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I’ve got a 65k mile engine in my car right now. Good oil pressure (50-55 psi, Mobil1 15W-50) under full throttle, but very low oil pressure at warm idle (3-5 psi). I was thinking about just doing rod and main bearings to keep the repair bill lower, but I’m wondering A.) if it’s worth it, B.) if that would fix my low oil pressure issue.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
Both oils are fine.
Hot OP around 5psi isn’t all that unusual. The OEM OP switch triggers at 7psi and it’s not unusual for that to trigger at idle coming off of the track.
Our gauges aren’t lab instruments either. 3-5psi could really be 5-7psi, which is less worrisome. I’d orient on pressure at redline. As long as hot oil at redline is >45psi with xW50, you’re probably ok. 40-45psi, start planning for your bearing work. <30psi pull off before you throw a rod.
Usually it’s the rod bearings that go first. As a short cut you can drop your oil pan and replace the rod bearings one at a time from underneath. With some luck the shortcut will turn out ok and all it will cost you is $200 worth of bearings and rod bolts.
There’s no easy way to do the main bearings. The motor has to be completely disassembled. You could do the rod bearings in an evening, and if later you decided that the issue wasn’t solved, pull the engine and do the main bearings too.
Be vigilant for unexplained ticking noises that might be a rod bearing going w/o low OP giving you a warning.
I’ve been lucky that my ticking noise has gone away with a valve adjustment. If the opinion is that my oil pressure is a non-issue at this time, I’m not touching a thing. If it’s just starting to be a concern, I want to nip it in the bud before the season starts so I won’t have any issues once I’m up and running.
OriginalSterm wrote:
Oh you’ll have issues. It may not be next month and it may not be oil…but you’ll have issues.