oil pressure mystery
#1
oil pressure mystery
I am running a 454 HO Carb motor w/oil cooler. when I am warmed up at idle the oil pressure reads approx 10 psi. However when I make a high speed run and throttle down to idle the pressure drops to almost nothing. I can bring it up by shifting into forward and bringing the rpms up to about 1000 or keeping the boat in neutral and throttle up to 1000 rpm. Does this indicate I have a big problem?
#4
Re: oil pressure mystery
Like hiperf said, verify with a mechancal gauge. What oil are you using? Hot oil pressure is always lower than cold and you should have an oil temp gauge to find out how hot your oil is getting. If its over 250 you might want to consider a bigger oil cooler or try synthetic which I hear handles higher temps better.
#5
Registered
Re: oil pressure mystery
Does not sound good, however I have a Merc 350 Magnun in a ski boat that has done that since new. 400 hrs and 9 years later still run great. In a high performance application, I would not be comfortable with pressure being that low. What oil do you use?
#6
Registered
VIP Member
Re: oil pressure mystery
You never mentioned the warning buzzer. I had a bad sender once. I had plenty of OP, and the buzzer never sounded.
Food for thought:
Saw a Ford engine once that did the same thing. The oil return galleries were clogged and the oil got trapped high in the engine after a while. Took several minutes for it to drain back to the pan where the oil pump could get it again.
Saw an engine do this that had excessive bearing clearances too.
Food for thought:
Saw a Ford engine once that did the same thing. The oil return galleries were clogged and the oil got trapped high in the engine after a while. Took several minutes for it to drain back to the pan where the oil pump could get it again.
Saw an engine do this that had excessive bearing clearances too.
#8
Registered
Re: oil pressure mystery
Originally Posted by Edward R. Cozzi
You never mentioned the warning buzzer. I had a bad sender once. I had plenty of OP, and the buzzer never sounded.
Food for thought:
Saw a Ford engine once that did the same thing. The oil return galleries were clogged and the oil got trapped high in the engine after a while. Took several minutes for it to drain back to the pan where the oil pump could get it again.
Saw an engine do this that had excessive bearing clearances too.
Food for thought:
Saw a Ford engine once that did the same thing. The oil return galleries were clogged and the oil got trapped high in the engine after a while. Took several minutes for it to drain back to the pan where the oil pump could get it again.
Saw an engine do this that had excessive bearing clearances too.