highping

What does everyone's oil pressure read from a cold start to ten minutes of driving (not highway)? I seem to be pegged @ 80 for a few minutes then it backs down to 70 and doesn't really go any lower until I hit the highway...

johnodrake

At normal operating temps ~52 psig cruising in 6th < 1800 rpm

b4i4getit

I think there is a lot of variability on this depending on engine oil temperature and coolant temperature. I seem to remember that you can be at 20 psi with hot oil at idle and that is considered acceptable.

Rogers 07

General rule of thumb for minimum oil pressure is 10 psi per 1000 RPM. More than 60 psi is not needed for anything but pure race engines. 10-20 psi at idle is normal and acceptable for a warmed up LS series engine.

JoesC5

Same here, and it drops to around 28-30 when the oil temp is above 175 at idle.

C6RaceCar

Supposed to be 55psi at complete normal operation. My is pegged too when cold, but settles down when warm. Real deal fact is it runs 15psi higher than the wet motor. 55psi. I watched a video on the then new LS3 drysump motor for the LS3, and that corvette head engineer said it himself. I think his name is Dave. Ill go look for the video on youtube.

highping

Thanks guys...I was a little worried about the 80PSI when cold thing...

PittMD1

I never see it go out of the 30 - 80 range.

68sixspeed

Some ls7 dry sumps are known for high oil pressure..... My z is fine, 60psi or so, my camaro is 80 cold at idle, 120+ cold with some rpm. Others have reported similar butnot totally common results.

No sure if anyone with an ls3 dry sump has reported high pressure though.

greenbox

I just bought a 2012 C6 GS in October with the 6 speed Dry Sump system, and I am getting 47 psi @ idle. It reaches as high as 77 psi under high RPM. It had me worried until I read this thread.

Thanks!

kp

When its cold mine pegs the needle as well above idle, lowest I ever seen it go at idle was 40psi. Its at 55psi on the highway cruising.

Tom45

I have a 2012 GS with a dry sump pump and my oil pressure gauge is also at 80 psi when I first start out. I usually keep the the rpms under 2000 for the first three miles until the oil temperature goes up and the psi goes down to a normal range (about 55 psi).

Gary '09 C6

At first start-up when the engine is cold, I see between 70--80 psi. This quickly recedes as the engine warms up.
Once oil temp is above 175*, I see 45-50 psi at highway speed in 6th (2K rpm +/-). At idle when hot, around 30 psi.

Seadawg

Coincidentally, I just made a 200 mile "circle" to Orlando and back, and with outside air temps showing in the mid 30's, my oil pressure ran around 60 - 65 psi on the interstate (1,500 - 2000 rpms) and the oil temp never got above 140 degrees. I never romped it (probably a first ever), just ran with the cruise on mostly.

When I first took off, it was close to 100 as I went through the gears, shifting at around 3k - 3.5k (this is from the DIC, since the guage pegs at 80). This is "normal" for my car, since day 1. Water temp was in the 180 range during takeoff onto the interstate.

It's a 2011 Grand Sport with dry sump, with about 25k miles on it, running the Mobil 1 5W30 oil and (this time) the Delco 48R filter.

Some more oil related trivia. Changing filter brands between changes has not caused any measurable difference in oil pressure for me, and I've used the Mobil 113, the Delco 48R and the Purolator "gold color" filter.

I change the oil at the "50%" oil life indication, which is about 7,500 miles for my car. The oil looks very clean, and I cut open the used filters, and have never found any appreciable "dirt" or metal in them.

As a comparison, changing my 2007 caddy oil at 50% life, it looks very dirty, using the same oil and same filter brands with it. The caddy has 50k miles, and doesn't use any oil between changes either. I attribute the darker oil color to it using about 7 quarts of oil to the 10+ quarts used by the Grand Sport. Both are daily drivers, and similar driving distances.

A Marsh

My LS3 dry sump is in the 70 - 80 psi range just about all the time.

PittMD1

Don't worry your car is doing what is should.

I have the dry sump system and it is at or close to 80PSI when you first start it. When things warm up a bit then it backs off.

Brian2010

It will start out high until the oil warms up. I run the car easy until the oil gets warm. It usually goes to about 40-50 normally after it gets warm

Bill Dearborn

When monitoring the oil pressure display the oil temp on the DIC so you can monitor the oil temp to see when the pressure starts to change. Monitoring coolant temp or driving distance induces a lot of variables.

Bill

BladeSilverGS

My 2010 GS with dry sump was pegged at 80 whenever I stepped on the gas. Was getting worried that I could be doing damage to the engine. Based on all the posts it sounds like this is totally normal.

thanks everyone.

not08crmanymore

Boy that takes some getting used to after coming out of regular coupes..