Low startup oil pressure
 

I installed a Mocal sandwich plate and a Setrab oil cooler kit from fab9 and ever since then, it takes a second or two to get oil pressure after starting it up. I’ve also gone with the K&N oil filter which is supposed to have some kind of flange preventing the oil from draining completely at standstill. Are the 1-2 seconds OK and something to expect or am I doing something wrong?

No one?

I should probably add, it's a BP-4W out of an -99. Totally stock internals and has ran about 100.000k miles. The oil is 80% Aral Supertronic 0w40 PAO oil and 20% Castrol TWS 10w60. The engine makes a clattering noise the first second or so at startup before oil pressure is right, just as if it had hydraulic lifters, but since it's a BP-4W, it's solid lifters, so that's why I'm asking. After the oil pressure is right, the engine runs great. Nice and quiet, has good power and compares well with other BP-4W:s.

I'm only a DIYer, but if something isn't 'wrong', it still is a worry and should be tracked down. What was done EXACTLY between when there was no rattle, and when the rattle started? Look CLOSELY at EVERTHING that was done in that time. Make sure all fittings are plumbed the way they are supposed to. You wouldn't be the first to cross oil lines, etc. It seems to me that if the filter has some sort of one-way valve, the oil is entering backwards, pressure builds up eventually and overpowers the valve, but in the meantime there is low oil pressure until that happens. Just a guess though.

Thank you for the reply! I've actually looked it over and can't really find anything wrong with it. I'm also a DIYer so I might have got something wrong anyway, but it seems to work too good to be something obvious. The car has been running a year since I did the installation and seems to be OK in general. No leaks, oil pressure is pretty much perfect after that first second(s) regardless of temperature. Nothing funny in the oil when changing it after a years track use.

I do have a theory, but I might be completely off here. If the engine was turned off when in operating temp and then cold starts, the temperature difference might have gotten something (the chims or something?) somewhat stuck which loosens up and adjusts after a second or two and the oil pressure usually takes a second or two to get up to decent levels even as standard?

BTW, thinking about it, it's really tight between the sandwich plate and the intake, so therefore I put the oil lines where they could fit, both pointing backwards. Can that be the problem? Maybe it's better to have them pointing down or something?

Let me get this straight - this ticking has gone on for a year?! And you have been tracking it over that time? Maybe you should just learn to live with it.

I'm not familiar with those oils, are they standard automotive oils? Playing with different oils/oil weights is the only other suggestion I can make.

Yeah, I know it sounds stupid but I haven't really given it much of a thought as I checked it a few times to make sure that everything was right. Also, I used a Mazda Original oil filter first year and was pretty sure it would go away if I used the K&N filter with that flange stopping to oil to drain to the sump, but it didn't do any difference. And I am living with it. Just concerned. :)

Those oils are really good fully synthetic european automotive oils. I've used many different oils in the past (Mobile1, Amsoil, Total, Redline, etc. 0w30-10w60 and many in between) and these are according to my humble opinion pretty much what the BP needs when tracked in our climate (Sweden) with oil cooler, reroute and proper aluminium cooler. Therefore, I think the oil is fine, but as I'm not an experienced mechanic, I don't really understand why the oil will drain more with the oilcooler connected than without if everything is sealed properly and if it's an actual issue that should be fixed.

Just a thought, is your oil cooler orientated so fittings are on the bottom side? Is it possible the cooler is draining back while sitting and the 1-2 seconds of low oil pressure is the system filling the cooler again on start up?

Low viscosity oil and more-than-stock oil implements would be my first guess. It takes more time to pressurize the oil system on startup and in the time it takes, your valvetrain is likely being noisy because its the last to see that pressure.

This might be something. The cooler is positioned so that the oil comes in from the top and gets out through the bottom. That means that some of the oil in the cooler is sitting above the oil filter level. Haven't thought of that. That together with the mentioned fact that it takes extra time to pressurize the extra volume in the system might be the answer. I was looking in on the two cam nodes I can see when looking into the oil filling hole of the cam cover and they look like new, so I guess it's not really a problem anyways.

I also found out that two of the primaries of my header (Racing Beat 4-1) has cracks in the weld close to the engine. I'm thinking that it's possible that that also has something to do with it even though it seems far fetched. I removed it and will get it welded during coming weekend and see if that helps this. Pretty sure it will help the ticking the first few minutes of driving anyway. :)

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...d3ef867ddd.jpg

As an experiment, if you have enough hose length, swap the cooler lines over so it enters from the bottom and exits the top. If your filter has an anti drain back valve, that will stop the cooler from empting from the bottom and only whats in the return line from the top will gravity drain. Cooler should stay full this way.

This is great! The return line might be a bit short for exactly that, but it's probably easy enough to unscrew the whole cooler and turn it upside down that way.

Thanks!

Do you have an oil pressure sensor or are you just assuming low pressure due to the sound?

I use the standard one from my old 1.6 which I think is good enough.