[Hikin Mike]

Just this afternoon I took the car out and noticed my oil pressure read 40psi sitting at idle and 60psi driving. Normally its 15-20psi lower on both. Oil level is fine.

Any ideas?

[Bill Hanlon]

Start by putting a cheap mechanical oil gauge into the same port on the engine. Better yet, put a T in the port and attach both gauges at the same time.

[steve25]

Hot oil pressure ( after driving for 15 minutes) should be 18 psi or better at 1000 rpm and 60 psi above 2500 rpm.
I would change your oil filter before running the motor again even before checking you sender!

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by steve25

Hot oil pressure ( after driving for 15 minutes) should be 18 psi or better at 1000 rpm and 60 psi above 2500 rpm.
I would change your oil filter before running the motor again even before checking you sender!

Yeah, that would be my first course of action too, change the filter.

What brand filter are you running?


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[Bill Hanlon]

I know that the oil pressure port by the distributor is past the filter. Is the oil pressure port on the filter mount between the pump and the filter or on the output of the filter to the block?

[Hikin Mike]

I use Fram filters and I use the port by the distributor. Will change the oil before I do anything else.

FWIW, The car sees maybe 2000 miles a year. The current filter was purchased probably 15 years ago (car was parked for 10 years), so it is an older version of Fram...if that makes a difference.

[Dragncar]

Originally Posted by Hikin Mike

I use Fram filters and I use the port by the distributor. Will change the oil before I do anything else.

FWIW, The car sees maybe 2000 miles a year. The current filter was purchased probably 15 years ago (car was parked for 10 years), so it is an older version of Fram...if that makes a difference.

Get the Fram out. I have run Nappa Wix 1049 forever and never had a issue. Cut apart a Fram and you will see.
But the Race Frams are a different deal just like the race Champion plugs are a different deal too.
Stay away from the cheap garden variety 2 piece Champion plugs too. Had 2 of them fall in half, one electrode might have went through the engine. It was gone.

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Hikin Mike

I'm pretty good at watching gauges as they are located on the cowl panel. It was around 3:30pm and maybe 70 degrees. It was a short trip, maybe 5 minutes. Parked it for about 1.5 - 2 hours and drove home.

Will try and borrow a gauge. It's possible I'm just not remembering things. It's happen before...

it's not really about watching the gauges, its that the engine/oil may have been colder than normal with lows in the 30's recently. getting to 70 from a cold night in the 30's still leaves the thick iron block much colder than 70. & a 5 minute trip did not get anywhere near fully warming up the oil to drop psi. very possible it was just thick "cold" oil keeping the gauge higher than when fully warmed up in 70-80+ degree weather.

even in the 60's & low 70's my oil gauge on my 60psi pump will read close to 80 for awhile after first start up & idle psi will be 40+ untill 15-20 minutes of driving to fully warm up the oil. just something to consider.

Originally Posted by Dragncar

Get the Fram out.

he changed to a wix.

[Hikin Mike]

Originally Posted by 78w72

it's not really about watching the gauges, its that the engine/oil may have been colder than normal with lows in the 30's recently. getting to 70 from a cold night in the 30's still leaves the thick iron block much colder than 70. & a 5 minute trip did not get anywhere near fully warming up the oil to drop psi. very possible it was just thick "cold" oil keeping the gauge higher than when fully warmed up in 70-80+ degree weather.

even in the 60's & low 70's my oil gauge on my 60psi pump will read close to 80 for awhile after first start up & idle psi will be 40+ untill 15-20 minutes of driving to fully warm up the oil. just something to consider.



he changed to a wix.

Looks like you posted at the same time and I just saw this.

[HWYSTR455]

The Summit Racing mechanical gauge is $22 new, is a full-sweep face, and closely resembles the AutoMeter 'style'.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-g2934/overview/

Skip a beer & cheeseburger at the pub one day and order.

If nothing else, you could use it as a reference, and keep it in a box for future use.


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[Navy Horn 16]

Originally Posted by Hikin Mike

I use Fram filters and I use the port by the distributor. Will change the oil before I do anything else.

