oil pressure on engine just fired today

[SnS C10]

hey guys i had a thread about breaking in my engine. I fired it up this morning and everything seems good. sounds great. gear drive noisy. slight rough idle from 1103 cam. At the first startup today with engine cold, oil pressure went to 42 psi. with the engine running at 200 degrees for 10 minutes straight, oil pressure reads 22 psi. just went out right now to start and at 180 degrees, and engine idling at 600 rpm, pressure was 24 pounds. brought rpms to 2000 and held and pressure was 32 pounds. revved high to about 4000 and pressure went to 35 pounds. back down to idle and it goes to 22 pounds.

im using a new jegs mechanical oil pressure gauge. do these numbers sound like everything is ok?

[trac209]

It looks like it could be a bit on the low side 4000rpm and 35 psi I would consider on the lower end of acceptable scale. Usually ten psi per 1000 rpm is the old school quide line. 22 psi at idle is ok and should do no harm. You did change your break in oil I'm assuming,if not you could have some cam lube jamming up your filter and galleries. It could also be your gauge,I have had issues with cheaper gauges being slow to react to pressure.
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[pat 70/71]

I was told once that a 350cu chevy will run forever on just 3.5 lbs at idle!
note sure on this seems minimal to me. I also agree with track209 on the assembly lube&the gauge being questionable. cheers, Pat

[GASoline71]

Never saw the break in thread. So you did do the whole "30 minutes at 2,000 RPM's"? On initial startup you brought it up to RPM immediately without a lot of cranking and idleing?

Gary

[SnS C10]

i fired the engine, brought the rpms to about 2000. then it backfired and hesistated which brought the rpms down a lot so i shut it off. I rechecked my timing and started it back up and ran it fluctuating the rpms from 1800 to 2200 for about 10 minutes. then a plug wire had melted as i didnt notice it was on the header. i shut off and replaced and started the same process again for another 12 minutes about

it maybe cranked over initially about 4 to 5 times before it started. on the 2 restarts, it fired immediately. after looking at my pressure line, it has a slight kink in it where it goes into the block so i believe that is the problem

[pat 70/71]

good news! sounds like that could be your issue. good luck cheers,Pat

[Hubscrub]

my dad told me once a small block chevy is fine with 5lbs at idle,(he was an auto tech for 40+years) i've had several motors that only ran around 30 while crusing, and drop down lower at idle still running fine till this day. I have a monte carlo ss that the factroy gauge sender went bad and my pressure was around 0 at idle scared me and i drove it home... Dad said was it knocking? i said no well if it wasn't knocking you had oil pressure

[jocko]

i believe there is some truth to that - I did a rebuild on a 327 once and afterward, with all new parts for the oil system, only had 25-45 lb pressure, depending on rpm. I was very worried about it and the old guru I took it to to ask about said that was just fine. Never had a problem with it - then again, I didn't put a ton of miles on it either. I'd fix the kinked line, and then see how it goes. It could drive you nuts only if you let it! (and I let it drive me nuts for a long time, then just didn't worry about it anymore).

[fatgump]

Originally Posted by Shaun23a11en

i fired the engine, brought the rpms to about 2000. then it backfired and hesistated which brought the rpms down a lot so i shut it off. I rechecked my timing and started it back up and ran it fluctuating the rpms from 1800 to 2200 for about 10 minutes. then a plug wire had melted as i didnt notice it was on the header. i shut off and replaced and started the same process again for another 12 minutes about

it maybe cranked over initially about 4 to 5 times before it started. on the 2 restarts, it fired immediately. after looking at my pressure line, it has a slight kink in it where it goes into the block so i believe that is the problem

Same thing happened to me, 2500 rpm 10 min. in plug wire caught fire, thermostat failed. I removed the thermostat, changed the plug wire ran it another 10 min and shut it down. The next day I take it out, oil pressure is reading 0, engine feels good and sounds good. When I get home I remove, clean and reinstall the sending unit and pressure is back. I dont know if I hurt the motor or not, but I have been running with the timing retarded too much for about the last 200 out of 400 miles.

[SnS C10]

oh thats a relief everyone to hear that if it happens to have this kind of oil pressure that it is most like okay. thanks everyone ill keep you updated

[bk2life]

12 dollars at autozone for a new oil gauge, screw it in and fire it up quick cheap insurance.

[sean1969c10]

The oil pressure is directly proportional to your rod and main bearing clearance. If the clearances are on the wide side then the pressure will be hovering on the lower side. With 22 psi at hot idle I would expect the rod and main clearance to be .003 or a little more. It is a good idea to try another gauge just to be sure. Hope all goes well.