GlockLT4

Mine is still around 10-12psi at idle.. the second I hit te gas it's up to 40 or higher.... you guys have similar readings?

scorp508

At idle, like 55. My oil almost never reaches 200, so I can't help you there........

Boo383

Mine stays around 40 at idle when hot.. When I take off it usually gets up to 65 or 70. This is on my 84 it has around 150K on it.. The lowest I think I have seen mine when stopped in traffic in summer is around 36 or so.. :chevy

KLLRVET

At idle, mine is near 80 psi cold, and goes to 30 - 40 psi when thoroughly warmed.
Tony

GlockLT4

Arg.. well.. at least i'm within the GM recommended psi levels... 10psi for every 1000 rpm. As far as what I've read, the computer will shut off the fuel pump if the oil pressure gets too low for operation.


[Modified by Glock'94, 5:41 PM 9/18/2001]

mikey

both my LT1's exhibit same characterisitcs as yours glock.. the '93 has 130k miles on it and the '94 only has 2k miles on a new 383 build from the second LT1 that was in it ..
this with mobil1 10w-30.

tikiltd

Hey Glock, mine is exactly the same as yours. Nothing to worry about.

KYVette90

I have 150,000 on my 90. The oil pressure is about 45psi at idle. 10-12 seems very low.

Rich B.

I get 35psi *indicated* at idle when warm; 58 - 60psi *indicated* at speed, warmed up...

And my '86 does not have the low oil pressure cutoff - I've run it out of oil and coasted home with an *indicated* 0psi...And re-started it and drove it in the garage...109K miles... :(

NoWorries

On my L98, I was showing 24 psi at idle, and it would hop to about 40 psi under load.

After dissasembling the motor, there was NO way in hell i was making ANY oil pressure. My sensor was completely wrong, I now have a mechanical guage and I'm much more pleased with it.

BTW, my new motor is making 44 psi at idle. :eek:

BBA

Bone stock L98 106K miles, shows about 50PSI at 600 RPM idle hot in Fl summer traffic.

The differences some see are the stock engines were build with super tight oil clearences because GM wanted to kill the "bearing noise" that almost all 350's had at idle. This gave a higher idle oil pressure and increased engine bearing life.

Racing the engine would definitely cause bearing wear that increased clearences and lowered idle oil pressure... I would say anything above 20 PSI at idle is acceptable. If it's 15 PSI at 600 RPM you have a main/cam bearing oil problem. I would start using heavier oil.

GlockLT4

That's what I did.. started using 15w50, and i got flamed for doing so... not sure why. :confused: :confused: Maybe the people that said ONLY use 5w30 because that's what GM says to put in it didn't think about the worn bearings and larger clearences because of it. I think I recall someone saying that because of the smaller clearances you shouldn't use anything but 5w30. I think we prove them wrong here...


[Modified by Glock'94, 9:09 PM 9/18/2001]

Z06_BluByU

Glock - you and I have VERY similar setups and mileage (i have 124k) at idle I get about 20-25psi when the oil temp is @200 degrees.. what is important is that you have a minumin of 40psi at 3000 rpm.. that has been a standard GM number for some time.. you might consider running 10w-30 or 10w-40.. maybe the 5-15 is a bit extream..

Dan Parker '96

100K on mine. 30psi at idle warmed up and 50psi above that. I wouldn't sweat the pressure reading now. My shop manual states a 6-8psi minimum pressure at idle. 30psi at anything above that is adequate.

Your engine will live until you rebuild (which from your previous posts, I believe isn't too far in the future).

Don't get hung up on "higher oil pressure is better". Gauges are notoriously inaccurate. Most *** engines have gone to just an oil light 'cause most won't register oil pressure on a gauge at idle (I know this from owning many a *** car with a gauge). I go by the 10psi per 100 horsepower rule. This would mean that 30psi on a stock LT-1 at full throttle would still give me warm, fuzzy feelings. Anything more is just wasted power at the oil pump.

Goody

Yours sounds a tad low but still within GM specs so don't worry about it too much. The lower pressure still indicates increased wear on the bearing surfaces, but the engine should continue to run for some time. :flag

Togo

130k on mine and 20w50 at idle @225* oil pressure is between 64-80psi
:flag

MrJay

I have 135K on my engine and it is about 40 at idel and it goes to about 80 at high rpm but if the oil gets hot it will drop down about 10 on both ends, I think that I read on here that the LT1 does not have as much oil pressur as the older engines but it is plenty for them.

Jay

87SAM

Mine with 68K and at 100 degrees outside @600RPM sometimes reads as low as 12 - 15 PSI. This is after I replaced the sensor with a generic one :( . Before that it would not go below 25PSI. I don't have much confidence in their accuracy.

GlockLT4

Wow.. now that seems high to me...

Fastguy

Stock L98 with 98K miles. I get 36 hot at idle, 55 cruising. It gets arround 210-220*. I think 10 psi is way too low at idle. Sounds like a new pump may be in order. I would verify it is not the sending unit by hooking upo a mechainical gauge.