TazioNYC

What's the normal oil pressure reading under idle and normal, warmed up running? Test drove one today and the needle was at the top of the gauge until it warmed up and then it fell down to the middle, 2/3.

Ben

Crunky

Sounds about right, In the Arizona summer my pressure drops to around 2 bar when the car is hot at idle. Between 4-5 while driving.

TazioNYC

In this case it was the opposite -- high readings at idle, drops once running.

redmund

When the car starts and is cold, it's around 5, when it warms up, it drops to 2-3, but only when there's no load on the engine. If you rev the engine when it's warm, the pressure shoots back up to 5ish.

TazioNYC

Gotcha...thanks for the reassurance!

Techno Duck

Hot idle pressure also depends on what weight oil is being used. Case in point, 10w40 in the nice NY weather as of late was about 2 - 2.5 bar at about 200*F sitting in traffic. I just switched back to 20w50 and its at about 3.5 bar at 200*F.

My temps peaked around 210*F earlier today autocrossing, pressure did not drop below 3. I get a little nervous when it starts getting around two. Anything less than that i would probably shut the car off. The manual does state though that even .5 bar at idle is within limits.

TazioNYC

Thanks...very dumb question -- what does an oil's weight denote and what's recommended? is it weather based?

sharky47

15-50 M-1

Central Texas heat


I get 5 at cold idle, 2-3 hot idle, 4 hot highway speed.

Hoss Ghoul

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil

Do a search, lots of oil threads, according to the owners manual a wide range of weights are acceptable-depending on the driving conditions/temperatures.