Oil wt.

[jbojo]

What is the recommended engine oil weight to use? I am using 10-30 with break in additive but as the engine gets warmer I begin to lose oil pressure. Its almost zero when the engine is warmed. I want to fix this problem before I run it again.

thx

-jbojo

 

[Mikes73]

I use 10w-40 in the old cars and 10w-30 in the new, regardless 0 oil pressure with the lighter oil sure doesn't sound right. Mechanical guage?

 

[jbojo]

I use 10w-40 in the old cars and 10w-30 in the new, regardless 0 oil pressure with the lighter oil sure doesn't sound right. Mechanical guage?

Yes, I have one in the engine compartment and that's how I caught it. When I was pre-lubing yesterday I was getting good oil pressure. I am waiting for the oil to cool down and I am going to use the drill to make sure there is pressure again. If so I was thinking of 40 or 50 wt for break in, thoughts?

-jbojo

Just to add, I just went out and checked it again and there was a little more pressure but not much. Checked the oil and it was really thin, like water consistency. I could see oil coming out the distributor area that normally lubes that gear and I could hear the oil draining back to the pan from the heads. The oil does not look contaminated with anything. I am using Joe Gibbs Break in oil 10-30 wt.

 

[droptop73]

Does the oil smell like gas? It sure sounds like dilution.

Try some straight 30 wt.

 

[turtle5353]

I run Rotella 10w-40 oil for diesels.

 

[kidwithfastback=fast]

Id confirm that you have no metal in the oil. Seriously.

 

[goodnigh]

I use Valvoline 10W-30 VR-1 racing oil.

It has a high zinc and phosphorus content.

In what condition is your filter? My engine

has less than 5000 miles on it and the oil gauge

is usually at top of scale unless the engine is hot

then it drops to about 75% at idle.

mike

 

[jbojo]

droptop73,

I tried pre-lubing the motor with a drill again and now I am getting around 25 lbs of pressure. Oil is definitely circulating through the motor. I can still hear the oil draining back from the heads to the pans but not as much now. The oil does not smell like gas so I don't think its being diluted. Also checked the radiator water to see if its contaminated. It's rust colored but I think that its because the engine sat for awhile before I tried started it. I also changed the water and will check again when I start it again.

kidwithfastback=fast.

I am going to filter the oil when I drain it. I want the oil completely cold and I am going to check the oil pressure again. If I have good pressure I will replace it with straight 40 or 50 wt, still deciding on which to use.

turtle5353,

Does the oil feel pretty thick? I opened a quart of the Joe Gibbs oil and it still feels pretty light.

Thx for all the suggestions. I regret now not running this motor on a test stand before installing it. A good lesson learned. When I get to my next project I won't make these mistakes again.

BTW, all the engine sensors indicate everything is ok. The A/F ratio is 14.7 : 1 .

Also what do you think the engine temp should be when running? I was getting around 205* and the thermostat is a 192* one. Bothe cooling fans were on.

-jbojo

I use Valvoline 10W-30 VR-1 racing oil.

It has a high zinc and phosphorus content.

In what condition is your filter? My engine

has less than 5000 miles on it and the oil gauge

is usually at top of scale unless the engine is hot

then it drops to about 75% at idle.

mike

The filter is new, I have the NAPA Gold one right now. I'll probably wind up replacing the oil with a straight wt. I was looking at Valvoline and called the parts house for 50 wt oil and they had the 8 qts I need. Just waiting for the oil to completely cool down to see what kind of pressures I get. What filter are you using? Just hoping I don't have a oil pump issue.

-jbojo

 

[will e]

I don't think zero oil pressure will be solved by changing the weight of the oil. If you hear oil draining back you know some it getting up there. Is it zero only at idle or when you rev it a little too? I would verify the gauge is working correctly.

 

[jbojo]

I don't think zero oil pressure will be solved by changing the weight of the oil. If you hear oil draining back you know some it getting up there. Is it zero only at idle or when you rev it a little too? I would verify the gauge is working correctly.

will e,

The pressure was zero no matter how fast the drill was going. I checked a couple hours later and I was getting about 25# of pressure. I'll be going out again to check it and see what I get. I am just hoping that the oil pump has not failed or something bad like that. The sound of the oil draining back was like water, didn't sound like any viscosity to the oil. I am hoping that I won't have to pull the motor again. I don't have any coolant loss and the oil isn't milky as if water was in it so not sure what the problem is. Maybe bad oil?

-jbojo

Both the mechanical and the electrical oil gauges showed no pressure

Second update: I just went out and looked at the oil pressure and I can now get 50#'s using the drill. I can't hear the oil draining back to the oil pan from the heads anymore

 

[goodnigh]

droptop73,

I tried pre-lubing the motor with a drill again and now I am getting around 25 lbs of pressure. Oil is definitely circulating through the motor. I can still hear the oil draining back from the heads to the pans but not as much now. The oil does not smell like gas so I don't think its being diluted. Also checked the radiator water to see if its contaminated. It's rust colored but I think that its because the engine sat for awhile before I tried started it. I also changed the water and will check again when I start it again.

kidwithfastback=fast.

I am going to filter the oil when I drain it. I want the oil completely cold and I am going to check the oil pressure again. If I have good pressure I will replace it with straight 40 or 50 wt, still deciding on which to use.

turtle5353,

Does the oil feel pretty thick? I opened a quart of the Joe Gibbs oil and it still feels pretty light.

Thx for all the suggestions. I regret now not running this motor on a test stand before installing it. A good lesson learned. When I get to my next project I won't make these mistakes again.

BTW, all the engine sensors indicate everything is ok. The A/F ratio is 14.7 : 1 .

