[DeTomaso] oil gauge follow-up question

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/6/08 9:25:55 AM, chrisvkimball at msn.com writes:

> When I first start the car, the gauges read pretty high, 60 or 70, then 
> move down to about 40 or 50.  When driving, the stay at about 35 or 40, but when 
> idling at a stop light, they go down to about 17 to 20.  Is this normal?
> 
Yup. Cold oil is thicker and builds higher pressures. And pressures build up 
with rpms. When it warms up, the pressure drops, and regardless of 
temperature, pressures drop at low engine rpms since the pump is turning slower too. 
Thats why when I talk about oil pressures, I always say- 'at idle' , 'at 3000 
rpms' or 'hot pressure'.
You can raise the real oil pressure in an engine by replacing the stock pump 
with a 'high-volume' or 'high-pressure' pump, or shim the pressure relief 
spring on any pump, but over 100 psi is bad for most engines. What you have is 
good, and is typical. Cheers- J Deryke


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