Low Oil Pressure Situation?

[4G63dsmpwr]

Well I have a 90 AWD with 170k on the stock motor. Besides a new valve cover, and timing belt, I think thats the only work ever done to the motor.

Recently, my stock oil pressure guage has started sitting about 1/4" near the "L" reading. It usually sat way up near the "H" reading...

I've read that the stock guage is very inaccurate, but mine - before this anyway, worked very well, and if you were sitting at a light at idle, it would drop down about 1/4" away from the "L" reading, then if you were to give it gas all of a sudden, the guage would react pretty quickly.

I've also heard louder lifter tick than usual. Is this a sign of low oil pressure? Its definately the sound that lifters make, just alot louder than I've ever heard before.

I just ordered a electronic oil pressure guage, but I was wondering if anyone else had any information or help for me?

Thanks alot for the space, if you guys need more details/information just let me know.

 

[bojanglesracing]

Does any one have any ideas on this? Sound like the same thing i am dealing with.

 

[AquariumPerson]

same here my oil pressure goes below the L, but only when im idling

 

[Mitsu RacerX]

This is a common occurance with DSM's. Mine was reading low until i redid the wires to the sending unit. Now all is good. Occasionally it will drop at idle but sometimes it will read high.

 

[laserwitpsi]

I have been having the same problem with my gauge. I could be doing 75 down the highway and my oil pressure gauge will be on or near the L. The rpms are usually over 3,000 but the gauge still reads low. I hope this is normal and it is not hurting my car. The car runs great and pulls hard but if anyone has a solution please post it.

 

[dedlewamp]

I have been having the same problem with my gauge. I could be doing 75 down the highway and my oil pressure gauge will be on or near the L. The rpms are usually over 3,000 but the gauge still reads low. I hope this is normal and it is not hurting my car. The car runs great and pulls hard but if anyone has a solution please post it.

Well, that seems to be pretty low if you are crusing. The first thing I would do is check your sending unit and make sure the connection is solid. I'd also recommend checking your oil level, just in case it's low right now.

The real solution to the inaccurate stock gauge is to get an aftermarket gauge. It'll look much better than the stock one, and be much more accurate. But, DSM's are notorious for having low oil pressure. Lifter tick is normal as well, look into the revised lifters to cure that.

 

[NitrousBob]

Just plumb in a cheap mechanical or something before you ruin your engine, I would stop doing "pulls' until you get this figured out, probably a spun bearing if you got no pressure.

 

[travislaw]

I have been having the same problem with my gauge. I could be doing 75 down the highway and my oil pressure gauge will be on or near the L. The rpms are usually over 3,000 but the gauge still reads low. I hope this is normal and it is not hurting my car. The car runs great and pulls hard but if anyone has a solution please post it.

Advice to all you newbies. Get an aftermarket Boost Gauge and Oil Pressure Gauge, because the ones on our gauge cluster suck. They don't work correctly most of the time. You will not get appropriate readings until you do. The stock boost gauge doesn't even really read boost, it reads an electrical signal from what the car thinks the boost is at with stock settings on the car. If you change your turbo or increase your boost, your guage on the cluster is rendered useless. It is a well known fact in many forums that the oil pressure cluster gauge doesn't read correct oil pressure. It is better to be safe then sorry by getting one that actually tells you what the oil pressure is.