Gotit4cheap16

iTrader: (3)

Haven't even had the car for a week and my oil pressure dropped to 20 psi after going wot over the weekend. The cars temps got to 240 that whole day of driving and weather was in the 90s. I'm running dual derale fans and still have a stock radiator....guess the stock radiator isn't cutting it. On cold starts the oil pressure is normal and 45psi but soon as car warms up to 185 or up the psi drops but car still drives good though and psi goes up when rpm does. Pics below of before and after.

Gotit4cheap16

iTrader: (3)

Psi on start up

The BallSS

iTrader: (9)

Not sure you have an issue, my psi drops on 90+ degree days especially when I beat on it. I'm gonna add a cooler, perhaps you should do the same. I'd keep driving it and keep an eye on it, no weird noises, no problem lol.

69-chvl

iTrader: (11)

Same thing just happened to me....lost 10psi at idle. Changed to a new filter, got it all back and holding! Try that first.

jay_rich

iTrader: (8)

A few things i have had happen in the past...

1. Frame Synthetic filter clog the first time going WOT on my 383 LT1. Swapped filter and the oil pressure came back. (I was seeing 30psi ALL THE TIME, WOT and all)
2. Pinched the O-ring when installing the pump on my C5 Vette. As careful as I was it wasnt enough. Normal PSI until the car got warm then it idled around 15-20psi.
3. Spun a bearing on my fresh 370ci and was only seeing 25psi warm idle on a fresh motor. Was quite noticeable when I yanked the filter.

I must say LS motors seem to be alot more sensitive to oil pressure whoa's. My 355LT1 blew and oil line and eventually shut off when I first got my old Iroc. Filled it up and drove it 300km home and beat on it for a couple years....10 years later that motor is still getting pounded on. The same motor stripped all of the oil pump drive teeth at 6500rpm and ran dry.

Jay

JoeNova

Damn, makes me wonder.

I have a 20-25 psi warm idle.

69-chvl

iTrader: (11)

Try a K&N or equiv high flow filter. A new build seems to clog oil filters with assembly lube and all that other garbage floating around.

Gotit4cheap16

iTrader: (3)

Ok thanks guys guys...I will try a new filter and change the oil

jay_rich

iTrader: (8)

Im sure that's quite normal for a higher mile SBE. My vette was around 80K on it when I purchased it, tossed a Ported LS6 pump in when I did the cam swap and on a HOT day with 220 degree oil temps it was around 25psi idle with 10w-40. On a normal day it usually was around 32-35psi.

My current is a 100k mile 5.3L L59 with a melling high pressure pump and I run 15w-40 rotella in it and I see around 45psi idle with 180-190 degree oil temps. 65ish cold idle. Im sure if I ran 5w-30 i would see a lot different results.

Jay

VTC_WS6

iTrader: (9)

Doesn't strike me as particularly low. My '12 Silverado w/ 20k miles idles warm at 20-25psi, always has.. food for thought.

JoeNova

Once the car is together and its ready to drive, I'm going to drop the pan, check for any wear or damage, and then fill with 15w-40 and a better filter. I'm running 10w-30 now. It has ~80k miles.

It is making an odd sound on the passenger side, but it doesn't sound like any kind of knock/peck. More like a solid thumping noise. Could be some odd frequency coming from the 4" open downpipe aimed at the floor on that side, but it doesn't at all sound like a rod bearing/bent rod. If it was that bad, I wouldn't have pressure at all.

VTC_WS6

iTrader: (9)

My turbo TA makes all kinds of odd reverberations from the DP dumped just ahead of the front tire also, sound a lot like a 'thump-thump' noise too so that doesn't surprise me.

JoeNova

I first heard it right after I got the car running. Sounded like it's coming from trans area. This was before the converter was bolted to flexplate. I passed it off as the friction from the flexplate trying to spin the converter. Pretty loud thump on passenger side.

Definitely not a knock. Sounded like a baseball bat to a big pillow. Made a few tuning changes, changed the oil (which looked great) and it went away. Noticed it again a couple of days ago on a cold start.

The BallSS

iTrader: (9)

If the vitals look good and its not a knock or a tap then don't chase it too long or you'll drive yourself nuts. I had a big aggressive solid roller in my old big block and you should've heard the noise that ****** made. I constantly thought it was coming apart lol. Eventually I learned to tune it out and never had an issue with it.

addy's240

get a real oil pressure gauge first, then come to conclusions man.

SteenH

I mean I'm just giving my 2 cents I'm sure you don't need anymore convincing but my 145k mile ls1 has right around 20 psi warm idle, doesn't really worry me any.