Rallas

iTrader: (9)

I just ran my fresh forged VVT engine for the first time two days ago. I have almost 40 miles on it now. Oil pressure is only around 17-20psi at idle (NA oil pressure Guage and aftermarket oil pressure sender to MS3). At cruise of 2-3000rpm it will get up to 30psi, but only hits 45psi at 6000rpm. I don't want to rev it much higher until I understand the lower oil pressure. This is running 5w-30 dino oil. My old NA8 engine went up to 60-65psi at 6500rpm so this seems a lot lower oil pressure. I was not expecting this low oil pressure with the Boundary stage 2 oil pump?

Are oil pressures in this range OK?

andyfloyd

Those are the same pressures i see but Im getting my oil pressure reading from the back of the cylinder head and not at the block. If your motor was built on the loose side youll see lower oil pressure. Your numbers arent that concerning but I would probaly run a thicker oil. I actually like 15w50 mobil 1 in warm weather and 5/40 rotella once it gets cooler here.

Rallas

iTrader: (9)

I changed the oil to 10W40 dino oil at 100 miles. Pressures are up slightly but still only around 45-50psig peak. I am around 200miles and just increased the rev limit to 7500rpm. It holds pretty much the same peak pressure of 40-50psig above 7000rpm. I did get a little scare tonight when I noticed that the dash oil pressure gauge would drop from an indicated 60psi to 30psi if I went over 7200rpm. Looking at the logged oil pressures it gets a little noisier above 7000rpm, but does not drop below 35-45ps when it gets noisy. The average pressures still look to be around 45 psig. Not sure why my dash oil pressure gauge started bouncing. I have heard that knock can cause the needle to bounce, but I am still only aplying light loads and running a conservative ignition map so I doubt it is an indication of knockp

I also figured out part of the reason why I saw much lower pressurs before. I had an issue with the CLT temp sensor circuit that made the engine run about 20-30deg hotter than indicated. My fans were not cutting on and oil temps got over 220deg which lowered viscosity and pressures. With oil temps in the 180-190deg range pressures look much better. I have also noticed that the dash oil pressure will show 60psi like I used to see with my old engine, but my logged oil pressures are closer to 45-50psig now.