Well after my first engine let go after less than 600 miles (you can read the story here : https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...-600miles.html ).To make a long story short, the engine quickly lost within second all his oil pressure (2 psi idle and less than 25 over 2000rpm by the time i see it).The crank cast was the trouble and it ended up eating my crank bearing and the block itself.The oil was full of shiny gold parts and the oil filter was totally clogged (see pics in the upper link) . The story while being really frustrating did ended up well because th shop did another one for me on warranty .Its wasnt there fault and callies agreed to pay for the new engine. This is a 383 long block fully assembled from oil pan to valley cover with my own heads.

Ive received my new one.I did my break in properly and excactly like the shop wanted and state in there paper document.I did cut my 3 filters and did not see anything to be concerned with.Im now just around 500 miles on it and approaching the 600miles psycholigical mark quickly.The car stays around 190 degree or less and is going really well with no strange noise.But the warm idle oil pressure keeps getting me a little stressed.All the numbers below seems to be more than fine with me but maybe not the idle one...

Here is what i get from day one ,first start to today 500miles later :

-Cold startup idle :60psi to 65psi within 5 secondes
-Cold driving in town : up to 72 psi
-Normal operating range(coolant in the 190 degree ) normal driving between 1800rpm and 2000rpm : always at 50 psi within 1 psi less or more
-WOT : getting higher than 65psi but my eyes are more on the road a this point
-Idle fully hot (oil in the high 210 and low 220) :32 psi but i did saw a 30 psi after a hard 4th gear wot run

The oil pressure will go up and react quickly (within a second) to 50 psi when i get from idle 850 rpm to 2000rpm when taking off a red light.

So should i be concerned
Thanks

 

Are you running a high volume pump and what weight of oil?

 

Its ported and shim ls6 unit and currently running 5w30.

 

I think I'd stay with the same weight oil, but try a different brand and see if you have any change in pressure

 

honestly doesent seem that bad to me.

 

If your to concerned go to a 20w50. What we and many around run in our race moyors

 

What did the engine builder say when you showed him the above info?

 

Oil pressure sounds just fine on this engine. you will see different pressures depending on conditions & oil weight. I only run Castrol GTX 10w30 in mine personally. Never had a reason to change. Good rule of thumb is 10psi per RPM, so if your idling at 1k RPM & your getting 40psi your more than adequate. And if your seeing 60psi at WOT your just fine.

I completely understand stressing on it especially after losing one already. Just dont make yourself paranoid about it. IMO your oil pressures look just fine.

Now if you were seeing a dip in pressure with acceleration that could be a issue, or the pressure moving around at idle or cruise. But it seems to be consistent according to what you have listed. Watch those ported pumps though as they can suck a pan dry before all the oil can get back down to the pan at WOT.

 

Already tried 3 of them.

Too tick for my taste and my engine

Did not want to bother them first,thats why im asking for opinions.


I ll try the 1k idle rpm just to see what psi i will get.7 quarts pan come standard in my c5z so no worries .

 

Well here is a little follow up.I did 2 different kinda of ride yesterday.

On my first ride,i went on small deserted back road(a couple of miles long) with a lot of curves.This road requires a lot of hard braking.Really looking like a tarmac rally stage that end with a long long straight stretch.So only using 2nd and 3rd up to the redline i did run it really hard and finishing the stage up with a 2nd-3rd-4th up to the 6800rpm.Oil pressure while running was still ok but again the idle one now bothers me a little.

Just after this really hard run, i pulled over on the side of the road too see the oil temp,coolant temp and idle oil pressure.My oil did reach low 230 wich i did expect and my coolant was ok but the idle oil pressure drop to 24 psi...


Then i went on a small ride highway trip (120 miles)
-Average of 70-75mph in the 1800-2000 rpm;
-I also did a couple of 3rd and 4th WOT up to 6800 rpm during all the trip;
-Oil temp never passed the 219 degree mark

Result:
-I had between 47 to 50 psi of oil pressure in the 1800-2000 rpm range during all the ride.I would get 47 just after the 3rd-4th wot run and it would get back to the 48-50 after some miles(maybe after the oil cool down a bit.So i shouldnt be worried for that part.
-At WOT i did get 64 psi at 6800rpm in 3rd and 68 psi in 4th so again everything seems fine.
-When i came back home and park the car ,i was at 27psi oil pressure at idle (850rpm)


Went back home and let it cool for the night.This morning at cold start i did get a normal 63psi.

