Oil Pressure

[Guest Tim Norman]

HELP!!!!

I've just been asked by a bloke in the Isle of Man who is looking at buying a Dolly version, what the oil pressure should be.

 

When he test drove the car the oil pressure rose to 25psi at startup but as the engine warmed it started to drop.

 

Question, what should it be and any clues as to a likely cause?

 

Cheers

Tim

[Guest Twoscoops]

The reason the oil pressure it high at start up is due to the oil is thick when cold and the rpm (if its on choke) will be higher, hence more pressure.

 

Once the engine has warmed up then the oil will be much thinner thus the oil pressure will be slighly lower.

 

Not sure on tolerances of wher the oil pressure should be, but a good place to start would be to get in contact with a company called Rimmer Brothers as they are classic Triumph specialists. I haven't got any details but they shouldn't be too hard to find after a bit of surfnig or from Classic car mag.

 

Cheers

 

T.

[Guest Bill Watts]

If memory serves correctly the sprint had a 16valve 2 litre engine. Normally I would expect oil pressure to be around 50psi at 2000RPM with a warm engine. Oil pressure on starting could be up to about 75psi, dropping as the engine warms up. Acceptable oil pressure at idle would be 15 to 20 psi minimum.

 

A running oil pressure of 25psi warm could indicate something amiss in the main bearings department - exercise some caution with this.

 

Alternatively the wrong oil could be in use in the vehicle - BP energol some years ago came out with a 5W 40 multigrade which made the oil light flicker on on most older vehicles when the engine was warm and idling - BP said this was ok. Modern Semi-synthetic oils tend to be a bit light, 5W 30 is quite common and may cause this sort of problem in an older engine.

 

With an older engine I would ensure that it was running on a 20 - 50 multigrade as there is bound to be a bit of wear and the thicker oil will help. If it is running on 20 - 50 multigrade then I would suspect bottom end wear.

 

Hope this is of some use

 

Bill