I just got the oil pressure guage hooked up. Now I feel better about driving the car! I have noticed that pressure seems very low at idle and climbs with the rpm. The guage is the factory console model and I don't know about its accuracy. Is this normal? or should I be concerned? The guage moves above zero when I fire it up so I know I have some pressure then climbs around 40 as the revs go up! Thanks in advance for the replies...


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...DjD
69RS Ragtop

What weight oil are you running?

My counsole guage (on my '69)reads around 20-30 psi at idle and climbs to 70 psi at higher revs. Your oil pressure seems a bit low to me. The rule of thumb is 10 psi for every 1000 RPM.

Castrol 10/40... when the motor is cold it pumps up to 25 at idle and climbs like you say. when its at operating temp it reads 5-10 and climbs with the revs. Is this a trait of multi weight oil? The motor is fresh. The guy I got the car from had it put together a few years back and it sat until I got it.

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...DjD
69RS Ragtop

Just out of curiousity....next time you change the oil, try SAE30 oil. This is a higher viscosity oil and may give you the boost in pressure you need. I would be curious what your oil pressure gauge would read then....

Have you put a second gauge on the motor to verify that the counsole gauge is correct?

djd,
Sounds like the oil pupm relief valve may have gotten some rust on it from sitting and the first time you fired the motor, it stuck wide open.
In addition here is a link with some good info on oil viscosity.
www.mobil.com/cgi-bin/bld_frameset.cgi?CONTENT=/consumer/lubes/lubes/generalfaq_content.html (http://www.mobil.com/cgi-bin/bld_frameset.cgi?CONTENT=/consumer/lubes/lubes/generalfaq_content.html)

If you read this, you will find that at operating temp, the 10w40 is "thicker" than the sae 30.

You may also want to look at Mellings web page, www.melling.com/techbul1.html (http://www.melling.com/techbul1.html) they have an excellent article about oil pumps and oil pressure.
Hope this helps,


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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md


[This message has been edited by BillK (edited 07-20-99).]

[This message has been edited by BillK (edited 07-20-99).]

mccorry,

Thanks for your input to my post. Your last suggestion is right on target. After hearing about tired motors and bad bearings I spent 40.00 and got a good auto-meter gauge on the way home from work today. Well I am as happy as a pig in mud http://www.camaros.net/forum/smile.gif. Cold the pressure is at 60psi and hot it drops to about 40psi when at idle. This equates to the factory meter being off by 25-30psi. See ya on the highway!

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...DjD
69RS Ragtop

DjD,
We must have both been typing at the same time and you beat me to the post ! Glad it was just the gauge, you might want to look at the links anyway, they are very educational.

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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md




[This message has been edited by BillK (edited 07-20-99).]

Both links Bill has provided are full of good information. I really like the melling.com pages. Does anyone know a good gauge guy? Thanks again to all that provided input...

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...DjD
69RS Ragtop