oil pressure, intermittent low oil light

Higher Volumes is most preferred. Trying to push higher volumes through the engine always resulted in higher pressures. If high volume oil pumps were not available for the engine type, then we would go to high oil pressure valve/spring kits, cause they usually were avail.