If its rebuild time can it be done with the engine in is it worth doing the minimum ? Just thrashing ideas round money is super tight I can do some donkey work myself

Was useing synthetic but I think it did more harm than good I now use 20-50

Mikel,

When you come up ref the body lift my 2 engines are in pieces in the garage so you can see the oil pump, sender and bearing make up etc, I'll also look and see whether your oil pressure is doing what they all do, or is worse. You could also try my working oil pressure sender (only a two minute job to swap them) to see if it is that before you spend money on a new one. This is of course assuming your S1 pressure sender is the same as the one on my S3. The bottom end make up of the 2.8 and 2.9 are the same I believe except for the main crank bearing thrust collars (later have intergrated thrust collars earlier are seperate). Of course the bores/stroke and some dimensions are different but the design is the same.

Mark

its not erratic its the same whenever its hot

Hi Mike, I agree with Chris, you may be worrying about nothing. I have had two engines in this car, both showed about 55-60psi when it was working hard, but dropped below 10psi when hot and idling. That is on a modern semi synthetic but I dont recall any significant pressure difference when I was using a straight mineral oil.
This engine wasnt exactly the height of sophistication when it was new! If I remember rightly it was originally conceived as a fast, long distance van engine. The design goes back to 1968! The 2.8 version we use goes back to 1974. The design was never intended to run at high oil pressures, it simply didnt need it. The specification only gave 38 psi at 2000 revs (whereas the later 2.9 has a number of detailed internal changes and smaller clearances and should give 50-70psi at 2500revs). If you find a 2.8 showing say 70psi at revs and 40psi at idle, there is something wrong with it!
If you are getting over 50psi at high revs, and even as low as 5-10psi at hot idle, and that is CONSISTENT then I wouldnt worry.
If it is inconsistent then the electronic gauge is a likely candidate- get it checked using a fluid gauge.
If you are worried, keep records of the oil pressure, if they show a gradual drop then a rebuild will be necessary at some time.
Incidentally, changing the pump is unlikely to be worth it in my opinion. If my understanding of this engine is correct the pump isnt likely to wear any faster than the bearings etc so if the oil pressure has dropped too low it is almost certain the bearings will need doing.
Incidentally, what pressures are you getting?

This thread has got me worried, my oil pressure drops when idling and raises again when driving but sounds very clattery until the revs are raised and the exhaust takes over. It does seem to have come on since I changed the oil last year and its done so few miles since then im hopeing its just the oil being too thin? (I will look up what oil went in last year as I cant remember off the top of my head). If its not the oil then.............oh dear

I had this problem, and eventually my pressure appeared to disappear.
I changed the sender unit to one of these (there's a thread a few pages back on this) available on fleabay Item number: 370565950654 at a cost of £15.
Solved the problem - the sender units are well known for playing up.

Also running on Valvoline Racing VRI 20W-50 which seems to give excellent oil pressure.

Hope this helps!

I will sort out the paperwork when I get back, I sould doub I done 1000 miles in the last 2 years to be honest and less than 500 since changing the oil around this time last year (I only got out in it 3 times!)

Checked my paperwork this morning, its running on Helix plus 10W/40....does this sound right?? if not i'll get it out quickly!

Tom

????