I am un sure if i have an oil pressure problem or not. Just wondering if anyone can advise. When cold the pressure gauge is between half and 3/4 when hot at idle it drops to around 1/4 and when driving normally it rises to 1/2.

Thanks for your help

1990 3ltr v6

warren

 

perfectly normal. FYI my 87 w/ rebuilt motor does this as well.

 

Mind at ease!! thanks for the quick reply!!

 

Have you consulted your owners manual about this?

 

Its normal, when you first start your truck the oil is cold so its thicker and makes the gauge read higher, after the oil warms up it thins out so it reads lower at idle, at highway speed the pump is moving more oil so the gauge reads higher.

 

Agree,mine holds the same pressure as OP.Its normal,the flip side of that is high oil pressure is bad.I might add that my 90-4R uses very little oil at 249K miles(no leaks either).

 

Couldnt find much in the haynes manual. I was just worried the pressure was getting to low and the motors sounding a bit ticky. Not sure if im just noticing it more now cause i had the exhaust fixed. One of the ticks is definatly the fuel regulator, but still is a bit noisey looking at it yesterday at idle its actually at 1/8 at idle. Im not loosing much oil either.

cheers guys!

 

I'm not sure how accurate the stock gauge is, I've heard that they are not all that great.

 

Mine does it too. FSM states for 3VZ at idle a minimum of 4.3 psi and at 3k rps 38-75psi. Pretty broad range if you ask me, but should put your mind at ease. It is supposed to lose pressure at idle.

 

Im guessing 75psi would be that split second before the motor detonates.

 

lol...when I looked at it for the first time I was surprised, seeing as how broad the range is...especially for how precise and fsm typically is.

 

I know this is an old post but I just put a digital oil pressure gauge in and am getting a 0-4 reading at idle. I'm in range while driving (3000 rpm). Wondering if it is my gauge or even a problem. Just wondering about low pressure at idle. I just replaced oil pump and heads re-done all kinds of other stuff done to it also.

Also a guy told me to run a zinc additive in my motor since I had heads rebuilt. Good idea or not?