Oil pressure too low, fresh motor

[Cesar]

I just dropped a 6 bolt (originally N/T) in my 2g awd.

My oil pressure is too low. The idiot light flickers on and off, and the guage shows a very low reading, at the first marker. I don't think it's the sesors since they seem to show similar readings.

The bearing clearences were all within spec.
The balance shafts were eliminated, and the bearings were rotated and put back in place.
No oil squirters.

The 90 external oil filter housing relief valve was ported. I hope I didn't over ported, but I don't think I did.

I used the oil pick-up from the 2g motor.

I didn't check the specs for the oil pump. I know, I'm a moron. However, the crank was in really good shape, and the pump came from the same motor.

I am running 10w-30.

Any thoughts??

 

[TurboDSMer]

You put a non turbo 6 bolt into your car? I know the block and rods are the same with the exception of the oil squirters but the pistons on an N/A motor can't handle the boost. Also i did a rebuild on my 6 bolt over the summer and my oil reads at around the first line as well. That is fine don't worry about it. And don't go by the guage on the inside of the car. it's worthless.

 

[BISHILVR]

It would be nice to see you connect an actual pressure gauge to it and find out what the pressure really is in pounds. You might try running some 20w-50 in it just to see if it comes up (an interesting and cheap check)

 

[Quasimondo]

I'd drop the pan and check to see if one of those BS bearings didn't fall out. Did you install those bearings or was it an engine builder?

 

[Cesar]

I put them in. I punched them in with the actual BS. I hope they didn't fall out.

First I will install a pressure guage. I hope the current readings are false ones.

I don't want to have to drop the oil pan, much less, re-do the motor.

 

[damnslowtsi]

I 'd say go for a different weight/brand of oil first like someone said before. Start with the simplest fix. I put at one time I beleive a Valvoline 10-30 in mine and was having similar readings. The longer I drove on that oil the worst the thing became. At around 600-700 miles of headaches and no sleep I put in there what I normally use (15-40 dyno) and the problem disappeared completely.

I agree the stock gauge is not the best thing but, nevertheless, it stays in the ballpark and will give you the rough idea of what is going on. The biggest drawback of it is that it doesn't react fast enough. At a steady state though, let's say 3K on a freeway the needle should be around an oiler tip image from what I 've seen on numerous DSMs and if it is far from there it is safe to say that the actual pressure is accordingly lower or higher.

Also you said that you used an oil pick up from a 2G. Are they the same length? The flickering light often occurs when the oil level is too low and the pump momenterrily sucks in air. This happens in hard turns, braking/acceleration etc.

 

[Cesar]

Turns out both of the readings were off. I intalled an aftermarket guage on the factory location and I have plenty of pressure. I guess the factory guages are garbage.

 

[timloomis]

Yea I had to switch from 10w30 to 10w40,I didnt like the pressure.I also have a mechanical oil pressure gauge.At one point in my old eclipse when it was low on oil,the autometer gauge was jumping around while the idiot light didnt come on and the stock gauge didnt budge at all.I just bought a mechanical water temp gauge too,I dont trust stock junk.