So what should i do:
-Just leave it like that because the oil pressure drop at idle is because my oil was a little hotter because of my rally run stage;
-Change oil for some...maybe 5w40 to be a little thicker when warmed;
-Reach the fetal position in a corner of a dark room and begin to cry because its really bad ....

Thanks
Eric

 

Your oil pressure readings sound normal for 5W-30 in warm weather and hard use.

I never run road course events (30 minute sessions) with anything thinner than RedLine 10W-40, or even Mobil-1 15W-50. 5W-30 oil is just not up to the task without substantial cooling.

At Bondurant school in 2004, they were running Mobil-1 15W-50 (after blowing #4 rod bearing on two LS1s running 5W-30) with no further engine failures. I was seeing 300-305degF oil temps on the DIC, but the engine was happy.

 

Also, for street use in Spring/Summer time I've had great results with Mobil-1 High Mileage 10W-30.

Has more zinc & phosphorous extreme pressure additives than the regular Mobil-1 flavors, the API "SL" spec from back when most of these LS engines were designed.

 

Something else to add. If you are not seeing anything bad in the filter any more you are good. That is your proof.

 

I also agree with trying 10W oil. Should help out your pressure when running it hard for extended periods.

 

Well since i dont have any problem while runnig in normally and at wot it should be ok.Also i saw 24psi after my hard run.I took it on the other trip just after and after some cooling on the highway my idle pressure gain 3 psi (27).I think that if it was going on the worst side,the more i would run,the more my idle pressure would drop.But thats just an hypotesis

Maybe i dont undertsand but running 10w30 instead of 5w30 would give thicker oil in cold condition ??? A 40w weight oil would not be better in hot condition ??? Right now i think i need a thicker one for hot temp.Right now im running M1 5W30 with some RL additive (zinc/phosphorus/zddp).Any suggestion to replace it.I dont care to flush it right now.

Just looking to understand ???

 

When you look at the viscosity specs for many oils like Mobil-1 or RedLine, you find that the 10W-30 flavor typically has slightly higher hot viscosity than the 5W-30 one. Thus, the 10W-30 one usually makes slightly higher pressure at hot engine temps than 5W-30.

 

Is it worth trying the 10w30 or sould i jump directly to the 40w weight ?

 

If the engine is broken in, I'd try Mobil-1 High Mileage 10W-30, comes in a handy 5qt jug at Wal-Mart for $24 or so. Mobil-1 0W-40 also is a good option for LS engines.

Shell Rotella-T 6 might be another option at 5W-40 specs and seems to get good reviews on bobistheoilguy.com but I've never tried it.

 

Thanks for all the input.
Bitog gave good review on Shell T6 and 0w40 M1.My wallmart carry some 15w40 Shell Rotella i will go there today to see if they carry the 5w40 one.If they got some, i ll change my oil with a new filter even i only did 200 miles yet on the new oil.

Thanks again.

 

Well my super walmart doesnt carry the T6 anymore.They only got the 15w40 triple.I will look for something else.

By the way i just came back from a 1 hour run.Here the outside temp has reach 35 degree celcius(wich is 95farenheit) + humidex factor...kinda hot day here.Oil temp never passed the 225 degree mark even with a lot of spirited driving and aggressive downshift.Coolant stand right at 192 degree(180 degree stats with RL water wetter).Oil pressure while driving always between 1800-2000 keeps playing between 46psi to 50psi and would jump in the 53-55 range when downshifting and playing in the 2500rpm range.Idle stays in the 25-27 psi range after some city driving with coolant reaching 201degree.So i guess its up to me to keep it that way wich is probably ok since i get good pressure everywhere in the rpm range or change to some 40w oil.

By the way i ve checked the spec sheet between the M1 5W30 and 10W30 .And the new dexos 5W30 got better numbers than the 10w30.So the 10w30 is totally useless.

5w30: http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...il1_5W-30.aspx
10w30: http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub..._1_10W-30.aspx