How much oil pressure should I have at idle?

When my car is cold, I have about 40 psi at idle.

When my car warms up to 190 degrees, it drops to about 20 psi at 600 rpm. As soon as I touch the gas, it shoots up to about 40-45 psi at about 1500 rpm. Is this normal?

Steve

 

That's roughly normal behavior for the engines in these cars.

 

Mobil One Full Synthetic Oil
75K Miles LO3

45 psi at idle cold ~600-700 rpm

30 psi hot idle back to 40-45 1500 rpm

So, I would say you are in the ball park.

How many miles on the engine?

 

Those numbers sound OK...mine are lower.

 

Usually anything lower than 20psi is an indication that your bearings are worn down pretty far. My car idles at roughly 30psi and will go to about 50-60 upon acceleration. If you get under 20psi at idle I'd very seriously consider a rebuild before you spin a bearing on the crank or the rods and cause yourself to cry because of all the machine work/replacement parts buying you'll have to do. 20psi seems VERY low.

 

Increase the idle speed a little and forget about it.

 

My engine is just rebuilt, brand new bearings, crank, rods, everything. I just checked the oil and it is full.

The car usually idles pretty high, sometimes up to 1000 rpm. So when that happens, I have plenty of pressure.

I only run mineral oil, as the engine only has about 1250 miles on it, with some Lucas Oil Stabilizer in there. That might be some reason as it makes oil stick to surfaces instead of washing off them.

Steve

 

I would expect a little bit better numbers out of a fresh rebuild, but thats still ok.

Hows the car coming, Steve?

 

The car is great! I got a lot of the bugs worked out and it's finally becoming the car that I wanted it to be. Although I found out over spring break that the engine is too powerful for the transmission and had to get the tranny rebuilt. Other than that, it's lookin good.

Steve

 

Good news! If you're back in Redford for the summer months, just gimme a call if you ever need help with anything.

 

I am back in Redford for the summer. If I have any issues I will definitely give you a call, but right now I am looking to sell/trade my car for something a little more economical. By the way, what are you runnin right now??? I can never keep up with your car adventures!

Steve