Oil Pressure on 400SE

[Trickie Dickie]

Hi Guys

As you may have seen posted I am looking to buy a 400Se
BUT both cars I have seen so far have a lower reading
on their oil pressure guage than my 350I that I have just sold

I know the bible says 28psi at 2000rpm which was about right on my 350
Should it be the same or lower for the 400s?

Many thanks for your help

Cheers
Richard

[andymadmak]

Thats a "how long is a piece of string question.
Essentially the guages don't always read accurately- which can be a bit of a bugger when trying to assess engine health.
Then there's the "what grade of oil has been used" issue. Some people still use mobil 1 10 w 50 or similar, (some even use 0w 50! ) when in fact the old V8 prefers 15 or even 20 grade. It makes a big difference.
Then there's the age and condition of the oil to take into account..............
Then there's the qquestion of whether the engine is hot or cold!

Basically the old RV8 is more about oil flow than oil pressure.
My 400se, which is mechanically spot on, had all news shells 12k miles ago etc runs Motul 15w 50 V300 grade oil. It reads 25psi at cold idle, approx 8 - 10psi at hot idle. 3000rpm cold equates to 45+ psi, 3000 rpm hot equates to 30psi, sometimes a tad higher. All these readings taken from the guage.
I've seen good engines with lower readings, and bad engines with higher readings.

HTH
Andy

[Number 7]

Trickie Dickie said:

Hi Guys

As you may have seen posted I am looking to buy a 400Se
BUT both cars I have seen so far have a lower reading
on their oil pressure guage than my 350I that I have just sold

I know the bible says 28psi at 2000rpm which was about right on my 350
Should it be the same or lower for the 400s?

Many thanks for your help

Cheers
Richard

I found the standard gauge on my 400 to be fairly useless. With a capilliary type fitted, running Motul 15W 50 is see 40psi over 2KRPM hot, and 20-22 psi hot idle.

7.