oil pressure?

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Feb 22, 2007 | 08:37 PM

divinezx9

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From: dfw, texas

oil pressure?

i just bought a high mileage lt1 bird. what should my oil presure be at? is it supposed to drop at idle almost all the way?

Feb 22, 2007 | 11:29 PM

siniSSter

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From: Quarter Mile Performance

Yup...LT1's are notorious for low oil pressure. At a warm idle you should be about 18 psi or so. Don't follow the rule of thumb...you'll blow your motor like I did.

Feb 23, 2007 | 12:31 AM

buffman

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From: Kzoo, MI

1 psi per 100rpms is usually the bare min.

That being said, I wouldn't trust an electrical sending unit gauge to tell me precisely what the oil pressure is.

I'd throw a mechanical gauge on it. I always thought I had low oil pressure cause my autometer (electric sending unit) shows like a whopping 10psi at hot (oil temps like 210F)idle. Boy was that thing wrong. Got a nice mechanical gauge with a 1.25% span accuracy. Same oil (had around 3k miles on it so it had sheared some) had a nice 16-18psi

Feb 23, 2007 | 12:36 AM

siniSSter

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From: Quarter Mile Performance

I know i've read somewhere that LT1's minimum are 6psi for every 1000 rpm. Don't trust this....if you have 10psi....you have a problem...trust me. I've gone through 2 motors...with 12psi....It will blow...

Feb 23, 2007 | 04:41 AM

LT1Falcon

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From: Charleston, West Virginia

what if your oil pressure is reading 60 psi?

Feb 23, 2007 | 04:45 AM

transamws6_97

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From: Cincinnati, OH

60 psi at start up is fine. When my car gets up to running temp and I'm cruising on the highway around 2k I'm around 30 psi

Feb 23, 2007 | 09:28 AM

divinezx9

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From: dfw, texas

mine goes over 40 at start up and stays there while i'm driving, but when i brake and come to a stop it drops almost to the red line and sometimes it will set off the idiot light. the car has 123000 miles on it. but this usually happens after i've been driving for awhile and the temp comes up. the car actually runs really cool. the previous owner might have installed a lower temp t-stat. do lt1's normally do this or is something going bad like an oil pump? i have an ls1 vette and its oil pressure stays pretty consistent.