Mr.Utah

I have a new 22r motor, carbed, restored stock pickup. About 1500 miles on new motor and new tranny. Everything is going great. I decided to put in a mechanical oil pressure gauge. From what I have been reading the 22r/e have low pressure. Once warmed up, my gauge is 15-20 lbs at idle. Cruising at 60mph its about 65 lbs. On start up at idle it displays 60 lbs as well. Should I be concerned over these numbers?

I don't want to start a huge oil debate, but would running a thinner oil help out. I have been using Valvoline Max life 10/30 for a long time. Should I switch to 5/30 or something else?

Thanks for your input in advance
https://www.yotatech.com/members/87w...7+project.html

snobdds

Everything sounds normal to me as far as your readings go.

5W30 and 10W30 are the exact same at operating tempatures, "the 30 in the equation". 5W30 is thinner at colder tempatures than 10W30, so in the winter I always use 5W30 and 10W30 in the summer.

As far as an oil to use, Use what you like and just change it often. That will start a whole slew of opinions that really only attempt to split hairs. Change it hot and change it a lot...

Mr.Utah

Thanks snobdds, I change my oil a lot. I read an article a while back where a guy was the original owner of a 1970ish Ford truck. He changed his oil every month, he had well over 400k with nothing more than tune ups.

It's good to hear the pressure readings look right.

Mr.Utah

Anyone else?

corax

Nope, Snobdds pretty much gave the right answer - your oil pressure numbers look good

Mr.Utah

Alrighty then......thanks

sb5walker

Agree your oil pressure sounds good.

Thinner oil results in less pressure and more flow. Flow is good for cooling, but if oil is too thin and the pressure very low the oil will run out the near journals and won't make it to the far ones. Also, thin oil cannot form a strong film and provides less protection and lubrication. There needs to be sufficient oil pressure to get oil to the far ends of crank & cams, but if too thick, oil will have poor flow, especially through the bearings, which can lead to oil starvation, overheating and bearing damage.

So, oil viscosity is a compromise. For both 22REs and 3VZEs that have good tight bearings, oil that is 30 weight at operating temp (the right-hand number of a 5W-30 or 10W-30) will probably be best. For high mileage motors with looser bearings, a 10W-40 or 15W-40 would be better. In extremely worn motors, a somethingW-50 might be needed.

Most people don't realize how much oil thins out when it get hot, or, looking another way, thickens when it cools. A synthetic 0W-30 will have a thicker viscosity at 70 degrees F than a 20W-50 has at operating temp, for example. Here's a chart that shows the viscosity in cST (centistokes) from zero degrees celcius (32 deg F) to 100 degrees celcius (212 F). Operating temp of a 22RE is around 90 deg C and a 3VZE is in the low 80s. The "PP 5W-30" in the chart is Pennzoil Platinum, a good quality group III synthetic that tends toward the thick end of the range. At 100 deg C, the PP 5W-30 viscosity is 10.3 cST. Note the viscosity at zero deg C (32 F): 468 cST or 47 times thicker!!!


(Chart from: http://www.widman.biz/English/Calculators/Graph.html )

But the 10W-30 which has the same 10.3 cST viscosity at 100 deg C is even thicker at 0 deg C: 575 cST.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=2171530

A decent page on the issue from Amsoil: http://synthetic-motor-oil-air-filte...-30-10w-30.htm

So, using synthetic oils with a W rating of 0 or 5 is really important in sub-freezing temps. Even those are MUCH! thicker at startup than any oil at operating temp. But at least they will flow much better than 10W oils, especially if they are conventional mineral oils.

Another important point on the 5W-30s: DON'T USE ANY CONVENTIONAL 5W-30. All of them suffer from extreme viscosity breakdown and all of the ones for which I've seen used oil analysis break down to 20 weight oils in as little as 2000 miles, and that is too thin to provide adequate protection to your motor. So if you're using a 5W-30, use a synthetic. This post has more info on the topic:
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/sh...69#post3026669