What should my oil pressure be at during a warm idle, or when I get on it? I think mine may be low but I am not sure.

 

Usually 10 psi per 1000 rpm is safe to live off of, as a general rule.

What psi are you reading? The senders/gauges we were equipped with from the factory can be notoriously inaccurate. The senders themselves are also known for going bad frequently.

 

you shouldn't trust the factory gauge for anything more than a general idea. screw a mechanical gauge into the engine and see what you have.

 

When the engine is cold and warming up it reads about 30 at idle and then when it gets warmer sometimes it reads about 20 or so. The thing is it flucuates a lot so I don't know for sure.

 

That sound reasonable; these cars usually have 25-30 at idle and 45-50 cruising when hot, so it sounds like yours is in the ballpark.

 

When I am crusing mine never gets up that high. I barely goes above 30 most of the time. Is there something wrong with my motor?? It burns a little bit of oil on startup and I know that is valve seals but would that cause lower oil pressure?

 

Try a new oil pressure gauge sending unit.

But, if you've had it for a long time, and it's always indicated the same without change, there's probably nothing to worry about.

The stock pumps in most small block were set for about 30-35 at cruise; and they last hundreds of thousands of miles like that. Just a different relief spring in the bypass.

 

Alright thanx a lot man.

 

my BRAND NEW 350 ran at about 50 PSi for close to I think about 120 miles....now the readin says it has zero at idle in gear (when warmed up) and goes up to nothing over 25 or so when moving......i am not driving it now, for frear something is REALLY wrong.

Oil looks and smells fine on the dipstick, no metal shavings (even if there were I would assume from breakin) but I did notice today when I got home from work and opened the hood that its louder then it used to be.....a tick noise is audible...so I don't know what to do...maybe change the oil? I'm screwed....
cheers

 

What you do is verify the pressure (or lack thereof) with a mechanical gauge.

I've had a bad sender out of the box (GP Sorensen).

 

well thats the wierd thing. it did the EXACT same thing on my old 305 stock block.

When started, ran about 25 or so PSI, when warmed up, it slowly drops down to zero at idle, and about 20 in gear driving....


I figured Id just reuse the old sender cause I thought that the old engin was just screwed....


fired new engine up, got GREAT oil pressure....now...for the last...oooh 2 weeks....no oil pressure in gear at idle....and about 20 or so in gear driving....

as I said, also more noise under the valve covers and them suckers felt hot as hell....