Got a call from a local shop that is working on a 1963 215 v8. They have rebuilt the oil pump and are having a oil pressure problem. Some times it has around 20-30 lbs 0il pressure, but if it sits over night it will spike up to 85 and blow off the oil filter. The tech that called me says the end of one of the valve retainer nuts on the pump gear cover is drilled and tapped for the oil pressure line. Is this the normal place for the line? Thanks for the help in advance.
I do not have the cover in front of me, but they drilled, and tapped one of the relief valve retainer nuts for a fitting for the oil pressure line.Where is the oil pressure sender switch on a 215 v8 engine?
Got this picture with a Google search, Looks like it is on the oil pump cover. It's not out of the question that you have the wrong oil pump cover without the proper threaded port for oil pressure.
The picture Larry posted looks the same as my 215 motors do. I'd say that you either have the wrong cover or someone drilled and tapped and extra hole. Keith
What oil did they put in it? If they set the bearing clearances and the pump end play tight those pressures sound reasonable except for blowing up the filters. The oil may be thicker than is needed. You could start by using a lighter oil like a 5w30 and see what you get. 20 at idle is nice but 70 is about all you need or want up higher. Might even get by with 0w20 in some engines. If the pressure doesn't stabilize as the revs go up but instead climbs with engine speed the bypass is sticking. Some oil filters have a metric thread and some are SAE. Get the wrong combination and the threads can be loose enough to blow the filter off, so first make certain that the threads match. If they do, try a Purolator or some other filter with a stronger can. Do the threads slip, or does the can separate from the base? Many 215's used that spot to pick up oil pressure. Nothing there to help you. Jim
Stock 215 oil filter threads should be 13/16". Metric V6 threads are 18mm. You want to use the right relief springs, the Metric ones were shorter.
Does anyone have a extra oil filter adapter they would like to get rid of. My friend who has the 63 215 would like to try a different one on his 215 engine that blows the oil filter off. What different engine does this fit? Thanks Lyn
Are the threads gone? Because that's really about the only way the filter could blow off unless he's just got the wrong filter on it. Maybe you could post a photo? Jim
Is the oil pressure valve/piston that the oil pressure regulator spring goes into in the filter housing suppose to have a hole in the side of it? I know all 350-455s do, but the one in this 215 does not and according to the Buick parts book they are all suppose to be the same. In answer to the filter question it is blowing out NAPA/ Wycks filter that are suppose to be the best.
Bottom of this page: similar issue with too long of relief spring. BritishV8 Forum: High Oil Pressure
Looks like there are pressure relief, and bypass valves. You need the correct oil pump cover. Most pressure relief valves that I have seen are windowed.
I've run several different pump covers and none of them has ever caused oil pressure to go high enough to blow out a filter. I'll ask again: Is the canister splitting open, or is the filter coming off the threads? I have heard of canisters splitting open. It takes something close to or in excess of 100psi to do it though. If your oil pressure is that high, first off you need to run thinner oil. Then you need to see what is wrong with your pressure relief valve and spring because there is a problem there too. High oil pressure is a good sort of problem to have. It isn't hard to fix, unlike low oil pressure. And once lowered if things wear and the pressure drops you can reverse it to bring it back up again. Jim
Pressure in excess of what you need is a waste of power and further heats the oil. In a Buick engine, it also increases the load on the front cam bearing and timing chain.
Clearly someone screwed with the design functionality and now it cant bypass.. how the filter blows is irrelevant. It cant bleed off excess pressure. Someone has to go and unfuc& the fuc&ery. That may require new parts.
fl smith, gm made 7 different covers for the engines in usa. the british version are 2 more. i run excessive o/p and never any issues. i have them all. btw, amc ones are similar to the gm but do not fit.
This is a bit of a misconception and indicates maybe not knowing the history of the SBB engine. The only way to have oil pressure that high with the stock oil pump is with great attention to assembly details and clearances, which shows careful and meticulous engine building efforts. Otherwise the oil pressure will never reach those levels regardless of what else you do. So the issue here is that the pressure relief is not relieving the pressure as it is designed to do. That could be due entirely to an aftermarket spring or improper reassembly of the pressure relief valve. There are two valves. One to relieve excess pressure and one to bypass the filter if it becomes restrictive. The bypass has n0thing to do with engine oil pressure. However, If your oil pressure is that high it means you can run a thinner oil and still have adequate lubrication and pressure, just like all modern engines do. If you look at their clearances you find that they are often even less than those of the SBB. The relevance of the blowout type is this: If the filter somehow does actually blow off the threads it means the filter has the wrong threads to begin with. Like a metric filter on an SAE filter base. A thread mismatch is the ONLY way this can happen regardless of the pressure. There is no conceivable way for the threads to be worn down far enough for the filter to not hold against hundreds of pounds of pressure. So if that's happening it's just the wrong filter. It's the only possible answer. The can splitting is entirely different. This can and does happen. On some large vehicles it is standard practice to use a hydraulic filter for the engine for just this reason. Jim
I respectfully disagree. I have encountered this problem on cold-start before with a friend's rebuilt 215 that was fine before the generic machine-shop rebuild. I never diagnosed it, he "fixed" the problem by using a hydraulic filter designed for 250 PSI. I did, as others above, insist there was a problem with the regulator valve. Looking at the photo that the Wizard shared, I wonder if it is possible to get the filter bypass and the regulator valves mixed-up. Unless this is the same car from MT, there is something in common with these that allows this to happen.
