my car is a 305 tbi with super low oil pressure hot idle is barely out of the red sometimes in the red (ive seen it hit zero once). i use it for short trips and am it the process of tryng to get a 350 swapped into it. running between 1500 and 2000 rpms is about 12 or 13 psi. i added some locus oil oil stabilizer to hopefully just keep it running longer, but it hasnt boosted the pressure a whole lot( i did not add the entire quart maybe about half). it runs pretty damn smooth though for such low pressure, so what do yous think?

 

Is the oil pressure sender, gauge and connections all good? Could all be fine, just not getting the correct readings..

 

Yeah, put a mechanical gauge on it, and see what pressures really look like. If they are indeed that low.... you are definitely living on borrowed time, but, how long will it last? Very good question.... Might last years, might blow up tomorrow. No one can really say.

 

+1 had one last for 6 months with no oil pressure just 5qts of lucas 80w rear diff fluid. sounded like a drum solo everytime it started

 

Believe it or not, that would probably make it worse. The point of a thicker oil would be more of a benefit on cold starts vs running.

 

If it was OK and then went low quickly it's probably the sender. Ditto on check with another gauge

 

IMO, if it was going to seize up, it would have already.

 

Do not put thicker oil or any additives in it.
A higher reading on your gage from doing anything of that sort is only an indication that oil flow is being inhibited from the places it needs to get to!
Just run the proper oil. Period.

 

Don't bother with a mechanical gauge. Too much money and work.

Just change out the oil pressure gauge sending unit. Your gauge isn't "bad"; they basically don't "go bad" in such a way as to still work but read wrong.

Sending units OTOH, fail ALL the time. If it leaks, it is almost certainly bad. Just change it.

If the gauge still reads the same, then, you have low oil pressure, and your engine is smoked, and your fears are justified.

If the gauge now reads right, then, ... your old OPSU was defective.

I agree w 86: putting candle wax into the motor doesn't fix the wore-out parts and missing metal. Just faking the gauge into reading higher by reducing the lubricant flow through the bearings, doesn't "fix" a damn thing, and in fact might even make it worse. Wore out is wore out. But don't worry so much about that yet, until after you change the OPSU.

 

It's gotten worse. I'm almost positive the reading is correct. I was hearing some quiet sounds that sounded like metal on metal and I forgot to mention I can hear tapping ( I think it's the lifters). But when I'm driving at good pace it's smooth and drives nice. Idk it's a little scary when you're at a stop light and the gauge is reading zero. I thought I had about a $2500 budget but for various reason it's more like $1500. So sadly I might have to put the 350 swap on hold and get a cheap 305 and swap it in for time being(it's my daily and only car so I don't have a lot of wait time).