Low oil pressure

[The_Handier_Man1]

From: Winn_Brave_1980  (Original Message)
Sent: 6/9/2005 6:04 PM

Hi all, again an issue with my Brave. The oil gauge shows a low pressure.
The needle of the gauge is pointing to the very first start of the marked area on the L side, sometimes outside the marked area - means going down nearer to the 'L'.
The oil level is fine, I have checked it. May it caused by a malfunction of the oil pump???
Any experiences/ideas about this??

Thanks in advance from Germany,
cheers
Sybille



From: denison
Sent: 6/10/2005 10:15 AM

There might be several reasons for the gauge showing a low oil pressure indication.
* The oil pressure sender unit could be bad, from old age.
* The oil filter could be the wrong type - some oil systems use a "full-flow" oil filter, some use a "bypass-flow" oil filter. Also, your filter could be clogging up from dirt that the oil is cleaning off the inside of the motor. A new oil filter would cure this problem.
* The gauge itself could be bad, or have a bad electrical connection. If your engine instruments are connected to the wiring with a thin plastic "printed-circuit", the copper electrical connections on that thin plastic could be corroded. Any connector for the oil pressure wiring could be corroded too. If your water temperature gauge is also reading a low temperature, it could be the voltage limiter on the back of the instrument cluster. This provides a regulated voltage to the water temperature and oil pressure gauges, and possibly the fuel gauge also.
* To test the oil pressure sending unit: Locate it and remove it. Temporarily replace the sender unit it with a mechanical oil pressure gauge instead. Start the engine, and see if the oil pressure is at least 40 pounds per square inch when the oil is cold. I dont know what this would be in european units. You could also put in a new oil pressure sending unit.
* If the fuel pump has a small split in the rubber diaphram inside, fuel can be leaking into the crankcase from the fuel pump. This will make the oil very thin. It will also make the oil pressure lower. Fuel pumps are about $40 in the U.S. and take less than an hour to replace.
* There is a pressure-limit valve in the engine oil system. It is a coil spring that pushes a small steel ball onto a round seat. The oil pressure pushes this ball off the seat, and limits the oil pressure from being too high. If that spring is broken, or if the steel ball is jammed by a piece of dirt, then you will have low oil pressure.
* It is rare for the oil pump to be bad. Very rare.
* If you had bad engine bearings it could cause low oil pressure. This would be very rare, unless the engine had more than 150,000 miles on it, or more than 250,000 kilometers.
* The oil pickup screen in the crankcase oil pan could be clogged with dirt. This can happen if you are driving an engine that sat for years without being used on long drives.
I use 10W 40 oil in my engine. 20w50 will also work, in hot weather - such as in North Africa. So will 30 weight, 10W30, 20W30. In these old engines I do not advise you to use 5w20 or 5W30 oils, especially if you are driving in hot weather.



From: Winn_Brave_1980
Sent: 6/11/2005 6:05 AM

Hi Denison, thousand thanks for all the hints!!!!
We will follow up everything!

Good idea coming up was to think about the fact, that the Brave was at least standing around for 2 years as a garden house :-( !!

So may be something dirty is in the system!!

The fuel and the water gauge are looking fine . So it might be, the electrical system is OK!
The oil newly filled in is 15W40, the most used version here in Germany. The Owner Manual list this type, too! The oil filter was also changed last month, but may be, it becomes dirty now after some miles if drive ?!
I checked today: if the engine is cold, the oil gauge shows a normal value.
We will see!!



From: Winn_Brave_1980
Sent: 6/11/2005 6:07 AM

Sorry, some miles OF drive, not IF drive :-)!! Bad fingers today :-)



From: west coast redneck
Sent: 6/11/2005 11:51 AM

Hi. I wouldn't totally disregard the possibility of a failing oil pump.My inlaws that had my 78 brave before me did that & it blew the motor.Good luck eh .Dale Doebert