OK, the N/A runs great.. No hiccups other then a tiny coolant leak (from the cap on cylinder head coming from upper rad house) but I noticed a few small issues.

I noticed the car blew out a tiny bit of black smoke and had a faint gas smell.

I ran the car and after 20-30 mins the oil pressure went started decreasing (5bar at startup... down to normal 2.5-3bar at warm idle...eventually down to 1 bar at idle and ~3.5 bar from 3K rpms)

Smell the oil and it smells like it has gas in it. Temp sensor? fuel dampner?

I changed the oil to 20w-50 today and the pressure was great all day. Put on about 100miles and the pressure never went below 2.5 bar and was always 4.5 bar on any type of acceleration. Coming home I noticed the pressure was dropping (down to 1K at idle)

Hmm.


My temp. gauge also indicates I'm always running cool. Hardly above the first box (early car) and takes a while to warm up. I was thinking maybe the temp sensor is shot? That would also cause my car to run rich , causing the small amount of black smoke at first startup, maybe contaminating my oil causing the pressure to drop??

I also noticed the expansion tank was low in coolant (due the to the small leak) . Would low coolant have any effect on oil pressure? I was thinking a lack of coolant (or at least too hot coolant) may cause the oil temp to raise , causing low oil pressure? The temp gauge did not show over heating but I assume a faulty temp sensor would cause that .. I hope the car has not over heated .

I have not checked/smelled the oil yet tonight. Just wanted to get inside...I hate freezing rain/snow

Any thoughts?
Mike

 

Check for the smell of gas in oil again. If it is present what is your gas mileage, probably about 110 mile on a tank? I really cannot determine if I have fixed the problem, as it was not discovered until my alternator went bad.

The problem in your case may be that the injectors are staying on through all strokes of the cylinders. Gas goes in but no spark, so it seeps past the rings and into the oil. Check your spark plugs. If they look as they should this may not be your problem. As I said, since I am waiting on parts for the alternator, I haven't really been able to run the car to see if I corrected the problem w/ gas in oil. But I think it was my DME and replaced that, contacts were scored black. However, I also replaced the fuel pressure regulator and fuel pressure damper, although that may have not been necessary.

There are other reasons that gas seeps in, so DME may or may not be the culprit in your case. injectors can get stuck open, etc. Again, check spark plugs multiple times, after running it. If all but one plug seems okay than would be an issue w/ just that cylinder. If all plugs seem "fouled" than good chance is DME. The last plug that fired will seem fine, and why you need to check multiple times.

 

thanks for the response, anyone else have any comments on my reasoning or the isssue?

 

The oil pressure guage could be innacurate. On my engine, on a 90+degree day when the motor is hot it will idle at about 1.5bar and run 4 .3bar running around. However, on trips between cities at brisk highway speeds the oil heats up and I only get about 3.5bar. I am using 20/50 Valvoline VR1. Because of the hot temps down here in south texas I am tempted to install an aftermarket oil cooler to aid the factory unit.

I think you are still getting good oil-pressure.

 

Changed the oil filter recently? Making sure to put enough oil in? (My NA has the turbo pan; I filled it up to the recommended 6 quarts but still ran low; turns out it'll hold nearly 8 quarts)

Also, you may want to look into buying a new thermostat and a new oil sender. You'd have to do it anyways, so you might as well now. Those should help your problems out