Hello, I recently bought an Lo3 5spd 91 Firebird, i was wondering

what The normal oil pressure for this car would be. when i start

the car, and during acceleration the gauge reads 60, but after

1-2 hours, when the car warms up, and i am idling the gauge dips

down to below 30 is my Motor in bad shape, or is this normal?

i have no idea, and any responses would be most appreciated

 

ive always been told that if it holds about 30psi and never below 20 psi nothing is bad wrong. im surprised it runs 60psi cold and drops that much when warm. my car runs about 60psi when cold and never sees under 50psi. thats with a high volume pump though. someone will fill u in.

 

I just jacked up the car for the first time, and the Oil pan is pushed up, it looks like the car bottomed out on a rock or a brick or somthing, could that mess up the pressure readings as well? i have driven the car for the past month and she runs good, there is no noticible Knock or anything.

 

mine never drops below 30, but I have 37K on the car. How many miles on the motor?

 

Mine has a lot of miles on it, but its quiet and only just dips below 30psi at idle. It does start off at about 50 cold, but these electric gauges wont beat an old fashioned oil pressure gauge for accuracy.
Ive been in the job a long time, and a guy told me as a youngster, as long as the pressure increases when you rev it, you can drive it.
Obviously he did'nt mean if its showing 1lb psi, and it increases to 2lb when revved, that everythings ok.

 

You guys have oil pressure gauges which work?

Mark.

 

10 PSI per 1000RPM is acceptable

 

the pan being pushed up wont throw off ur readings. it will make you lose pressure. i saw this ruin a crank first hand last week. when the pan gets pushed up it can starve the oil pump; because the space between the pickup and the pan is too close. but the only way to check this and/or knock out the pan is to remove the pan. i would guess your not up for that, but it really isnt needed unless u see some serious psi's lost.