Oil pressure?

[skobylenski]

Okay, so yesterday I was running some errands, and when I came out of a store, I noticed the right side of my truck was COVERED in oil, and I mean COVERED. The whole side of the truck was splotches of oil. I tried to locate it, to no avail, and in the process, noticed that the wheel wells (both front and back on the right side) were splattered with oil, like the tires had thrown it up into them. Having not found any problems, I headed home, watching my gauges like a hawk. Nothing was different than normal. This morning, I leave for school, and immidiately notice that my oil pressure had jumped a whole notch on the gauge. It was up both at idle and at speed, so whatever happened with the oil on the right side might have affected my pressure.



I think it might just be a coincidence, that I might have hit some oil on the highway yesterday and covered my truck with it, and then today something else let loose and my pressure jumped. I had always wondered why my pressure was a notch lower than what it said in the Owner's Manual, and now I'm really wondering what the hell is going on. The truck still runs fine, all the fluid levels are good, so I'm really confused



Can anyone take a stab at this and tell me what y'all think?



Thanks,

Scott

 

[JLEONARD]

Scott,

As always with oil pressure "problems" I would first look at electrical issues... such as making sure the chassis ground is good, making sure the connection on the sender is good, perhaps putting in a new sender after that.



IF you lost so much oil that it made it to your tires, it would be obvious when you look under the hood.



Today was a little cooler than it has been in a while in NW Ct, so that might kick pressure up a little on the gage until the engine warmed up good.



Hope this helps a little.

Jay

 

[michigandon]

Seems to me as though if you lost THAT much oil out of your rig yourself, you'd definitely know it when you pulled the dipstick out! But hey, I've seen crazier things happen.



I have an Autometer Z-Series oil psi guage and sender in my '93 engine. When warmed up it always shows 25lbs at idle and double that at cruising speed. Or anytime the throttle is off-idle for that matter!



Don

 

[skobylenski]

Thanks guys. I thought about it some more (prob. not a good thing ), and I decided that something let loose for the better as far as oil pressure (maybe a clog over the sending unit that was blocking a correct reading?). Now the needle sits where it's supposed to, according to the owners manual. My dipstick still shows that I have oil in the engine, so I think the "oil-paintjob" was just a coincidence (at least that's what I'm telling myself to keep from going insane trying to find the problem). In the meantime, I'll keep checking things, and hopefully find out why my pressure suddenly jumped up to the place where the book says is correct... while I'm thinking of it, where's the oil pressure sending unit accessable from (since I don't have my manual with me here at school)?

 

["Mad Max"]

Scott -



The sending unit is directly behind the vacuum/power steering pump, screwed directly into the side of the block. There's another place to tap a gauge into and that's right on top of the oil filter housing - there's a little 10mm (?) plug (?) that screws top-down into the top face of the filter upper housing. I dunno amigo, but if there's nothing wet on the engine, and the mark moved that much... I think I'd change the oil and get a good filter (fleetguard) and re-baseline the engine. If you can get a gauge with numbers on it, even if it's plumbed right into the top of the filter housing, I think that would at least tell you just how much pressure you have, though it'd be a bit hard to tell while driving it :-laf

- Sam

 

[skobylenski]

Uh huh, I was thinking of changing the oil this weekend, assuming it ever stops raining #@$%! I might think about adding another oil pressure gauge if things don't return to "normal" after I change the oil.



Sam, I'm not following what you mean by "it would be a bit hard to tell the oil press. while driving... "

 

["Mad Max"]

... I was just being silly - but what I meant was you could just do a quick check of the pressure by tapping the gauge directly into the filter housing... . the drawback is you'd only be able to read it with the hood open.....

I actually thought about having an oil pressure gauge both in the cab AND tapped right into the housing..... I guess I just like lots of gauges... .

- S

 

[skobylenski]

Oh, okay. Maybe I'll start thinking about finding a pressure gauge, just to make sure everything is running as close to correctly as it can, considering I have 311,000 miles on a 14 year old truck...

 

[skobylenski]

Okay, so yesterday I changed my oil, and the pressure is still reading just like it was before I changed it, it's still higher than it was before last Tuesday. I found an Isspro gauge, actually 2, that could work, the R5600, and the R5601. The 5600 is an 80psi, and the 5601 is 100psi. Both are $49. 08 off the Isspro website, so which one would be better, as I have no idea as to what the oil pressure actually is in these engines... there's also a 400psi gauge but that says it's for "Drive Oil Pressure. " Any suggestions?



On another note, my dad suggested that maybe the air conditioner let go of it's R-12, thus coating the truck with a light spray of oil, which it was, since it washed off in the weekend's rain. I tried the A/C yesterday, it worked, but gave off a pretty awful smell. Of course, I don't usually run the A/C, so it might have just been stale air in there...

 

[JLEONARD]

I would opt for the 100 psi version.

I had to go that way with my marine Cummins... . the 80 psi gage wasn't enough at start-up..... kept blowing the sender.

Jay

 

[skobylenski]

Got the $7 Wally World version of the 100psi gauge yesterday, and it sits about 40-50 psi at idle, and jumps up to maybe 75-80psi under normal load. How's that sound for numbers?

 

["Mad Max"]

Scott -



Those sound a little high, but otherwise okay. Were those readings taken with the engine hot or cold?



Mine will push about 80 psi right on start-up just off idle, but it'll sit right around 22 psi hot at idle and about 45 psi hot at speed.



- Sam

 

[skobylenski]

Ok, so after a couple days of watching th gauge, here's what I'm up to: when I start up, and it's idling cold, it sits about 20 psi at first, then jumps up to around 75 or 80. Once I start moving, it drops off to about 50, and sits there for the most part. A warm idle is about 25psi. These seem pretty normal, I guess. I sure wish I'd had the gauge BEFORE the needle on the gauge cluster jumped a week ago... oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 right?

 

[bgilbert]

Hey Sam, can I tap into the filter housing for a permanent oil pressure gauge on the dash? Is that a good location for the sender? Sure seems like a simple way to go. I have a autometer z-series 100psi.

 

["Mad Max"]

Hey BG -



Yeah, as far as I know both locations provide the same pressure readings... and the filter location a hell of a lot easier to plumb into! In order to hit the block you have to do a 'T' fitting right, but the fitting hits the block if it's directly tapped into the block... soooo... you have to extend the 'T' with a small section of brass tubing, and THEN the 'T' and then the aftermarket and factory gauges... ... .



I, um, discovered the filter route after tapping the block. If the turbos (oops, did I say that out loud??) allow I'm going to tap in to the filter during my rigs Winter build-up. I'm going to 'T' the filter, and will have a gauge both in the engine bay and in the cab. I'd like to see the pressure while the hood is open... that and I just like gauges and extra places for stuff to leak... .



Hasta amigo,

- Sam

 

[JLEONARD]

Sam,

An alternative if you want to have gages in two places would be to use a sending unit designed to feed two gages.

Very common in the marine field... ie gage on flybridge panel and gage at lower station from the same sender.

That way only one place to leak.

Jay