Well this morning it was -26 C (the penguins were loving it, I was dreaming of Jamaica) and on the way to work I noted my oil pressure, which is usually about 26-28psi, was hovering around 14psi. This is highway cruising at about 2800rpm. At the stop light it dropped to almost zero once, about 7psi at the next light.



Questions: Is this normal, and what would be causing it? Or do I need to fix something?



J

it might be normal, the oils really thick?



mike

If the oils really thick wouldn't it be higher? It does seem to be higher when I first start it, as it warms through the pressure drops a little.



But I suppose that because of where the sensor is, the thick oil could possibly have less pressure by the time it got to the sensor.



???



J

hmm thats wierd, maybe its an electric thing



mike

That's another possibility I thought of, maybe the oil pressure sensor is just a bit reluctant to move when it's that cold. I know I was.



J

haha, yah i would be too



mike

Might be from the weather and running heavy oil.You guys have **** for weather on your side of the country.I heard that the rapids are frozen over in quebec.I wouldn't worry about it unless it does this to you in the warmer temps(-5 to -10).Let us know how it goes.

Yeah it was -27 this morning, did it again; yesterday afternoon it was -15 or so, and it was fine. I'm going to cover up my oil cooler.



And actually the oil pressure was twice what I said :redface: did me maths wrong :monkydance: twas the conversion from kg/cm2 to lb/in2 that got me! But the oil pressure was still only about half what it should be.



J

May be a dumb question but do you have any oil in the engine?

But more than likely the sending unit is being lazy, I hear they like to to that when they get old.

Heh heh yeah I checked that . . .



I was suspecting the sending unit as well, but I kind of don't think so now - it was at about 4 kg/cm2 (enough of this conversion stuff) while I was warming it up, once I started driving it went down to 2 kg/cm2 again (-27 again this morning).



So until the polar bears go back north I'm going to keep the oil cooler covered I think.



J