what's a proper oil pressure?
Discussion
My griffith 500, rebuilt a few hundres miles ago, with the engine warmed up shows a bit below 15 psi reading at idle, around 15 at mid rev range and in the 30 psi territory when at high revs...is that a healthy pressure? It seems a bit low to me...
Oil engine is a fresh 5/50 mobil one...
What do you think?
Oil engine is a fresh 5/50 mobil one...
What do you think?
It does sound low to me too...i live in northern spain at the moment, weather is mild but for sure is not as warm as the mediterranean spanish climate, also now is full winter and the mobil one is not a very 'liquid' oil either...could we say that there is the posibility of an oil pump failure? I dont know, the engine runs strong now (finally after all the electric gremlins...)...
panic said:
My griffith 500, rebuilt a few hundres miles ago, with the engine warmed up shows a bit below 15 psi reading at idle, around 15 at mid rev range and in the 30 psi territory when at high revs...is that a healthy pressure? It seems a bit low to me...
Oil engine is a fresh 5/50 mobil one...
What do you think?
Also don't forget the TVR gauges are not the most accurate at the best of timesOil engine is a fresh 5/50 mobil one...
What do you think?
I'm also using the Mobil 5/50 with almost the same pressure indication as yours. Check the oil pressure indication with engine off and ignition on. On my car it doesn't show zero but approximately 10 psi lower, resulting in an overall lower pressure indication. There was a post from David Beer suggesting a resistor across the oil pressure sender to get the pointer to zero. If you want to make sure take Spends advice and check with a calibrated instrument.
Totally agree with Simpo...I originally used MOBIL One in my Griff, switched to the SHELL fully synthetic which quietened things down and increased idle oil pressure and have for the last couple of years used CASTROL Edge Formula RS 10-60 Motor Sport oil....expensive but honestly the best so far! Buy it in the petrol station and it will cost you around £17.00/litre, look on ebay and pay about £7.50/litre including postage from Germany!
Toffer said:
Totally agree with Simpo...I originally used MOBIL One in my Griff, switched to the SHELL fully synthetic which quietened things down and increased idle oil pressure and have for the last couple of years used CASTROL Edge Formula RS 10-60 Motor Sport oil....expensive but honestly the best so far! Buy it in the petrol station and it will cost you around £17.00/litre, look on ebay and pay about £7.50/litre including postage from Germany!
Been using Castol RS 10W60 for 5 years now, i can't agree more, excellent oil. Castrol is in my engine, gearbox (Transmax-Z) and dif (SAF-XJ). Over here we pay 42 euros for 4 liters.Fred
I have always used 5-50 but as the car has got older (66k now) on advice from my expert use 15-50 Mobile 1. This clings a little better. As for pressure my gauge has always show 10-40 the 10 when she really hot and just ticking over. So far the engine sweet and I have had no problems.
Mark
Mark
I've always used 15W50 Magnatec. It was recomended by Dave Batty, and since the engine has done well over 100k miles on the stuff I see no reason to change.
My pressure gauge reads silly at the moment though - 40 PSI warm idle and 60+ PSI with some revs! I'm going to change the sender over the weekend.
My pressure gauge reads silly at the moment though - 40 PSI warm idle and 60+ PSI with some revs! I'm going to change the sender over the weekend.
panic said:
..I've found one of the valve covers gasket blown, and from a small hole in it some oil goes out when engine's warm....could it be the cause of the pressure drop??
should i stop driving the griff until i fix it?
The hole in the gasket in the valve cover will not cause a pressure drop as the engine is not pressurised by the oil system.. you should get it fixed though as the part cost < £5 and the oil could catch fire on the exhaust !should i stop driving the griff until i fix it?
rev-erend said:
panic said:
..I've found one of the valve covers gasket blown, and from a small hole in it some oil goes out when engine's warm....could it be the cause of the pressure drop??
should i stop driving the griff until i fix it?
The hole in the gasket in the valve cover will not cause a pressure drop as the engine is not pressurised by the oil system.. you should get it fixed though as the part cost < £5 and the oil could catch fire on the exhaust !should i stop driving the griff until i fix it?
Edited by panic on Friday 1st February 12:55
I notice that nobody has mentioned that a serp and a pre-serp have different values of oil pressure when healthy.On all 3 of my serp engines the pressure has been just under the 45psi mark at 3k+ revs,30+psi at 2k+ revs,and 20psi+ at tickover,minimum,even when very hot in summer traffic.The gauge takes time to react to change in pressure on the serp engines,due to the different type of pump fitted(constant volume),so dont expect instant pressure changes on varing engine revs.All the figures i've quoted are when up to temp,and using a 50w oil.
I've never had a pre-serp,but i've always thought,and been led to beleive,that 15+psi idle,and 30+psi at revs is ok for these when warmed up?
I've never had a pre-serp,but i've always thought,and been led to beleive,that 15+psi idle,and 30+psi at revs is ok for these when warmed up?
Edited by The AJP Griff on Sunday 3rd February 21:45
I'm not sure about that Mike... My pre-serp never goes below 30psi (vhot idle) with 15W-50 synth, and 50-60psi at chat. At a recent flush out I used some cheap synth, and it struggled to maintain 10psi idle (and I wasn't even daring to get it very hot). The oil does seem to make a mega difference so I'm not sure we are always comparing apples in this pre-serp/serp debate?
The real advantage of the later oil pump is removing the weak point of the drive from the cam IMHO.
The oil used seems to vary greatly, and is particularly susceptible to temperature. In this case I don't think the oils we use over here will be suitable for panic. It is with good reason that S Europe has a predominantly different range of oils on sale to those in the cooler Northern climes. Many of us are very loyal to specific oil brands with good reason, it is pretty damned expensive to find a good one that works well - so once we find a suitable oil we tend to stick with it
Dave
The real advantage of the later oil pump is removing the weak point of the drive from the cam IMHO.
The oil used seems to vary greatly, and is particularly susceptible to temperature. In this case I don't think the oils we use over here will be suitable for panic. It is with good reason that S Europe has a predominantly different range of oils on sale to those in the cooler Northern climes. Many of us are very loyal to specific oil brands with good reason, it is pretty damned expensive to find a good one that works well - so once we find a suitable oil we tend to stick with it
Dave
Well, I had one pre-serp' [15 psi idle + 35 psi running] and two serp's [30 idle + 45 running] Seems right and no problems with either as far as oil is concerned. I used to be obsessed with gauge watching, but don't bother so much now. Don't think you've anything to worry about to be honest.
dnb said:
I've always used 15W50 Magnatec. It was recomended by Dave Batty, and since the engine has done well over 100k miles on the stuff I see no reason to change.
My pressure gauge reads silly at the moment though - 40 PSI warm idle and 60+ PSI with some revs! I'm going to change the sender over the weekend.
I run Mobil Race in mine and get 30psi idle and 60psi running, fresh engine and new pressure sender. My old pre-serp used to run scary low pressures 15/30psi and would drop to zero on idle when the oil was cooked.My pressure gauge reads silly at the moment though - 40 PSI warm idle and 60+ PSI with some revs! I'm going to change the sender over the weekend.
Bluebottle said:
I run Mobil Race in mine and get 30psi idle and 60psi running, fresh engine and new pressure sender. My old pre-serp used to run scary low pressures 15/30psi and would drop to zero on idle when the oil was cooked.
What oil were you using in your 'old pre-serp' though?Dave
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