The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support Rix Racing
Please Support ExtremePSI

oil pressure going insane on first start-up

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

wicked98gsx

10+ Year Contributor
139
0
Feb 17, 2012
Middlesex, North_Carolina
Ok so as the title says.... my oil pressure is going from 5-100psi and other numbers on my first start up after gasket replacement (head gasket and up) 5w-30 non synthetic oil. Erratic idle from 1500-700-200 and yhen shutting off. Car starts up great after it shut off.

Upon doing a slow test drive... no smoke or stalling or erratic anything till I go to turn around at thr end of my rd. Idle is crazy and I started getting white smoke/mist. Now I know that to be a symptom of coolant burning off but... it smells of oil and coolant. Pressure test up to 120psi and held that for 30 mins. Compression test shows 160-170 across all cylinders. No mixing of fluids. I let the car idle in my driveway for an hour to get the exhaust heated up great because when I removed all my coolant and oil lines from my cracked 16g... I believe some fluids got into the Downpipe. The mist clears up a lot after tge hour and Ieven rev just a bit and ill get a nice puff of mist then its very light. I have a stock exhaust with a cat and a regular cat at that so I know its a bit restrictive.

I have heard of a break-in period where I need to svoud boosting for a bit. Is this true and if so then how long is this period. This was my first minor rebuild so im excited to drive my baby again but I don't wanna blow it up.

I just want to know if this kind of first start-up symptoms are normal minus me dumoing fluid into my downpipe?
 
Never heard of any break in period except for the first heat up and cool down, after that the gasket should be pretty much settled.
You could to be safe take it easy the first 300 miles.

As for the rough idle, that is abnormal. Check to see if all vacuum lines and electrical components are hooked up properly and do a quick timing belt check.
 
Lol the horrible idle was the EGR solenoid. .. I had the vac lines crossed so it was bogging down trying to figure out what the sensor was trying to read.

But the oil pressure is very weird. It like a ground or something. Start up it goes to 60-80 psi. Then after the car warms up it drops to 15-20psi. Put the car in reverse and it pegs to 100psi (max on gauge). First 10-20 mins the gauge is all over the place in pressure then settles to around 50-60psi during normal driving and 80psi under boost.
 
Shows a tight motor and oil thinning up when hot ... which is all but normal.

Explain this. It was a little confusing for me...

Should I switch to synthetic or keep the standard in it. I've never had this issue is any car. And I thought idle psi was supposed to be 4psi according to Alldata
 
The MINIMUM oil pressure according to my service manual is like 10psi at idle, that doesn't mean that's what it should always be. Yes it's going to be higher when the oil is cold; yes it's going to be higher at higher rpms. Do you have balance shafts still? Has your oil filter housing been ported or relieve spring been cut?



I wouldn't ever use 5w30 in one of these engines unless it was all short trips around town where the oil will never get warmed up.
 
10w/30 is the minimum weight for our motors.

Newer motors can get away with the thinner oil since they really have the tight tolerances, but not ours.

10psi is the ideal pressure, but as long as oil is swirling up in the head, when you remove the oil fill cap and look down in, at idle, you'd be fine.

Oil contains a term called 'viscosity' - the "body" of a fluid. Think of a thick milkshake and a watery milkshake. The thick one has more 'viscosity' (body) to make it thick.

You heat that thick fluid up, it's gonna thin down due to the molecules spreading out, but still enough 'body' to lubricate the moving parts.

If you've never have any issues, why create issues? Keep on what you're doing and you'll be alright.

Good luck - DSM
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top