Also what do you think the engine temp should be when running? I was getting around 205* and the thermostat is a 192* one. Bothe cooling fans were on.

-jbojo

I use Valvoline 10W-30 VR-1 racing oil.

It has a high zinc and phosphorus content.

In what condition is your filter? My engine

has less than 5000 miles on it and the oil gauge

is usually at top of scale unless the engine is hot

then it drops to about 75% at idle.

mike

The filter is new, I have the NAPA Gold one right now. I'll probably wind up replacing the oil with a straight wt. I was looking at Valvoline and called the parts house for 50 wt oil and they had the 8 qts I need. Just waiting for the oil to completely cool down to see what kind of pressures I get. What filter are you using? Just hoping I don't have a oil pump issue.

-jbojo

I use K&N all around.

mike

 

[will e]

I don't think zero oil pressure will be solved by changing the weight of the oil. If you hear oil draining back you know some it getting up there. Is it zero only at idle or when you rev it a little too? I would verify the gauge is working correctly.

will e,

The pressure was zero no matter how fast the drill was going. I checked a couple hours later and I was getting about 25# of pressure. I'll be going out again to check it and see what I get. I am just hoping that the oil pump has not failed or something bad like that. The sound of the oil draining back was like water, didn't sound like any viscosity to the oil. I am hoping that I won't have to pull the motor again. I don't have any coolant loss and the oil isn't milky as if water was in it so not sure what the problem is. Maybe bad oil?

-jbojo

Both the mechanical and the electrical oil gauges showed no pressure

Second update: I just went out and looked at the oil pressure and I can now get 50#'s using the drill. I can't hear the oil draining back to the oil pan from the heads anymore

Did you use a high volume pump? Are you sure the pickup is low enough? I wonder if the oil isn't draining back fast enough? Seems unlikely but kind of matches what you are saying.

 

[jbojo]

I don't think zero oil pressure will be solved by changing the weight of the oil. If you hear oil draining back you know some it getting up there. Is it zero only at idle or when you rev it a little too? I would verify the gauge is working correctly.

will e,

The pressure was zero no matter how fast the drill was going. I checked a couple hours later and I was getting about 25# of pressure. I'll be going out again to check it and see what I get. I am just hoping that the oil pump has not failed or something bad like that. The sound of the oil draining back was like water, didn't sound like any viscosity to the oil. I am hoping that I won't have to pull the motor again. I don't have any coolant loss and the oil isn't milky as if water was in it so not sure what the problem is. Maybe bad oil?

-jbojo

Both the mechanical and the electrical oil gauges showed no pressure

Second update: I just went out and looked at the oil pressure and I can now get 50#'s using the drill. I can't hear the oil draining back to the oil pan from the heads anymore

Did you use a high volume pump? Are you sure the pickup is low enough? I wonder if the oil isn't draining back fast enough? Seems unlikely but kind of matches what you are saying.

Yes HV pump. Using 8 qt pan and I am sure it has the right pickup. I could run the drill for 15 mins or more and maintain the pressure before. The motor was sitting an hour and I couldn't get any pressure after the run this morning. Now I get the 50lbs of pressure. This has me stumped right now.

 

[will e]

Okay, it was a thought but sounds like you have it covered. When you are using the drill and there is no oil pressure do you 'feel' the pump? I remember the first time I went to prime an engine my little 3/8 drill wouldn't cut it. It sure didn't feel like it was 'free spinning' or anything.

 

[jbojo]

Okay, it was a thought but sounds like you have it covered. When you are using the drill and there is no oil pressure do you 'feel' the pump? I remember the first time I went to prime an engine my little 3/8 drill wouldn't cut it. It sure didn't feel like it was 'free spinning' or anything.

will e,

I am using a 1/2 " drill and I can feel some back pressure when I prime. What is confusing me is that I now have pressure of about 50# when I prime the motor on the mechanical guage. Earlier when the motor was hot there was very little back pressure on the drill though I could actually hear the oil draining back to the pan from the heads. This tells me that there was flow but no pressure behind it. I was thinking that maybe a bearing spun but then why is there pressure now? This has me totally confused.

I appreciate everyone offering suggestions. Been beating my head trying to think of solutions. This is really getting me down right now.

-jbojo

 

[will e]

Yeah if it is 'free spinning' the oil pump either isn't working or somewhere the pressure is being lost. It is confusing. You would think it wouldn't be intermittent. What lifters and push rods did you end up with?

 

[MechEng]

On my car I found that when the engine is warming up I have good oil pressure on the stock gauge and once the engine is warm the needle drops to 0 (this is the stock ford electrical gauge) and a good rev will make it jump back up. When I had the mechanical gauge on it I would get 25-30 lbs warmed up at idle and could make that number climb to about 50lbs at rev. This is with 10w-40 oil and a bone stock system. Not sure if this helps at all

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jbojo]

Yeah if it is 'free spinning' the oil pump either isn't working or somewhere the pressure is being lost. It is confusing. You would think it wouldn't be intermittent. What lifters and push rods did you end up with?

I am using Rhodes hyd lifters with a 3/4 turn preload. The pushrods are from Smith Brothers racing 5/16" .083 thick and 8.15 " length. The wear mark is centered on the valve stem tips so these are the correct length.

Been searching the internet and have found some say that if the filter is plugged it can cause the low oil pressure. Probably not the issue because I have less than 20 mins run time on the motor. Still trying to come up with a cause. Spent most of the day reading articles and looking or a possible solution.

will e, do you know what temp your motor is at when its warmed and idling?

 

[Totalled]

Did you complete the cam break in? Break in oil will thin out, as it gives up its additives. And, 10W30 will get thin when hot. Change the oil and filter, and see what you get. If you did not complete a cam break in, use a break in oil again.