Streetlegal?

iTrader: (25)

Here's what is going on. Cruising my oil pressure is 40-45 when rpms are above 2500rom ish. When I am at idle (975) I am around 30-35psi. From what I have read I should be around 40 at idle and 60 cruising.

When I built my motor over the summer last year I replaced the oil pump with a ported ls6 one. I still have the stock shortblock but I changed the rest. Once I had everything back together my oil pressure was about what it is now except my #8 lifters started ticking. I did some research and determined the o-ring was pinched. Two days ago I pulled apart the front of the motor and replaced the o-ring. The old one didn't look pinched but it did look a lot smaller than the new one I got. I made 100% sure I did not pinch or cut the new o-ring so I am confident it is not that. After putting new oil and a filter in (Mobile 1 5w30 full synthetic and Mobile 1 filter) I started it up and it held pressure on cold idle of around 50 or so then lowered down to 40psi when it was warm, where I expected it to be. After letting it idle and circulate for a bit I gave it a few revs to see if the pressure would increase, and it did. The lifter tick was gone and so I thought I fixed the issue.

However, on my drive home, the pressure when right back to what it was doing before I replaced the o-ring. I did not hear the lifters ticking anymore so that was a relief to me but my oil pressure is still low. What else could it be that would cause the oil pressure to stay low like that? To my knowledge of what I have seen, I am not leaking oil anywhere so I am at a loss of what it could be right now. Thankfully I still have pressure, but I am just not sure if it is enough.

Fastdriver1992

iTrader: (1)

nothing wrong with your oil pressure. i've seen ls cars go anywhere from 15psi @idle- 80psi @ WOT

this is what i've seen and what i like to see

15-25psi idle -low but ok
25-35psi idle- normal
40-50psi idle- above normal and good

45-50psi WOT - low but ok
50-65psi WOT - normal
65-80psi WOT above normal and good

its all about how the oil pressure rises with RPM. rule of thumb is 10psi per 1000 rpms

Streetlegal?

iTrader: (25)

Ok I will see what it does when I go play around with it. I'm pretty sure it does that now. It was just worrying me. Thank you for the response. I'll update tomorrow if they weather is nice.

Russ K

iTrader: (1)

I would be using a 10W-30 performance oil with a non stock cam. Plus you will increase your oil pressure. But as mentioned. 30-35 psi at hot idle is normal.

Russ Kemp

JC316

iTrader: (1)

It's normal. Mine was running 25 hot idle and 35 cruising below 2K RPM with a 5w30 and fram filter that was on it. I swapped out with a 10w30 and ac delco filter, brought it up to 38 idle and 50 cruising.

The bare minimum is supposed to be 10 PSI per 1K RPM for most motors. Nissan motors scare the hell out of me, I have a frontier that hot idles at 12 PSI and is completely normal, most master techs say that 7-12 PSI hot is normal.

1_MEANZ28

iTrader: (4)

I recently had my ls1 under the knife .had good oil pressure at driving speeds and idle .as soon as I would go wide open throttle oil pressure would drop to 0.after all the cam head and supporting mods upgrade I also did ls6 ported oil pump..still did it I ended up replacing pick up tube it was clogged not sure if you have a new one

Streetlegal?

iTrader: (25)

Sounds good. I'll use a heavier weight oil. Talked to some other people and they said the same thing too.

My oil pressure stays up at WOT it never drops to zero so I would assume my pick up tube is fine. Thanks for the heads up though

Pumba

I agree with the recommendations of others when they suggest using a different oil. I would recommend either Red Line 0W40 or if you want to go to a cheaper oil use Mobil 1 OW40 European oil.

I would also recommend that your replace your LS6 oil pump with a Melling 10355 oil pump, and install one of Melling's orange - M35507 - pressure relief springs. See the chart below for the flow characteristics of the GM pumps versus the Melling pumps:




Good luck with your decision.