Isolated event or bad news bears

[2skippy]

Having seen the results of oil pressure failure on a buddies DSM, I have become a little paranoid with mine. To try to stay a little better informed on my oil pressure I decided to get a Prosport oil pressure gauge, sending unit, and sandwich plate. I installed everything and changed the oil and everything looked beautiful....skip ahead till now. The past three days it's been over 100* in Detroit and I don't have to-air oil cooler (next purchase) so I've been seeing my oil temp increase ( around 220*) , well once it gets to that temp my pressure reads near or at 0 psi at idle. When it's been cooler I don't have this problem temp sits around 200* unless I'm on the freeway and pressure is around 10 psi. In the past week I also had a large powersteering leak the soaked eveything in that area. BUT..my stock unit is reading normally. So did my after market unit take a **** or is my motor slowly killing itself.

 

[95talongirl]

How many miles do does the car have? Ever been rebuilt? Everything does eventually get old and start to fail. As much as we wouldn't like it to.

 

[2skippy]

The short block was rebuilt, should have less the 50,000 miles according to the previous owner (pretty respected guys in the Michigan Dsm crowd) but who knows for sure. I've never seen any sign of wear, no metal flecks in the oil nothing.

 

[96' Eclipse GS]

Same (Oil Pump) or (new one) on the Rebuild? Drop another oil pressure gauge on it and you can eliminate one or the other. Being it an Electrical problem with the gauge or something else, Soon to be a Mechanical failure, or both/none.

 

[jtmcinder]

Speaking as someone who was a teenaged male in the mid-1970s, I have to say that this thread is worthless without pictures of Tatum O'Neal.

 

[Kyle_T]

I have noticed the same thing. When its hot out and Ive been driving the car kind of hard my prosport oil pressure gauge drops to like 0-5psi at idle. Im idling around 800-850. If I rev up to like 900-1000 it jumps back up to 10-15psi. I think its just the gauge because my oil dummy light has never came on.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

2skippy, What weight oil are you using?

 

[99gst_racer]

How are you verifying oil temp? What weight oil are you using?

It's pretty normal to have decreasing oil pressure with increasing oil temp. We also don't need much oil pressure under low RPM/load confitions, so you're pretty safe anyway.

 

[spray004]

I have noticed the same thing. When its hot out and Ive been driving the car kind of hard my prosport oil pressure gauge drops to like 0-5psi at idle. Im idling around 800-850. If I rev up to like 900-1000 it jumps back up to 10-15psi. I think its just the gauge because my oil dummy light has never came on.

That's pretty normal. Your pressure should increase with your engine rpm and 10-15psi sounds right for a normal engine with out a high volume pump.

FWIW I really don't trust electric OP gauges that well, use a mechanical guage if you want a more accurate reading.

 

[2skippy]

I'm using a 10W30, and I have a oil temp gauge as well. I have perfect pressure driving under load +/- 10 psi per 1000 rpm. That's why is struck me as odd that it only happened when it has been super hot and the temp is up, at least from my line of thought if the pump was failing I would have issues with pressure all the time.

 

[T is for TURBO]

FWIW I really don't trust electric OP gauges that well, use a mechanical guage if you want a more accurate reading.

Electric are just fine. I've had both and I trust my Electric FAR more than any mechanical guage. My mechanical guages always got stuck, or would move off from zere around if I slammed the door to hard, or they were just plain inconsistant. Not to mention there's no chance of leaking oil from running the oil pressure line to the cabin.

OP: I had the same issue as you. It was fine during cold start, but once it got warm, it would sit around 3psi on the guage at idle, the light would even flicker a little bit, but when I was cruising the pressure was around 40-45psi at 65mph (I did have the balance shafts removed too). I ended up tearing the engine down due to a bent rod, but I also found bearing material in the pan. Just food for thought. I'm not trying to alarm you, just sharing my expirence.

Personally, If I were in your shoes, I would check a different gauge. If that one confirms the oil pressure is indeed low, I would pull the pump and inspect it.

Good luck
-Shawn

 

[99gst_racer]

Try a heavier oil. I've always ran 20w50 in all of my DSMs.