Oil Pressure Problem

[bowtie316]

I have a problem with oil pressure dropping off at about 5500 rpm. It carries 50 pounds till 5500 rpm then drops to abou 5 then back and forth from 5 to 15. This happens even on burnouts. It has a stock pump, pan, and pickup. It is full on oil. I suspect the pickup tube has fallen off. Anyone have any ideas? Would you recommend a hi volume pump for say a 300hp motor with 6000 rpm limit? and if I go to a high volume pump, do I need a bigger pan? if so who sells a good one for an s10? Thanks for the help!

[redneckgames]

If you do want to get a high volume pump i have one cheap brand new. It came in a kit and I already had a new stock pump. They are about $30 new. I will let you have it for less.

By the way it is a Melling pump.

[Scotty_S-15]

I\'m thinking you\'re on the right track, maybe the tube fell out. Does it do it in the driveway, in neutral too? Maybe you could experiment by loading in an extra quart and see what happens. But overfilling it can backfire too, the oil can get all foamed up from the crank flailing it all around.

......... Electric or mechanical gauge? Maybe the gauge is just wacked.

........ I wouldn\'t worry about hi-vol. pumps and bigger pans just yet, first you\'ve just gotta fix the problem.

[link523]

is it an old motor? if so the drains could be plugged not letting it drain back happened to a friend of mine

[grimpuppy]

I agree the problem sounds like it is with the pickup tube. It may not have fallen out but could have rotated on the pump and have to much clearance between the pan and the screen now. Did you tack it onto the oil pump? If this is a new motor did you double check that the screen was 3/8\" from the bottom of the pan when you installed it?

[bowtie316]

It is the stock electric guage. Yes it does it in neutral. The motor is a complete rebuild with about 1000 miles on it. I didn\'t notice it till now, but I can\'t say that I ever checked oil pressure at that rpm till now. I think I\'ll put a mech. gauge on it and see and if it still does it, pull the drain plug and stick a screwdriver in there and see if anythings laying in the pan. I just figured if I have to pull the engine out anyway, If it needs a high volume pump now is the time. When I put the motor together it was a daily driver, but I have put 33 passes on it in the last 3 weeks and I\'m worried about longevity. Thanks for the replies!

[bowtie316]

Oh yea, this was the first small block I have put together without tacking the pickup. I remember thinking wow that went in tight, it\'ll never come out.......famous last words.

[ZZ4Blazer]

Either way, even if its not that, yank her out, and secure the pickup somehow.

[Midwestchopshop]

On 2005-04-05 07:17, ZZ4Blazer wrote:

Either way, even if its not that, yank her out, and secure the pickup somehow.





Use some duct tape and twine to secure it j/k



Yep yank the motor and tac weld the pickup....how fast is it on the strip?

[bowtie316]

Duct tape and twine didn\'t work on a ford engine. I\'ll probably tack it. Thanks for the help!

[gdmclnh]

Don\'t put a big tack weld on it. Just enough to hold it. If you get the pump spring too hot it will loose it\'s tension. I always remove the spring before I tack the pickup. Then put it back after a few minutes to be sure it doesn\'t get hot.

[grimpuppy]

On 2005-04-05 11:18, bowtie316 wrote:

Duct tape and twine didn\'t work on a ford engine. I\'ll probably tack it. Thanks for the help!



There isn\'t much that can help them fords! I prefer to stick a garden hose down the carb of the ford engines to clean them out real good http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif

[Dave]

Have you tried a new sending unit? My astro van and blazer was doing similar with oil pressure. I put new sender in the blazer and changed my oil it\'s all ok but the blazer still does it even with another engine in it. I\'d put a tester on it before pulling the engine unless you want to anyways.

[silver_82]

kind of sounds like a problem with an oldsmobile I had a while ago. Oil pressure would be fine crusing and low rpm\'s but if it got any high r\'s it would pump so much oil to the top of the motor it would starve itself on bottom. If this is your problem too; puting a high volume pump in it will only make it worse