Did H/C install,car started wright up had great pressure 60#.It will hold pressure while warming up and stays at40# for 10-20 minutes driving,then pressure starts to drop till you can hear top end not getting enough oil around 20# or lower.Sound like o-ring or bearing.Car sounds normall till pressure drops.

 

I would think your pressure would be low right off the bat if it was an o-ring issue. I wouldnt think it would be a bearing being that you just noticed it after the head/cam install. Give us some more details. Can you take a short video...maybe showing the pressure dropping inside the car...and also from the outside so we can hear the noise??

 

Did you remove the oil pump while doing the Cam ?.. was the pump restalled and the mating areas to the block flush, pickup tube with the o-ring seating correctly and the flanges flush ?

You may have nicked a cam bearing while you remove and installed the new cam ?.. one possible cause for the low pressure.

Let us know what you find !

 

I also was thinking if it was an o-ring, pressure wouldnt be good for 10 to 20 minutes.Thats why I thought bearing.Yes I put a new oil pump in,I took my time with the h/c install everything seemed to go very smooth.My ? is if a bearing were bad wouldnt it make noise from the start?Work is pretty crazy now so I dont know when Ill tear it down again.

 

A nicked CAM Bearing would not cause any noise (like ticking or banging).. as the CAM is just rotating. after the heat would then start to drop pressure as the oil thins out.

 

what about the pressure being low-due to a oil brand-
i just did my oil change-30-40 on start up

when warm at wot 30 psi

with new oil at wot 60 psi at 6200rpm

rule is around 10 psi per 1000 rpm

Thanks

 

when i did my cam swap i had great oil pressure. after a day of driving it started dropping to 20 psi during wot runs. i changed the shitty fram oil filter and replaced it with a napa gold. problem solved.

 

What oil weight and filter are you running? Did you change your oil and filter withing 100 miles or so after you swapped the cam?

I personally like the K&N filters. I see the best oil pressure with them. Try running an extra quart in your engine too see if that helps.

 

"Friends don't let friends use FRAM."

 

i was running mobil 10-30 and i hadn't made it to 100 miles yet. i was at maybe 50, thats when it started diving on me during wide open. i only changed the filter then took it back out, no problem. the fram had to be clogged.

 

Right now Im still trying to put 100 mi on it,so Im using the walmart synthetic and an ac delco filter.I usually run k-n filter and have german castrol ready to go in.If it were a clogged filter it wouldnt have good pressure on every restart would it?It always starts with great pressure and then drops while driving.

 

my car is doing the same to me after cam swap, pennzoil 10-40 with ac delco filter. before swap i had 35-40psi at start up and 25-30 psi on warm idle. now i see 35-40 psi start up then 2minutes if even that long goes to 0psi and it sounds like junk once it gets to 0psi. i come to the point were we are taking the motor out because the seasons over and refreshing everything in it. i think mine might of been the stock 98 pump causing the problem for me but now i have a melling 296 coming and all new bearings and rings for the 83,331 mile motor.

maybe your oil sending unit mine broke and i didnt know till i was at the track it was at 40psi and just slowly went down till 0.

 

mine had good pressure during everything except WOT.

 

Took the car out today and drove it at least an hour without getting on it .The pressure stayed right below 40,engine sounded good.The other times I drove it I always got on it.Maybe Ill change the oil-filter see what happens,or does the fact that I didnt get on it point to the bearings?