oil pressure issues
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We've been doing a Warhawk build and we are having low oil pressure issues as the motor warns up. It will start out at around 48psi but by the time the oil temp gets to 115 it drops to 16psi at idle. The hotter the worse it is. I have had the engine in and out three times, checking clearances and even switching blocks with no luck. We have a ls4 oil pump in it and have checked the oring and even tried a different pump. A friend mentioned that we check the lifters. I am running a set of solid morels that are new but 5 years old. The cam is a 750 lift. At this point we are at a complete loss as to what the problem is. Has anyone heard of any problems with the solid lift tie bar lifters from years past that may be causing oil pressure loss? Thanks for any thoughts.
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We've been doing a Warhawk build and we are having low oil pressure issues as the motor warns up. It will start out at around 48psi but by the time the oil temp gets to 115 it drops to 16psi at idle. The hotter the worse it is. I have had the engine in and out three times, checking clearances and even switching blocks with no luck. We have a ls4 oil pump in it and have checked the oring and even tried a different pump. A friend mentioned that we check the lifters. I am running a set of solid morels that are new but 5 years old. The cam is a 750 lift. At this point we are at a complete loss as to what the problem is. Has anyone heard of any problems with the solid lift tie bar lifters from years past that may be causing oil pressure loss? Thanks for any thoughts.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...-pressure.html
... we went to Katech's high volume oil pump and now can run 20w50... it's solved the problem so far.
Last edited by GTO1_OHIO; 09-15-2012 at 07:34 PM.
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That is a little loose but should not be that big of a deal. I would want it .018-.020
What is a bore dimension of the mains. Did it get alighn honed to gain main clearance. On alum block the bore is going to get bigger with heat and if the bore is on the edge of being a little to big to begin with the heat will only make it worse.
This is what happened to my engine the first time. That and the mains got set at .028. It didn't last long.
Tim
What is a bore dimension of the mains. Did it get alighn honed to gain main clearance. On alum block the bore is going to get bigger with heat and if the bore is on the edge of being a little to big to begin with the heat will only make it worse.
This is what happened to my engine the first time. That and the mains got set at .028. It didn't last long.
Tim
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I had the same problem with my ERL 427 block ( I have a 650 lift). ERL took the block back tightened the clearances, plugged the DODs, heated the block to see if microcracks were opening up when the block got to temp and probably a few more things I've forgot. None of this helped. Morel's a friend of the shop that works on my car so they inspected my lifters and got involved to come up with ideas. Didn't find anything though. We tried several oil pumps ... SLP & Melling and ran 50w dino. This went on for a year. Some things helped a bit but nothing solved it... until
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...-pressure.html
... we went to Katech's high volume oil pump and now can run 20w50... it's solved the problem so far.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...-pressure.html
... we went to Katech's high volume oil pump and now can run 20w50... it's solved the problem so far.
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That is a little loose but should not be that big of a deal. I would want it .018-.020
What is a bore dimension of the mains. Did it get alighn honed to gain main clearance. On alum block the bore is going to get bigger with heat and if the bore is on the edge of being a little to big to begin with the heat will only make it worse.
This is what happened to my engine the first time. That and the mains got set at .028. It didn't last long.
Tim
What is a bore dimension of the mains. Did it get alighn honed to gain main clearance. On alum block the bore is going to get bigger with heat and if the bore is on the edge of being a little to big to begin with the heat will only make it worse.
This is what happened to my engine the first time. That and the mains got set at .028. It didn't last long.
Tim
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Im just skepticle about the pump being the issue. The reason being that I put the same pump that made 45psi hot in the last warhawk I had (I broke a rod in it last year and daylighted the block)and it actually got a little worse. The main change I have made is going to a solid setup and larger cam on this motor. I really appreciate everyones thoughts. I am at the point of daylighting this motor with a .50 cal.
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No Warhawk "whiskers" here, but a "what if" ??...
Adding more lift on the cam, obviously raises the lifter further. Might the lifter body, [being it's a solid] have the body wt reduced by machining, so much so, that the added lift is uncovering the oil port in the block? It wouldn't take much, as the cold oil would have a lower volume pushed thru the leak, vs hot oil. Thus the 48psi vs <16????
Adding more lift on the cam, obviously raises the lifter further. Might the lifter body, [being it's a solid] have the body wt reduced by machining, so much so, that the added lift is uncovering the oil port in the block? It wouldn't take much, as the cold oil would have a lower volume pushed thru the leak, vs hot oil. Thus the 48psi vs <16????
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No Warhawk "whiskers" here, but a "what if" ??...
Adding more lift on the cam, obviously raises the lifter further. Might the lifter body, [being it's a solid] have the body wt reduced by machining, so much so, that the added lift is uncovering the oil port in the block? It wouldn't take much, as the cold oil would have a lower volume pushed thru the leak, vs hot oil. Thus the 48psi vs <16????
Adding more lift on the cam, obviously raises the lifter further. Might the lifter body, [being it's a solid] have the body wt reduced by machining, so much so, that the added lift is uncovering the oil port in the block? It wouldn't take much, as the cold oil would have a lower volume pushed thru the leak, vs hot oil. Thus the 48psi vs <16????