FWIW, The car sees maybe 2000 miles a year. The current filter was purchased probably 15 years ago (car was parked for 10 years), so it is an older version of Fram...if that makes a difference.

Fram is absolute garbage (check out the video below). That filter is almost certainly the cause of your problems.

Get a Wix or Napa Gold filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTNJLEV8CG8

[78w72]

Originally Posted by Navy Horn 16

Fram is absolute garbage (check out the video below). That filter is almost certainly the cause of your problems.

Get a Wix or Napa Gold filter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTNJLEV8CG8

he posted that he changed to a wix & it does the same thing...

[Bill Hanlon]

The only way I can think of that would suddenly increasing oil pressure at the distributor is for the filter to clog and the bypass in the filter mount is opening (at about 10 psi difference across the filter). That would account for additional oil pressure in the system.

As many above have already said, change the filter and try again.

As many who are about to post will say, get rid of the Fram filter. Assuming the filter swap fixes the problem, cut the old one open and see what the inside looks like.

After you get it open, use thiss forum's search feature and look for Fram.

[Hikin Mike]

Originally Posted by Bill Hanlon

After you get it open, use thiss forum's search feature and look for Fram.

I'm familiar with the Fram issues. I don't have a filter cutter, so I'm not going that route.

[steve25]

The good news at the end may be that you had a small item of crap from day 1 keeping the pumps check Ball unseated thus lowering the pressure and it has cleared out now!

[Bruce Meyer]

Originally Posted by steve25

The good news at the end may be that you had a small item of crap from day 1 keeping the pumps check Ball unseated thus lowering the pressure and it has cleared out now!

I bet this is it.

[PunchT37]

Originally Posted by steve25

The good news at the end may be that you had a small item of crap from day 1 keeping the pumps check Ball unseated thus lowering the pressure and it has cleared out now!

Me thinks the same thing.

[Hikin Mike]

Another question.

I've used 20w 50 forever. I used it "because", nothing more. Since I'm going to change the oil, should I change weight?

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Hikin Mike

Another question.

I've used 20w 50 forever. I used it "because", nothing more. Since I'm going to change the oil, should I change weight?

If your goal is to diagnose an oil pressure sudden change issue, I would just change the filter first and see what happens. Don't introduce a bunch of variables into the problem. Changing oil viscosity, and changing from synthetic to mineral based and vice versa will change the oil pressure. I would change the filter, add a quart of the same oil you were using and continue the diagnosis.
Once you are satisfied you have corrected the problem or are happy with what you have, I would change the oil. Personally, 20W-50 is really old school but many people still run it. It really doesn't hurt anything in our old engines, but cost a couple HP and a tiny bit of gas mileage. Driven in cold conditions, 20W-50 can take up to a minute of running time to get any dribbling liquid out of the pushrods. That's a long time to run without any real splash lubrication. 10W-30 has become the general go to in these old muscle car engines unless they are really worn out or have very loose bearing and piston clearances. 10W-30 from 20W-50 will drop your oil pressure about 5 psi hot through the RPM range.

[Hikin Mike]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

If your goal is to diagnose an oil pressure sudden change issue, I would just change the filter first and see what happens. Don't introduce a bunch of variables into the problem. Changing oil viscosity, and changing from synthetic to mineral based and vice versa will change the oil pressure. I would change the filter, add a quart of the same oil you were using and continue the diagnosis.
Once you are satisfied you have corrected the problem or are happy with what you have, I would change the oil. Personally, 20W-50 is really old school but many people still run it. It really doesn't hurt anything in our old engines, but cost a couple HP and a tiny bit of gas mileage. Driven in cold conditions, 20W-50 can take up to a minute of running time to get any dribbling liquid out of the pushrods. That's a long time to run without any real splash lubrication. 10W-30 has become the general go to in these old muscle car engines unless they are really worn out or have very loose bearing and piston clearances. 10W-30 from 20W-50 will drop your oil pressure about 5 psi hot through the RPM range.

Sounds like a plan. Just change the filter. I do have a few quarts of the old 20W-50.

Going to the store now...