Well everything seemed fine with my fresh motor 455 olds in a 70 cutlass body till I brought it home from the exhaust shop, not saying they had anything to do with it such as beating on the motor or what have you (it was there for 2 days so i didn't see what was going on). Anyway when I drove it home it seemed fine, I do believe the oil pressure was good (30 cold start up and increases with rpm). Well this morning, which was quite cold (32 degrees), I started it and drove off before I noticed it had like 10lbs of pressure. When I revved it it didn't really go up but dropped some. I turned around and started to come home. As the engine warmed up the oil pressure slowly came back up to where it should be, still no big increase as I revved it but enough pressure that I felt ok taking it to work. Again on leaving work the same thing, low pressure till it warmed up. Now mind you I am running a fram ph25 filter even though everyone speaks against it (my engine builder was strict on using it but that was about 12 years ago). I've never had a problem till maybe now. I'm going to change the filter tomorrow to a napa brand since I dont know where on Long Island I can get an AC Delco filter. But I would like to hear from you guys, has the bad fram rep finally hit me after all this time. All was fine till this morning, 30lbs cold idle, increase with rpm. This morning, 10 lbs idle no increase in rpm, slight drop till motor warmed up and of course valve train clatter for like 2 or 3 seconds on start up. Please help, this motor has been stressing me all year. Allen allioop108@aol.com
I do not want be too mean here, but get that piece of crap fram filter off. I will argue with anyone about those filters, for thier ability to stop oil flow. The back drain valve sticks closed and will end up stopping your oil circulation. It is a great advantage that you have a gauge instead of an idiot light, as then it would definately been too late. I am willing to put high odds that when you change your filter out, your pressure will go back up where it was. Please keep us posted, and let this be warning to all those doubters if so. I have seen 2 motors ruined by fram filters personally. My father had a 68 Olds Delta88 that ran as smooth as a sewing machine. One day the motor started knocking just after the oil light came on. After looking it all over, he determined that it had to been the filter, as it had an odd shape to it for no reason. When I lived in Va Beach, I had a good VW mechanic buddy that changed his oil one Sunday afternoon and realized he had no VW filters. He ran to Autozone and got a Fram to put on this time. About 3 weeks later, his oil light came on. He knew he did not have an oil problem with his pristine motor ( at least that was what he thought )... He checked both sensors used in thier system and they were good. Next thing he noticed, he had a bottom end knock. Sure enough, the P.O.S. fram filter had actually buldged outwards and looked like it was about to explode. He pulled it off, took it into work and sawed it in half to find the valve jammed. He sent that half, along with a couple bearing to fram corp for damage repairing. I will say one good thing for fram, they stood behind thier junk filter and paid him a little over $1400 to rebuild his motor. He made several hundred extra, as he did all the work, but would much rather have not had that experience. BTW, I am almost sure that Advance has AC filters, along with Wally World. Mike :af:
I take it you do not have a high volume pump......Get One! After installing the high volume pump I had 90-100 lbs cold and when up to temp idling was 10 and climbed to 75-80 at 5500 rpm.
I believe 100 PSI is a very high pressure, and asking for problems. If I am correct, there is a variable pressure regulator, and I believe that is the purpose of it. If you have 30PSI at any time, I am willing to say you are good to go. You want the flow, not the pressure building up. Mike
WIX, K&N, Car Quest (made by Wix) are also better than Fram. Some years back I eliminated cold start clatter by getting rid of the fram filter. Wally World here has only Fram.
A high volume pump is not needed, and can cause alot of damage. On a Buick, it backloads the timing chain, front cam bearing, cam gear, and distributor gear. This has been discussed more than once on this board. I've seen cam gears, and distributor gears destoyed by these pumps. They'll even snap off the roll pin that holds the distributor gear to the shaft. Years ago, the HV-HP pump was a fix for a worn out timing cover, because new ones weren't available anymore. Today we know that all that's needed is proper bearing clearances, proper oil pump clearances, a booster plate, and adjustable regulator. That will give an easy 12 psi/1000 RPM, and that's all that you need period. Alot of guys think high pressure is good, and more is better. All more pressure does is eat up horsepower that's needed to turn the pump, and heat the oil up more. 100 psi is common for a racing motor that is turned to 7500 RPM. You definitely don't need that for a street machine that sees 5500-6000 Max, 70 psi is all you need at those RPM's on a BBB. For other engines, even less. Allen, How sure are you about your gauge? Is it mechanical or electrical. Fram filters have had a bad rep for years. You can still get AC Delco filters at Auto Barn stores, Autozone, and other stores. Take a look around.
The best filter I have found other than the AC is the Purolator L20033.I have never used the questionable Fram but found the NAPA Gold(I believe) filter ,which may be made by Wix ,would not allow as quick a pressure build on startup as the Purolator.The Purolator is almost instantaneous.Great for peace of mind.Can't say enough good about it. Rod
got oil pressure back Went to NAPA and picked up a new oil filter, took out the fram, put in the NAPA filter and presto, oil pressure. Came right up to 60lbs cold and with a bit of gas shot up to 80lbs. Valvetrain sounded nice and quiet. Funny after all this time using a fram I never thought it would happen to me. Well I guess I'm through with fram. Ohh yeah, I did pick up an extra NAPA for the buick 455 and tossedout that fram filter too. Thanks to all. Allen allioop108@aol.com P.S. And yes there is a high volume oil pump in the olds motor.
This my friends is just another testamony to not ever run fram filters. I will not even run thier air or other products due to this. I am very glad to hear that was all that was wrong. But it is a serious issue and there are a few believers out there whom still have faith in them. I am not trying to be rude, but just real. Mike
The 100 psi was with cold 20w50, and yes it was years ago. The extreme high pressure went down quickly as the engine warmed up. I installed the high volume pump after frying two sets of rod bearings in one season so I was quite happy with a little too much pressure rather than not enough. I was running an old high mileage front cover but I had a new cam,gears and chain. I also had the pump shimmed with the spacer provided by Kenne-Bell, I don't think there was an adjustable one available at that time. Back then even if new covers were available I couldn't have spared the money for one, I was scraping by as it was.
