350i oil pressure

[tcpc]

hi

you guys that have 350i, can you tell me what oil pressure you have on start up on at idle and what pressure you have when hot and then crusing at 3000 rpm and then back at idle when hot and the idle rpm

i hope that makes sense it did when i typed it

thanks tony


ps. how many miles has your engine done and what oil do you use.

[digga951]

I recently had concerns about my oil pressure in my 1987 350i. Has done 150,000 miles and may have had an engine rebuild about 20,000 miles ago. I run the engine on GTX Magnatec Semi-Syn 10W40.

On startup I get a good 45psi which slowly drops down to around 35ish after a few minutes. On the move at around 2000 rpm I get a maximium of around 23-27 psi, and this drops to about 10-13 psi when the engine is at idle (950rpm) and really warm. At more than 2000rpm when the engine is hot I can barely get the needle to go past the 30psi mark, even at 5000rpm.

I've always been worried about this pressure as it seems so low, and appeard to be even lower since I changed from cheap and crappy 20W50 mineral oil.

[paul dacosta]

my 350 has done 60,000 miles.stick to 20/50,20/40 mineral oil.when hot pressure is between 1,1.5 bar at idle and between 2,to 4 bar depending what engine revs.these are slightly higher when cold.my engine still uses about a litre of oil a 1000 miles.
hope this helps
cheers

[My 350i]

Oil presure is classically low on Rover v8`s
Approx 1-1.5 bar hot idle and 2-3 bar @ 2000rpm is about normal. Best sticking to 20/40,20/50 mineral oil but only good quality stuff, it will give better presure and burn less than modern 10/40 synthetics.

[tcpc]

thanks for the replys please keep them coming


tony

[wedg1e]

3 bar (45 psi) at idle cold, rising off the scale if the throttle is blipped
2 bar (30 psi) at > about 1700 rpm when warmed up, rising to about 2.5 - 3 bar when revved.
BUT only about 0.75 bar at idle when hot.
This is on an engine that was only rebuilt (i.e. rebore, new pistons, rings, crank regrind and new shells, uprated oil pressure relief valve spring but oil pump and other engine components otherwise untouched) 3000 miles ago (at 102,000 miles).
The RV8 is a high-flow, low-pressure system: what you have sounds OK to me.

Edit: I know my engine is OK: I built it Oil is Castrol GTX 15W/50 or 20W/50, I forget what it said on the tin...

Ian
'87 390SE

>> Edited by wedg1e on Sunday 27th April 01:10

[350zwelgje]

350i 1987, 160.000km (100.000 miles), no rebuilds.
Idle cold 2 bar, warm 1 bar.
2000 revs cold, 2.5 bar, warm 2 bar.

When high revs (4500-5000rpm) warm/hot it goes up to 3 bar.

Use mineral 15W40 good quality (no brand), and change regulary.

Oil consumption depends, but in general less than 1 litre/1000 miles.

In general if oil is changed regulary, and you warm the engine before putting your foot down: very long lasting V8!

Rob

[Pettsie]

350i 1987 73000. 2.7 bar from cold. 1.7 at idle very warm. 2-3.5 ish normal running, never less than 2 at 2000 rpm.

[brm brm]

As you know from the previous posting the SEAC is fitted with a standard Rover relief valve and new gears (probably same as yours)and 56k miles. (and there is some visible wear in the timing cover pump housing). Sits at about 20psi as soon as it settles down to a steady idle and this is no different when hot. Cruising its steady at about 28 rising to 30-35 at 90 on the motorway. I also use Magnatec 10-40 semi and change every 3k.

[danny hoffman]

My 350 had a new crankshaft etc at 85,000 miles (don't mention those tadpole valves again!) and now has 105,000 miles up.

I get 15psi when at idle when warm. although it does drop further if I am sitting in traffic on a very hot day. Always over 30psi at 3,000+ revs. I have a modified presure relief valve so I could adjust it higher, but I didn't want to go over 45psi when cold. It is very temperature sensitive - I now have a 3 core rad so don't suffer with any overheating problems - but it did vary alot before this was fitted.

BTW I use Magnatec as well - as I believe the adverts (fool) and the V8 camshaft is susceptable to damage due to lack of oil at startup (or so I have been told). I can't remember which vicosity - but it's the more expensive one!

Danny

[tcpc]

thanks all for your replys, it has give me some peace off mind as far as my oil pressure goes, it isnt brillen't but i do have some pressure

cold sart about 2.75 to 3 bar with fast idle
hot idle about 1 bar
3000 rpm about 2 bar
now it is back on the road after some off the top end being rebuilt,

re-some off my old posts, i have been trying to get to the bottom off a mis-fire that the car had when i bought it about 9 month ago i thought it was electrical
so started to re place bits in the engine bay ie. plugs,leads,dizzy cap and arm twice,module on the side off dizzy,and one off the sensers on top off the block near the oil filler cap, this was all done over a number off weeks and still had the same miss fire and lack off power at the same 4000rpm,
so i had to give in and go and see a man that put a mi 16 twin cam engine in my 205 pug 1.6 gti and it did go well and he made a got job off it, and been sold to to help finace the 350,and he said i used to work on these rover v8s when men were men and sheep were scared (lol)
he thought it was blowing back through the air in take
meaning cam is well by it's sell by date(this was said by one off you on an old post off mine) so had to save up for a new cam followers and valve springs which i got from kent cam a H218 kit,

while i was saving up for the cam kit the water pump started to leak so had to add that to the list off bits to get,

list off work done is
new cam,followers,springs
skimmed head, had 4 tho taken off just to be on the safe side,
new head gasket
mild poilishing off ports and chambers
reground valves and seats and polished
new cam sprocket and chain
and all gaskets that were removed were replaced with new ones,

when all was back together cheap oil and warmed the engine up and it sounded great, then gave it a engine flush and replaced the oil with 10/40 semi took it for a spin and very thing seemed great, on the way home nipped in to a petrol station for some cheap flowers (not much money left due to spending it all on the tiv)
as i thought i would make the peace for spending so much time on the car, for my loving wife,as i pulled up to my garage i was checking the dash gauges when the oil light came on and the oil pressure went down to o bars.
i tryed not to panic i took the flowers in to the wife and made the peace with her, as i turned round to go back out to the car, the wife saids your not going out to that bl**dy car again, i saids do bears sh*t in the woods back to sq one.
so went out and pull the sump off and all seemed ok so i thought it must be the oil pump, so took that off and the valve thing had stuck open,week later and got a new pump and pump gears, new oil 20/50 min this time, primed and started it up and sound as good as new so i was very lucky that it falied on my driveway, but i think the problem happen on the way home when giving it a bit off right foot with lots off rpm.

(i think the oil flush helped to finish my oil pump off)

all seems to be running fine now, the cam is a litte bit lumpy on idle so i set it to about 1000rpm to 1200rpm i do have power steering which can make the idle drop a bit so it is a compormise

cam comes in about 1500 rpm to 4700rpm and pulls hard (well does compared to the old one with two very rounded lobes on it)

must go the wifey is in bed and is calling me and i have a lot off making up to do

Tony