chris8835

Is this oil pressure normal for an LT1 at idle? It seems so low to me. I just want to make sure this is nothing to be concerned about, or is it?

infinitebird

iTrader: (11)

It's on the lower side but still normal according to GM. As long as it's out of the red area you are still fine. Low oil pressure is very common for these motors.

connexion2005

iTrader: (49)

Even for a hot idle that appears somewhat low. When was your last oil change and what oil are you running?

connexion2005

iTrader: (49)

Be sure that it goes up with rpms...I had low oil pressure similar to that and spun a bearing but I'm pretty sure the motor wasn't put together correctly which is what actually caused the spun bearing.

chris8835

My last oil change was actually yesterday, I always use a tad bit more than 5 quarts because of my oil leak on the back of the manifold. I use Royal Purple 10W-30 at the moment.The pressure does increase as the RPM's go up,at normal cruising it stays right at 40psi and on a cold start it sits at about 60psi until the engine warms up.

infinitebird

iTrader: (11)

I would say you are probably fine then. Do a search about low oil pressure on here. Plenty of other people have had it be that low. It's pretty typical.

Lt14mla

iTrader: (2)

i would say your ok, as long as your not experiencing other symptoms. Again, these engines are notorious for theyre hot low oil pressures.

djjab57

iTrader: (17)

i run the same oil as you and thats where mine is at, always been that way

94z 05 hemi

my car was low like that until I changed my oil pressure sending unit.

Red1996SS1519

iTrader: (7)

Do yourself a favor and don't take chances, if I were you (NOW) and if there's 100 people responding to me saying that their car is the same, I'd still not take chances, do the typical easy steps and see where it takes you.

change the oil pressure sending unit.
go for thicker brand oil.
Put a manual oil pressure gauge to make sure ur gauge is showing accurate

When u put VEE beside all these things then you'll know where u at. Otherwise, you'll end up having the same problem I had last year on a Camaro I had for listening to people who told me LOW OIL PRESSURE ON OUR ENGINES IS TYPICAL. You can guess what happened to my engine for driving it WHEN IT WAS SHOWING LIKE URS IS AND RUINED IT because people told me NOT to worry.

I just have few questions for you : You didn't specify if the gauge showed higher PSI and just recently started showing LOW like that. If that's the case, even if a million people here would tell you it's normal, use ur common sense and you'll know that it's NOT normal.
If you bought the car this way and has been like this for as long as you owned it, then it's something else. But again, if it was different and now is low then it's a red flag buddy.

Good luck buddy and no offense to anyone please, it's just my opinion and to each his own.

chris8835

Hey guys,

Thanks for the info, I guess i'm kinda getting mixed answers here so I think I will just take my chances and not worry about it for now. It has been like this since I bought the car with 24,000 miles, it now has 64,500 on it right now. So if something was to go wrong I guess it would have done so by now. I have never had any problems with the engine what so ever, and I have had many track passes along with many, many street runs.Lets just put it this way I have put the car through hell and back with no problems at all.Also yes the gauge does shoot up to 40 at normal cruising speeds. So I guess it's nothing to be to concerned about, considering I have heard from most people that it is normal.Red1996SS1519 and 94z 05 hemi I will take your advice and do those procedures that you guys mentioned and see what happens.

-Thanks

GLT1

just put in a new oil sending switch($25),if it does not improve just take it off,clean it and return it

fivepointo

my 97 trans am does even worse. cold crank it sits at 40. normal temp driving it sits at 17. if i drive it all day it willl drop to 0 and the 'check gauges' light comes on. but no noise, smoke, overheating, or rough running. been doing it for 2 years and about 30xxx miles. if its been like that then i say leave it be. its a gauge or sending unit. or our motors are just troopers!

LT1forever

iTrader: (4)

After having the mods in my signature installed I had my car for 2 days before I ran into problems. I mowed through the gears up to 4th and let off easy, then drastically lost oil pressure. It would run at an idle but after a few minutes the engine would die. The next day I made it about 10 miles before it felt really doggy so I shut it down. Would this likely be a spun rod bearing? There is no smoke, knocks or anything like that. Ever since then my cars been out of commission.

PNYKLR-TA

iTrader: (1)

chris8835

that picture looks exactly like my oil pressure. even at a cold start it is never above 60 and once it warms up at idle it is usually around 20 give or take a few psi. when im cruising its at 40, under WOT its at about 45 or so. so i would say you are fine, i noticed my oil pressure was like that after my cam install with new lifters and my mechanic explained to me that you only need about 1 psi per 100 rpms. so say if you are running 650~700 rpms then 6.5~7.0 psi of oil pressure is fine as long as the oil pressure raises directly with the rpms. he also said something about the lifters our cars use having something to do with the low oil pressure, but then again im no mechanical genius so he coulda been blowin off steam.