Oil pressure kg/cm2

[haggis73]

I have a 3.1Mu

The dash board shows the oil pressure guage ( i believe that is what the oil can is ) as never going above 6 kg/cm2. It fluctuates during drive time and can go scarely lower. There appears to be a break somewhere between 8-10 kg/cm2 which I assume is optimum.

1) Is this correct?
2) How can I remedy if not?

Cheers Stephen

[Gobbles]

I asked my mechanic and he said "mate they are all bullshit...If you keep an eye on it and it does the same thing regularly then dont worry...Only worry if it is reading something unordinary."

My 2.8 sits on the 6 as well...once the engine is warm it usually reads at about the 4-5 or so.

Cheers,

Kurt.

[haggis73]

Cool, any other values out there?

[beetOls]

mine reads at 6 as well when i start it up in the a.m. then goes down to 2 at idle after warming up...when driving...goes up to 4 or slightly higher...i don't mind it coz' its been like that for quite some time now. =)

well...i think doing a compression test will give you some answers as to the oil pressure level... (not sure though)

btw, this is on a 4jb1t engine...cya!

[geeves]

Mine has never gone much passed 4 even cold with a few revs but once fully warm it idles between 1 and 2 but climbs to 4 when working. Less if the oils old although the cheap repco oil was far worse at this than the Delo400 Im now useing. It was like this when I bought it at 92k its still like this at 180k

[beetOls]

we have pretty much have the same reading geeves, but mine just goes down a hairline under 2....i dont think mine was ever above 4 either...i use petron trekker for my oil...used to fill it with Castrol CRD (this is used by the dealerships here when i got mine) have also tried delo (i find my rig more smokey with it)

[geeves]

Richard seemed to think the Dello was a bit thin and has gone back to Pensoil but it works fine for me even if a little over spec Its cheap at the warehouse

[DavidM]

It's been so long since I drove a car with other than a low oil pressure warning light only that it took me a while to get used to the oil pressure gauge on the Mu. I kept worrying that the oil pressure was only around 6 when cold and the gauge scale goes to 15 (on mine - 1996 3.1). When I looked up the conversion factor though and found that 6 = 85 psi approx. I ceased to be concerned. When my engine is at normal running temp. and at 100 kmph the pressure is about 5 dropping to about 3.5 at idle.

David.

[DavidM]

beetols said:

well...i think doing a compression test will give you some answers as to the oil pressure level... (not sure though)

btw, this is on a 4jb1t engine...cya!

No, a compression test will not give an indication of oil pressure it measures the pressure in the cylinder as the piston rises and confirms that the piston rings are sealing well and that the valves are closing properly against their seats that's all.
If you are concerned about oil pressure a garage could plug in a direct reading oil press. gauge to give you an accurate reading but you would normally only want to do this if your car gauge was reading very low or very high or not reading at all and there were accompanying strange noises i.e. engine death rattle - a rather similar sound to the noise that diesels make anyway.

David.

[Amber]

My 2.8 4jb1 at 130,000kms reads 8 at start up and drops as it warms, just over 2 at idle when hot and rises when revs on. Had a compression test just done and was 70%. Runs like a dream, smooth, no worries, better than a new one.

My 3.1 4gj2 at 40,000kms reads 8 at start up and drops as it warms, 3 when at idle when hot and rises when more revs on.

Amber

[Benzev]

Mine has about 365000 kms on the clock never had work done to the engine and the oilpressure is 2 cold at idle not much higher than that off idle cold! Once at operating temp it stays at 2 off idle but drops to 0 at idle!! I'm in need of new bearings obviously but she still runs really well but soon I'm going to need to replace my clutch anyway so I might rip the engine out and give her a bit of a recon! Might give it one more oil & filter before then and perhaps another 5000kms! Should be no probs!

[Arthur Kay]

My 94 3.1TD will get up to 8 when cold and drop to 3~4 when hot & at idle. So this seems to be pretty normal. Low oil pressure at idle (ie 0) is a sign of worn big end bearings. Most engines have an oil pressure relief valve to avoid excessively high oil pressure.