So some of you may know I recently assembled my first complete engine unassisted. I change my oil frequently, I cant even say my engine is at the 1k mark yet and ive changed my oil 5 times. I don't think this is out of the ordinary as its a new engine and during break in you change the oil a few times to check the health of your engine. After each oil change I cut the filter and check the filter media for anything suspicious. I was on my 5th filter and each one previously has been spotless. So I decided to change my oil ....so I go through the motions and after I finish I happened to be walking by the drip pan and the light caught the oil at the perfect angle and all I could see is sparkle The bottom of the pan is sparking like a star......So at this point I started sweating and sharted a few times and pretty much started panicking. I tore off the valve cover and really contemplated dropping my pan. I hadn't opened the filter at this point so I figured I cut the filter and go from there. So I cut the filter.... clean as can be. Long story short the pan I used was on the floor in from of my bench grinder ......All of that panic for nothing. The good news is after two trips to the dyno and several 640whp pulls my engine is running like a top. I did have a question related to oil pressure. When driving where does your factory oil gauge sit.....I noticed while driving hard my oil gauge sits around the middle of the two bars [ [ I ]. when idling the gauge will sits like [ I [ ] a little more than a 1/4 inch from the left. During the cruise the gauge is always moving obviously but at idle it stays constant. I know the oem gauge isn't the most accurate.

I think mine sits around a 1/4 but I don't claim that to be normal...just reporting.

Vegas smith said:

I think mine sits around a 1/4 but I don't claim that to be normal...just reporting.

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I never payed much attention to it until I built my engine.I don't remember where it was at when I bought the car.

Might as well ignore the OEM gauge entirely. It's basically only good for letting you know the engine is running.

If you're making 600+ hp, it would probably be prudent to add an aftermarket oil pressure gauge. My car sits at around 30 psi at idle, and I get around another 10 PSI for every 1k RPM after that...Which seems to be common from what I've heard from others.

GST with PSI said:

Might as well ignore the OEM gauge entirely. It's basically only good for letting you know the engine is running.

If you're making 600+ hp, it would probably be prudent to add an aftermarket oil pressure gauge. My car sits at around 30 psi at idle, and I get around another 10 PSI for every 1k RPM after that...Which seems to be common from what I've heard from others.

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This prob should be next on my list, I've noticed once I got over 35 psi the limitations of my setup became clear. Keeping my couplers on, preventing vacuum leaks, keeping fuel pressure. It's not as easy as people think.

GST with PSI said:

Might as well ignore the OEM gauge entirely. It's basically only good for letting you know the engine is running.

If you're making 600+ hp, it would probably be prudent to add an aftermarket oil pressure gauge. My car sits at around 30 psi at idle, and I get around another 10 PSI for every 1k RPM after that...Which seems to be common from what I've heard from others.

Click to expand...

Do u have a opg? If so are u running a
Digital. Seems to me the best way to go.

GST with PSI said:

Might as well ignore the OEM gauge entirely. It's basically only good for letting you know the engine is running.

If you're making 600+ hp, it would probably be prudent to add an aftermarket oil pressure gauge. My car sits at around 30 psi at idle, and I get around another 10 PSI for every 1k RPM after that...Which seems to be common from what I've heard from others.

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I was a little paranoid about oil pressure ever since I built my engine. My oil pressure at idle is 25 psi (1200 rpm) and I thought that was little high, but everything seem to be fine after a year and a half. I'm little relieved that it's in the normal range.

My stock gauge is pegged at the bottom at idle. It freaked me out when I broke in the engine. I hadn't owned a dsm in 10 years and I forgot how useless it is. It also didn't help that my dummy light wire fell off.......

amsrn13 said:

Do u have a opg? If so are u running a
Digital. Seems to me the best way to go.

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Yeah, I'm running a digital oil pressure gauge. It's awesome.

Eddie Tsi said:

I was a little paranoid about oil pressure ever since I built my engine. My oil pressure at idle is 25 psi (1200 rpm) and I thought that was little high, but everything seem to be fine after a year and a half. I'm little relieved that it's in the normal range.

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Normal for me at least.

Stock is supposed to be 11.5 psi.

With balance shafts eliminated and such, you can expect pressures to be higher. I've seen others report anywhere from 15-30 psi. Depending on temp, mine fluctuates between 23-30 psi on Rotella T6, which is 5W-40. I've got balance shafts deleted, unported OFH, etc. Mine is probably on the higher side, but I've never had any issues.

GST with PSI said:

Yeah, I'm running a digital oil pressure gauge. It's awesome.




Normal for me at least.

Stock is supposed to be 11.5 psi.

With balance shafts eliminated and such, you can expect pressures to be higher. I've seen others report anywhere from 15-30 psi. Depending on temp, mine fluctuates between 23-30 psi on Rotella T6, which is 5W-40. I've got balance shafts deleted, unported OFH, etc. Mine is probably on the higher side, but I've never had any issues.

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Higher side indeed...
But no two things are exact.

Just seems high.

I'm at 10-14 idle.
Prior to last rebuilt was 25

I did ground the tear drop at head and of course honed smooth the galleys eliminating the rough casting.
Op it's important..Probably The most important gauge you should have.

Lost an engine once for trusting the oem gauge just saying

My idle is usually around 12psi or so and ramps up quickly with rpms. This is with 25W50.

The only thing the oem sensor is good for....notifying you when you forget to tighten the drain plug...

My idle is roughly 16-18 psi at idle (1000 rpms). My pressure climbs quickly at about 12 psi per 1k rpms and once it hits about 70 psi my relief valve opens and puts the pressure at about ~60-65psi no matter if I rev to 8.5k. I do have the balance shafts deleted using the GSC Racing Shaft and my OFH relief is ported. I use Klotz 10w-40 oil.

I disconnected my stock oil pressure as it becomes useless with an aftermarket gauge!

With 20w50 and a warm engine at idle I have seen 12 to 15 psi, now with 10w40 damn thing would want to go near 5 psi and below when hot. I stay 20w50.

Im at 15 psi warm 15w40. No balnce shafts, no oil jets and heavy ported ofh. It ramps up to about 75 psi by 6500 and holds to redline.