97 Lt1 oil pressure
97 Lt1 oil pressure Ok so i have a friend who just bought a lt1 and the oil pressure is really low. The car drive good and response good. what do y'all think is going on?
Sounds normal. Lt1s usually run lower pressure then normal SBC. Mine with the stock pump at idle was usually around 15. GM specs atually say 6psi at warm idle at the lowest is fine
Last edited by bigj2717; Oct 9, 2010 at 08:44 PM.
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As mentioned, GM spec (not people's opinions or people who are proud of their unnecessarily high oil pressure at idle in their signature) is minimum 6psi at idle and 10psi extra for every 1,000RPM.
Lets take the fact that you find higher oil pressure at idle as "unnecessary" or nothing to be proud(given my mileage)as an example. I think the more applicable cliche about opinions resembling excremental holes is more due in YOUR case.
Here's a link for the OP...checkout post #16 for another more real life "opinion" and not just some textbook "spec" likely out of a haynes manual:
http://www.fullsizechevy.com/showthr...l-Oil-pressure
Do your friend a favor and have him try to up that pressure some. Especially if he plans to get those revs up with even an occasional weeked thrashing.
I personally woulnd't fugg around with anything @5/6psi("gm spec" lol or not)thats where i might swap out the oil pump to a high PRessure NOT volume. Thats if I really want to put off rebuilding usually its good for an additional 50K before the pressure heads south again. It just buys you some time but wear has set in on the clearences and bearings nothing can change that but a rebuild.
Tight tolerences like when newly rebuilt will always give the best oil pressure but age and maintanence and level of use or abuse in many of our cases take their toll on a case by case basis. Its possible a past owner did not take the absolute best care of it or simply was a weekend warrior and never missed a weekend at the local street thrashing.
Either way thats NOT let me POUND on it pressure......that's ease back on thos neck snapping rev climbs time.
The OP says his pressure is on the last line of the gauge. Assuming his gauge is accurate, that's 20psi. Assuming post #16 is gospel (
), he says that "anything much below 20 PSI and you are shortening the life of the engine."
...funny how that works out.
He ALSO goes on to say that those "lower pressures cause the internals to get hotter, which breaks down conventional oils." Obviously if you run conventional oils this may have an inkling of truth, but being that most LT1 owners use synthetic oil this is far less of a concern.
I didn't say that 6psi is a recommended pressure, I said that is GM spec. This is NOT what is in a Haynes manual - this is coming from the FSM, from the engineers who designed the motor.
I never said having high oil pressure at idle is a negative, did I? I said that it is unnecessary. One should not automatically assume that 20psi (or even 10 or 15psi) is a bad thing and higher oil pressure is needed simply because it is not.
), he says that "anything much below 20 PSI and you are shortening the life of the engine." ...funny how that works out.
He ALSO goes on to say that those "lower pressures cause the internals to get hotter, which breaks down conventional oils." Obviously if you run conventional oils this may have an inkling of truth, but being that most LT1 owners use synthetic oil this is far less of a concern.
I didn't say that 6psi is a recommended pressure, I said that is GM spec. This is NOT what is in a Haynes manual - this is coming from the FSM, from the engineers who designed the motor.
I never said having high oil pressure at idle is a negative, did I? I said that it is unnecessary. One should not automatically assume that 20psi (or even 10 or 15psi) is a bad thing and higher oil pressure is needed simply because it is not.
Whatever you do don't mount a mechanical oil pressure gauge inside the car routing a plastic line that carries the oil to the gauge.....you'll find a few guys on here who love to do that and tie it down using banjo string.....later the string comes apart and they get oil squirting in their eyes and all over the interior.......hahhaha.
Your stock electric will work just fine...you definitely could opt to check it out mechanicaly tho just to confirm.
If your on the 20psi mark your fine and thats good for that mileage.....
Some guage clusters have little lines dividing that red mark your talking about landing you under 10psi......so if your under 10....try to up it.
Y'all come back now ya hear!
Your stock electric will work just fine...you definitely could opt to check it out mechanicaly tho just to confirm.
If your on the 20psi mark your fine and thats good for that mileage.....
Some guage clusters have little lines dividing that red mark your talking about landing you under 10psi......so if your under 10....try to up it.
Y'all come back now ya hear!
x10 on that, the electricals are always off it seems. put a mechanical on it and see where it is really at. looking at an old gage is not helping. I have a 97 and if you watch the gage in the stock cluster close you can see it get stuck ever so slightly and then pop up to normal. My stock is off by 10lbs at idle and 5 at it's highest point of 60.
i asked the same question when i first got my LT1. everyone told me it was normal.
Ram, why does everyone feel the urge to argue with you??? most posts i see with you have someone trying to prove what you said wrong...
Ram, why does everyone feel the urge to argue with you??? most posts i see with you have someone trying to prove what you said wrong...
If its only low at idle then mine has done the same thing. When its cold its shoots up but when its warm it stays around the 1/4 mark then when I give it any rpms it goes to the middle line
