Daimler sp250 oil pressure to low, please help!

[PH430]

Please help,

For 2years ago my daimler sp250 had a very good oil pressure. The sp250 had a complete respray and now after the 2 gears of no running the oil pressure is now Max 10 psi.
More trottle or heat of the oil dusn't effect on the pressure, it stays on the 10psi.

What good it be?

[marshalla]

It could be genuinely low pressure or it could be a faulty sender or gauge.

You need to figure out which one it really is first.

[V8 FOU]

Those senders are notoriously unreliable. Try a new sensor before you panic too much!

[PH430]

It is a mechanicly sensor into the gauge, so it works under the oil pressure.

Oil is coming out of the hose, but not under high pressure.

[GT6 Jonsey]

If it had good oil pressure before it was laid up its probably something simple that has got stuck during its time unused. Sender, gauge. Anyone know if a 250 oil pump has a pressure relief valve on top. If it's the same type fitted to most cars of the time it could be that the ball in the valve is stuck open.

[dartissimus]

If it drives OK, it probably is OK.
Yes the sender units and gauges are notoriously fickle, but the engine's unburstable
If you want to know everything unnecessary about SP250 oil pressure, try the Daimler & Lanchester's Owners Club Forum, but don't say I didn't warn you

[exitwound]

Change the pump and oil..

Mobil 1 10w60 fully synth. extended life track oil is a really good one for older cars. Lasts ages too so its thrifty to use. Way better than that mineral sh*t* that's sold in "Classic" oil cans.

Same goes for the famous green Duckhams 20w50. Duckhams was taken over by BP in the '60's and the oil from then on was just BP Super Visco-Static with a green dye. No idea what its made of today..

[roscobbc]

Many years ago I had a 10 year old Daimler 2.5 V8 saloon - this too had very low oil pressure - start-up was 25/30 psi, going down to 10 psi or so when hot. Supposed experts told me "thats OK the Daimler V8 is a 'low pressure' engine and thats fine" - so I left it at that. Until one day pulling out of a T junction the engine stopped dead. The reason why - it had thrown a rod!
Roll forward 40 years and running a seriously 'built' 500+ bhp 489 cu in BB Chevy. This is 'off the clock' oil pressure wise when cold, settling down to 80/85 psi at cruise and 55/60 psi at idle. Didn't stop it (and unbeknown to me) spinning no. 1 big-end bearing, which broke up into several pieces - no loss of oil pressure. Moral of story. Leave nothing to chance - that Daimler engine will cost you a small fortune if it shags itself - pull it apart immediately, don't take any chances.

[klunkT5]

Does a tuned V8 have to run such high oil pressure? Looks to me like its caused the shells to lift and then spin, I heard once about 'Staking' shells down as a precaution when running high oil pressure?

[roscobbc]

Apologies PH430 - reply wasn't meant to take thread 'off track' - purely as a warning to things that can go wrong!

[PH430]

I think i have to remove the sump to look for the relieve valve is stucked

[grumpy52]

As stated try the basics first connect another guage to make sure , then the pressure relief valve , its amazing what a swift tap with a dead blow rubber mallet will release .
Failing all that flush and refil with a good oil .

[roscobbc]

dartissimus said:

If it drives OK, it probably is OK.
Yes the sender units and gauges are notoriously fickle, but the engine's unburstable
If you want to know everything unnecessary about SP250 oil pressure, try the Daimler & Lanchester's Owners Club Forum, but don't say I didn't warn you

I seem to remember in the 70's the Yanks ans Canadians were using these in midget racers (being small capacity) - I'm sure they used something like a machined girdle to support the main bearing caps - allowing extremely high revs. Haven't seen it for a few years - but there was a Sierra estate with a blown Daimler V8 that performed very well.

[PH430]

Solved the problem!

The gauge light was going into far the meter and pressed to the mambrane so no measurement was able to take place.

Thanks for al your help and comments.

[exitwound]

Cheers..

Glad it was a simple fix.