Yet Another Oil Pressure Thread

[lx993]

Ok I've already read the two that my search picked up....

The Griff I've just bought has the following pressure characteristics: cold, around 30 psi. Hot, anything above 1500 rpm, 30 psi. Running under 1500 rpm, around the first marker (15 psi?). At idle, which is steady at just under 1000 rpm, the pressure looks very low (around the 10 mark??)

The car runs brilliantly, but I was spooked by the comment in the bible that idle oil pressure under 10 is very worrying. It's a 1996 500HC by the way (pre-power-drop car, '340' bhp)

Is only 30 psi OK at proper revs? The issue I have with the low-revs pressure is that I live in the south east and I'm often stuck behind s-l-o-w drivers, in which case the Griff seems happy to pootle along in 4th at around 1100 rpm. At such low revs, the pressure is around 10 psi.

So.... is the pressure OK? And should I deliberately use a lower gear when stuck in traffic to keep the revs over 1500?? I'm not labouring the engine here - we're talking 30-40 mph in a 5 litre V8.

[Ballistic Banana]

Personally i dont think there is anything wrong.
Mine a 96 500 also potters at 10-15 at tick and around 30-35 at speed.
so sounds similiar.
I think its serious if it is getting well below the 10 as there is probably a small margin of error in the guage readings.

BB

[pete]

I wouldn't worry too much. My '97 500 showed exactly these readings for two years, then the oil pressure sender packed up. When I fitted a new one, cleaned the connections etc, it read 15psi higher than with the old sender.

Get the pressure checked by your nearest tame dealer or specialist using an external gauge, then you'll be able to rest easy that it's just dodgy calibration.

Cheers,
Pete

[wixer]

Had my Griff 500 for a year now and my oil pressure readings are very similar, 10psi on tickover and 25-30psi around 1500-2000 rpm both when hot. Engines done 46K miles now, so I'm not overly worried, going to take the oil pump off over the winter and re-new anything that's worn. Remember, it's high volume not high pressure with these engines.

[GarryM]

I guess they're all a little bit different and guages aren't always reliable. My '96 Griff (20k miles) when cold has 30psi at tickover and just over 45 at higher revs and when hot has just over 15 and just under 45. I've noticed the pressure at tickover when hot drop from just under 30 when I first had it. The oil is due a change which might make a difference or may be my engine is wearing out Type of oil has a bearing as well - I'm using Mobil 1 0-40. Will change to 15-50 next service.

[Biggriff]

What oil are you running. If ot's Mobil 1 0-40 then the thinking is that it's too thin. Try the Motorsport version, or even better 10-60 Castrol RS.

I changed mine to the Castrol RS and the oil pressure jumped up by 5 psi at least all round.

Richard