is my new oil pressure guage reading wrong??

[87gninpa]

Installed a VDO oil pressure guage with the correct sending unit. on startup, the guage read over 60 for about 3-4 mins. After that it will go to 16-18 at idle in park, which i think is about right. however, whenever i touch the gas, it goes up to 40-60 right away. im not exactly sure what its supposed to read, but this doent seem right, especially on startup./

 

[Ormand]

What oil are you using? 60 when cold could be correct, especially if you're using heavy oil.

 

[87gninpa]

im using the mobil 1 15-50, or is it 20-50?? i forget havent done an oil change in a while, its the mobil in the red bottles....but how about it going up very high everytime i use the accelerator??

 

[scgnx]

My VDO reads very similiar using Mobil 10w30. 22PSI hot idle,
60 cold start and it runs up to 40 PSI or so when you hit the gas.
I think this is fairly typical with these cars.

 

[2QUIK6]

You want to pressure to go up when the throttle is tapped. Shoul dhave at least 10psi per 1k rpms to be safe.
I have about 10-12psi at idle, touch the throttle and it will jump right up to 40-50psi. Also, idle psi will be real high at startup when the oil is cold, mine's around 50-60psi, then it will drop as the oil gets hot, 10-12psi in my case.

 

[87gninpa]

great guys thanks, i know it supossed to go up, but i didnt know that much

 

[noslo6]

I'd be concerned if it DIDN'T come up with throttle. Mine had around 10 psi hot idle before the rebuild (it was like that for 5 years) and I never got used to it. I figured as long as it kept rising quickly with throttle the bearing clearances were fine. It never gave me a problem. I've got around 25 hot at idle now, which makes the pucker factor much more tolerable.

 

[gnxis]

is gauge electric or mechanical the mech is much more reliable.
also vdo is not the best gauge ive had quite a few go bad however ive never had a problem with autometer.
if your still woried maybe borrow a mech from a friend and see diff.

 

[Bent6]

This is par for VDO gauges. I have a car running VDO electric gauges that acts exactly the same. As long as the pressure comes up with RPMs accordingly, you're fine. Oil viscosity will affect your pressure readings somewhat. I also agree with the above posts that mechanical gauges are much more accurate and reliable - that's what we run on the race car - but definitely not the way to go on a street ride unless you're going to mount them out on the hood. I have enough trouble getting the Pusstangs to play on the street without hood mounted gauges scaring them off

 

[sholdwick]

Oil Pressure

You might want to see if it has the stock oil pump and pressure relief valve. Replacement high volume and high pressure pumps would behave differently.

 

[VernLee]

Hi, dont mean to but in , but can you have to much oil pressure???
mines at 80lbs cold, 20lbs in gear at idle hot , Just wondering ?
Vern

 

[salvageV6]

Sure you can have too much pressure.

In the winter you will probably see over 100 psi. in MI that can destroy many oil filters and perhaps blow a few up/off the car.

Other than that I doubt there is much of a downside to high cold oil pressures.

 

[Ormand]

Too much oil pressure puts a load on the oil pump drive,and wears the drive gears and the timing chain, as well as the front cam bearing. So it's best to run only the pressure that you "need" whatever that is.

 

[WarpSpeed]

Right, too much psi is not good,, same as running too hard on a cold engine.
For example, oil psi is a type of hydraulic pressure. Try to visuallze your the oil feed "holes" for the Crank main bearings. At cold/high psi, all four are pushing down on the crank journals, trying to jam the crank into the bearing caps.... this can't be good.
Not to mention the load on the oil pump drive, etc.

 

[G McCall]

Do you have a turbo guard ?
Its summer now, but with the turbo guard, Baldwin filter and 20-50 racing oil, my car would peg the oil guage needle until it warmed up. I remind all that you can blow an oil filter open by "tromping it" if you don't let the engine warm up sufficiently with the above setup. ( I switched to 10-30 )

Your symptoms sound normal (IMO) as others indicate.

 

[Welby]

Glad I read through this... Just drove an '87 Limited the whole way from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, and while the car ran great, I noticed when I first started it up the pressure was at around 60, then when it was fully warmed up and I'd stop for breaks, at idle it would only read about 12lbs... I was mentally doing the face, even though the car seemed to run perfectly, lol. Pressure would rise to between 35 and 45 when on the gas (Only glanced at it a couple times and that's what it was at)

So it's normal for the pressure to read that low when hot? Man, that's going to take some getting used to... What's the reason for it?

 

[Red Regal T]

When running down the highway at speed for a while, you're oil will be the hottest, thinnest, and show the least pressure, under these conditions. You'll find if your pressure is 12 psi at idle under these driving conditions, just driving around town you're oil pressure will be 4 or 5 psi higher. This is all normal. Your psi should rise into the 60s to 70s under WOT.

As far as gauges, you can't beat a mechanical gauge. IMO, electric gauges are questionable. I don't know why anybody buys an electric guage unless it was to measure VOLTS. I just bought a GN with electric auto meter gauges, and sure enough, I don't believe they're accurate and have to replace them with the more reliable, more accurate, mechanical gauges.

 

[d0n_3d]

I don't see anything wrong with electric gauges...I've had mechanical gauges to show proof and the electric gauges show dead on with the mechanical...

 

[Red Regal T]

GOOD...........YOU CAN KEEP THEM.

 

[turbojack]

oil pressure 10-12 psi Idle ----OK

I had /have this same thing with my car.After rebuild,60 psi cold idle,10-12 psi hot Idle. Tore engine out,re ckd clearances on rods/mains,side of rod,crank end,etc,etc,,found all good,PERFECT---so ,I guess its supposed to be this way,,like the man says,10 psi for every 1K RPM,thats what I have,and its still running fine----