5 pounds of oil presure?

Hi guys. Maybe someone out ther has some advice for me. I have a 70 skylark with a 350 in it. My problem is I have almost no oil presure at idle. I hear it is a common problem, and there are quit a few ways to fix it, however I am not the worlds greatest at mechanicing(by a long shot). I don't plan on hot rodding the engine much, but I do like to remind the local kids that cars used to haul a$$ as well as sound loud. I'm trying to find a bolt on solution to keep this engine alive. I would apreciate any advice anyone would care to give me on a solution to my problem. Thanks in advance.

 

5psi at idle? Ouch.. I'd say an oil change with good 10-30 oil and a acdelco filter should help a bit. You can also try the booster plate that T/A Performance offeres. It's what most ppl run instead of a hivol pump. G'luck!

 

did you overheat you engine recently. if so a oil change is definetly needed. I think i would do this first.

 

Oil has been changed. I put in 10-40 and no improvement. I guess the pump is a gonner. I was hopping someone knew of a not-too-expensive pump I could bolt on. I just don't like to open things up unless nessesary. Too many bad experiences in the past I suppose. Thanks for the info.

 

How is your oil pressure during cold start up? if you slowly accellerate will the pressure increase when it is cold? an operating temprature while driving the car what is you oil pressure read? does your oil pressure bleed down when you come to a stop. meaning that it is 20psi when you stop then goes down to 5psi?

 

You could try a thrust plate kit from sealpower should be around 10 bucks at most auto parts store. Shim the spring with a washer to increase tension or order a sping kit. These are just temp fixes until you can rebuild the pump or replace the front cover.
I've always run straight weight oil 30W in the winter 40W in the summer.
My 2 cents worth hope it helps

 

From a cold start it's around 22 pounds. At anything above 1500 RPM it's about 40 pounds. At operating temperature on idle 5 to 10 pounds. Operating temp above 1500 RPM, 20 pounds.

 

the presure at operating temp sounds a little low. I think i would reshim the pump you can check the clearence between the gears and oil filter housing by plastigaging the housing for clearence. to determine which gasket shim to use.

 

The above is very good advice. My rebuild kit included instructions for doing just that.

I'd just take it apart and put a cheap rebuild kit in it. The relief spring change isn't going to do diddly if you're not creating enough pressure to bypass your stock spring - and you aren't.

If the thrust face is scored, and it very likely is - then I see 2 options. Easy - buy a plate kit as advised above.

Next option is Not so easy, but cheap and "neat" in my opinion. If you have a knack for accurate work - I "wet sanded" mine to reface it, using 3M wet or dry, a Very Flat Surface, and light motor oil. This only works is you have mild scoring of the wear surface.

PM me if you are interested in the latter option.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll probably look in to it next week somtime. Work is keeeping me pretty busy right now. You guys have been a great help. Thanks again.

 

Solution

Take my word on this, spend the money and buy the gasket shim kit from T/A. It offers different size gaskets for your oil filter housing. These gaskets are different thickness, and will minimize the amount of oil allowed to bypass the base of the gears. It is best used with the thrust plate if your gonna do it. I went from 5 psi to 15 psi at idle just by getting the end play to .002 clearance. Its worth the time, beleive me! I had my doubts about what .002 of an inch woudl mean, its night and day. Just make sure the gears arent bound up before you start it.

Good luck!

-Jon

 

71ConvtSkylark - how are you determining the .002" clearance? Are you using plasticgauge??

Thanks!

 

Measuring clearances

Its real easy to determine the clearances. What you do is remove the filter housing, and clean all the oil out of the gear housing. You want it dry while you do this. Place the gears back in the housing, and take a straight edge and lay it accross the face of the gears, then use feeler guages to determine the amount of clearance you have between the gears and the timing cover. If you have .004 clearance between the cover and the gears, then .006 will give you a clearance of .002 between the filter housing and the gears. You would simply choose the gasket in the kit that was closest to .006 as possible. After you choose the gasket, reassemble, and remove the distributor, and make sure you can freely move the oil gears. If they are bound up, go with the next gasket size up. Make sure you do this, cause if you start the motor without checking the mobility of the oil pump, youll be replacing the cam, distributor etc.... worth the extra 10 min. Hope this helps.

-Jon
I think the kit is like $15 from T/A.