FSAEracer03

1) What oil pressure should I be seeing DIRECTLY after startup before even touching the gas?

2) What pressure should I see after warmup at idle?

3) How much should the oil pressure vary?

NZ951

1) Rising in a few seconds to just over 4 bar
2) Maybe 4.25 - 4.75
3) 0.5 bar has been my experience from high revs to idle.

skene

should idle really be that high? Mine sits around 3 bar after warming up and goes up to 4.5 or so when over ~2500.

Songzzz

1) Between 4 and 5
2) Between 4 and 5
3) The lowest it went was 1.5 (idle), 3.5 (driving) on a hot afternoon (40deg) with a bad oil cooler.

JDeitz951

My totally rebuilt engine, perfect condition, no leaks:
1-2 secs after starting (cold), without touching gas: 5 pegged
Totally warm, idle: 2 to 3
Totally warm, anything above 2000-2500 RPM: 5 pegged
After 20 mins of all-out hot laps, idle: 1.5-2.0
10 minutes after cool-down lap, idle: 2-3

I did have problems priming the pump right after the rebuild, perfect since.

Matt Sheppard

Deitz

What did you do to prime the pump. I just cranked my new rebuild today (5-6 times 15-20 sec. each, no plugs and DME relay out) and no OP at all. I took the filter off several times and funneled oil down the central orfice, still no pressure. I followed the manual perfectly as to the order and what-not of the o-ring and washer behind the cam belt drive gear on the front of the crank so I really dont want to pull it apart just to confirm everything is right.

If I can get the pressure to come up, saving a tear-down of the pulley assem., I'd be a happy boy! Any help will be much appreciated.

NZ951

wow, maybe my gauge is bung, I have put a new send in. I dont get that much variation.

FSAEracer03

Directly after startup mine rises to 2-3 bar. Though it doesn't seem to be a problem, maybe I should replace the oil pressure relief valve... I'm guessing it might be a little faulty and starting to fail.

JDeitz951

FSAEraser03: Low OP like that is typical of worn rod bearings. But maybe it's the OPRV.

NZ951: I just checked my owners manual and it says normal pressure cold or running is 4 and hot idle may be as low as 0.5 (!!!). It even says an Occasionaly blinking of the red light in the gauge at idle is OK as long as it comes up when you rev. My old 944 did that and it spooked me!

If yours is the same at all temps, you may have a sender problem, but I'm just guessing. I think my reading of 5 and 2 are typical of an old sender. I had a new one for a day before I broke the terminal off (overtightened) and it did read 4 cold.

Magown

Matt, I had a hell of a time getting oil pressure in my engine after I went in the oil pan. The central hole is the wrong one, you must poor it down the one closest to the block.

Before you mess with the crank pulley you might try what worked for me. I ended up overfilling it with 11 quarts of oil and blowing compressed air through the dipstick. That instantly primed the pump cause it sprayed out of the hole closest to the block in the oil filter housing.

I was using a manual oil pressure gauge and it seemed like it took forever and a day to finally prime up, after what seemed like an eternity it jumped to 68psi. 20 seconds may not be long enough, I was so freaked out when I was doing mine, I can't say how long it took.

NZ951

Sender is new... I will look at it again when I get it back together. Maybe I just never noticed before.

Danno

Matt, I also used the vacuum-cleaner trick to suck oil up through the oil-pan. Used a 3/4" hose taped to the end of the vacuum-cleaner hose and sucked oil up through the side-port on the oil-filter housing.

Only catch with my new engine is that I have WAY too much oil-pressure. It pegs at what would be 6-bar on the gauge under all conditions. I know it's not from reversing the connectors on the sender because I get 0-bar with the key turned to on. Then I crank the car with the coil-wire disconnected and it builds pressure with each crank and until it pegs at 6-bar. Even when the car's warmed up. I also replaced the OPRV with the newer updated 1-piece unit.

Strange part is that at idle, the "!" light comes up just slightly, even though the gauge shows 6-bar . If I rev the engine slightly, the "!" goes out, but gauge is still pegged on 6-bar. I'm gonna try a new sender next to see what's up. I don't think pressure is really that high since I haven't blown out my rear crank-seal or exploded any oil-filters yet...

Danno

Well... I replaced the oil-pressure sender, no change, still pegs at 6-bar.

I was replacing the cam-tower gasket yesterday and I found that the wires going to the oil-pressure sender had rubbed on the water-pump and was bare in some spots. The worse was the part that bends around the top of the water-pump behind a little tab. I suspected that the bare wires were shorting on the block. Wrapped it all up with electrical tape hoping it would resore proper readings on the oil-pressure gauge. Nope... stil pegged on 6-bar.

I'm gonna remove the oil-pressure sender next and install a mechanical pressure-gauge. This will let me read actual pressure to see what it is. Should really be about 70psi idle when cold and 30-40psi when warmed up.

Duke

Grrr I know how that feels like! I ordered a new one just in case my old one leaked, found out the old one didn't leak but decided to install a new one just in case.
Then during removal I broke the old one and upon installation of the new one I overtightened the cap and broke it too!!

The new one was ordered from Lindsey for $25 but now I can't wait for US delivery so I have to buy a new one at the dealer - $115!!


BTW, to add something useful to the topic: I usually have 5 bar pegged during cold startup and down at 2 bar after a long hard drive mostly on boost.

Chris Prack

Kevin call me or wait till Monday and we can take a look at it.