Oil pressure guage

[Mark Smith]

Hi there,

When I fist start my Mu from cold in the mornings what reading should be on the oil pressure guage ?

Mine seems to be at 8 until things have warmed up ... is that right ?

[Andrew]

Thats about right.

If you do a search for "oil pressure" there were a few old postings with these details as well.

[geeves]

Sounds about right Once hot it should be only slightly less than this at 2000 but drop to about 2 at idle

[oleg]

I think, you should change your oil more often . ( I've ben told4,5-5 is ok for idle.

[geeves]

I think it has more to do with the quality of the oil I was using repco diesel special and after 3000 hot idle pressure would drop but come back with a few revs. Now useing Castrol Delo400 which Ive been told is a little too good for my engine but still only $35 for 5 liters and hot idle presure holds right to 5000km My engine has done 172000km +- Jap import adjustment though.

[Pissy]

So, which oil/s (brands and weights) do people recommend for the MUs, I am due for my first oil change since I bought it and considering I had put in a brand turbo due the last guy not servicing the car, I am very concerned in making the right choice. At the moment I have Castrol (forgot the weight of it for now)
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Pissy

[PeterSchurms]

I dont think there is too much difference between the most recognised oil brands with regards to quality. I would never recommend the supermarket no-name specials though.

I have been using Penrite - Light Diesel for over 2yrs now and have not seen any problems. My Oil pressure seems to hold up over that time. I personnaly do not like Valvoline products but that is my opinion only.

I change my oil and filter very 5000kms. This is the important part.

If you are concerned, you could try a oil flush. Do NOT use a flush additive, I have herd some horror stories about these. Use a cheaper oil and change it more often ie oil every 1000kms or so. Use a oil that has a high detergent quality. Do this for about 3-6 cycles, until the colour seems to settle ie not go black straight away. This will remove most of the gum that builds up inside your engine.
Then pick your oil of choice and return to normal 5000km changout. Your local Repco or motor mechanic will be able to recommend a quality oil.

Good luck.
Pete

[oleg]

When I used Repco diesel oil , pressure after 2000 km drop down to 4. So now I'm using Castrol oil and after 4000km pressure never go lower then 5.3. So it dose make a difference.

[2much]

I use either Shell helix super diesel 15W40 or caltex delco400 diesel 15W40, whatevers on special at the time.
My Bighorn has done about 8000kms since a recon and i have just changed the oil and filter for the second time since (bit early as I had to replace turbo). The oil at change has been still rather 'clear and clean' and not thick and black as when I first got the bighorn a year ago.
When at hot idle the pressure gauge reads just a tad over 2, it increases a wee bit if you rev the engine at standstill. When from cold start it climbs swiftly to about 7 and stays there untill engine warms. On highway it varies between 2.5 & 4, depending on headwind, air temp, load, road gradient etc. When i change the oil filter the gauge reads 0 for a few secs then wham it reads full pressure then eases off, i wait untill it settles before revving or driving anywhere.
Sometimes at idle the gauge would flicker over 2...the mech said it was from the difference in cold and hot oil mixes being sucked up from the sump.
So if the gauge is moving up and down to different conditions, as far as i am concerned its working ok.

[oleg]

The higher- the batter. Am I wrong?

[geeves]

Yes and no. Too much pressure will blow seals etc but there is a presure relife valve inside the pump to prevent this.
Nissan Patrols register 0 on there gauges when hot but they never blow up.
Anything above 2 is good

[Amber]

I've just had my 2.8 mu's oil and filter changed. Engine has supposedly done 159,000kms. Pressure at startup is 8 kg but if you rev it, it goes higher. After warming up it drops to about 4-5 and after its hot and idling it runs at about 2.3 kg. If you rev it, it goes a fraction higher. This time it is running Valvoline diesel oil but we have also used Vanellus C4 Global extra and they still run the same pressures. I'm sure when I bought it and before its first service it was higher as that was the first thing I looked at, but I'm guessing the Jap owner proberly never serviced it. Anyway, oil is so good these days that this lower pressure is still pretty good.

[Matt]

I switched to Fuchs Titan 15-40, Fuch's is what heavy machinery uses (friends dad has excavators that use it, worked for trucking firm and it's all they would touch) so i figured it should be heavy duty enough for a bighorn
It's excellent, on startup goes to 6kg, drops to 2kg on idle and between 2-4.5kg on warm use. When changed from Caltex stuff you could actually hear an audible change in the engine tone, smoother and quieter, like it was breathing a sigh of relief!
I like it.