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low oil pressure at idle

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stratt134

15+ Year Contributor
132
1
Apr 9, 2006
Houston, Texas
Here is a picture of my oil pressure reading at idle (at normal operating tempature), which is unfortunately on the stock gauge, which I am sure is pretty inacurate:
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The oil still looks good (recently changed, ~1000 miles ago) and the level is in between the 2 marks on the dipstick.

The motor has about 92000 miles on it. I am going to go to the auto parts store tomorrow and get some Lucas oil treatment to see if I can thicken up the oil a little bit and raise the pressure.

But does anyone know how much oil pressure that is in the picture on the stock gauge?

What should the oil pressure be at idle? Also, when the car revs to about 2500, or I am driving with moderate boost, the gauge at or right below the half way mark.

Thanks in advance,
Sean
 
i don't know what's wrong w/ it. but i have the exact same problem w/ my 1G tsi awd. mine used to read alot lower than that but i just started using 10W40 instead of 30 and it actually did bring it up a little bit. i don't know if that's relevant but it was the only thing i can think of to help you out. good luck man, and i'd appreciate any advice for the same problem as well.
 
That doesn't look too bad to me, but I'm used to my 1G gauge. What oil weight are you using? You may be able to go a bit heavier.
 
I may be wrong here but that seems normal. My 1g has low oil pressure while at idle and it goes up while driving. I have even heard of some dsm's having as low as 12psi while at idle.
 
There's already a million threads on this. I have the same thing and basically, just about everyone seems to have this problem and it's fairly normal. Changing the sender and gauge might not be a bad idea if you're really worried about it and just for added safety. The most important thing is that you have the proper type and amount of oil. Here is a pretty good thread on it, so you can sleep at night now.

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=186407&highlight=low+oil+pressure+dsm
 
As long as your car isn't running poor and your CEL isn't on then there is no problem. As long as it goes up while not idleing anyway. Mine is the same way. I had REALLY low pressure and a REALLY rough idle and the CEL came on only while idleing. I got an oil change with Mobil 1 and i haven't had problems since(and i do my oil every 3000miles with mobil 1 still).
 
I had the same problem, but I actually think there is a problem, sorry to bring a post back from the dead. My oil light comes on and my oil needle is a little over the bottom line, so Im not sure whats going on, any ideas? Idle is about 800.
 
My gauge reads 75 psi at idle. 100+ at 2500 + Im pretty sure its messed up but when you turn the key forward it goes to 0 like it should. I dunno, I know if i had that high oil pressure Id have major problems. Aftermarket gauge.
 
Oil pumps wear out over time, the gears slowly degrade which cuts down the oil pressure. With 150k miles on my beast the oil pressure would hang around 0.5kpa(~7.2psi) at idle. Luckly the engine ate a rod and trashed the shortblock so a new oil pump was due with a new shortblock. Owing to eliminating the balance shafts and blocking the front oiler holes for said shafts my car has a bit more pressure then most. Now at idle at normal running temp ~210F the car sits at 2kpa(~28.8psi), if you keep your B.S. expect oil pressure to be around 1-1.5kpa(~14.4-18psi).


fwdturbobov1996 said:
My gauge reads 75 psi at idle. 100+ at 2500 + Im pretty sure its messed up but when you turn the key forward it goes to 0 like it should. I dunno, I know if i had that high oil pressure Id have major problems. Aftermarket gauge.

Either your gauge is crap or you have a serious problem with the internal pressure regulator because that is just stupid high and would cause all kinda of issues.

Smitherines said:
I had the same problem, but I actually think there is a problem, sorry to bring a post back from the dead. My oil light comes on and my oil needle is a little over the bottom line, so Im not sure whats going on, any ideas? Idle is about 800.

New oil pump time my friend, that is what my car was doing before it ate a rod.
 
My 2g reads the same, I use 10W30. At Idle mine is that same way and I have about 106k on mine. Normally when I get going and and the highway or any driving where the car is actually working or atleast reving past the idle point it goes up. I wouldnt worry about it... actually its pretty normal.
 
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