Post your M20 Operating Oil Pressures

[rcko]

I just installed an oil pressure gauge and was surprise by the low operating oil pressure of my M20b25 (compared to my old Nissan). I am curious to see what pressure you all are getting from your cars. I will start out, here are my specs:

150k ish mile engine Castrol 20W50 Oil, Idle warm 10psi, 2.6k rpm cruise warm 36psi. Cold start idle ~60psi. Guage is a VDO 150 psi gauge from Bavarian auto with a 150psi sender.

[jlevie]

I've got an engine with perhaps a bit more mileage. Oil pressure at 1000rpm runs 10-12psi and 45psi at 3k. That's less than what other folks have told me they have, but as long as you have 10psi/1000rpm there's nothing to worry about.

[JRKOUPE]

op

120k
20/50 gtx..




10-13 idle
60 cold

you sound fine.

Just watch the hard lt handers.....youll be shocked at the drops!!!!

[Jordan]

Why did you go with a 150PSI gauge? Half of it is wasted, and all you end up with is a difficult to read accurately gauge. The 80PSI one is ideal.

On my built 2.8L stroker I saw about 12PSI at idle warmed up. I ran Castrol GTX 20w50.

[JRKOUPE]

Why did you go with a 150PSI gauge? Half of it is wasted, and all you end up with is a difficult to read accurately gauge. The 80PSI one is ideal.

On my built 2.8L stroker I saw about 12PSI at idle warmed up. I ran Castrol GTX 20w50.

'tis true. I run the 80.

hey JS....pm sent

[MR 325]

On my old car's 2.7i Turbo motor with 20 50 Castrol I saw about 10 at idle.

[nando]

10-12 at idle. I think it's like 60 or 90 at full throttle, high RPM but I don't really remember. I pay more attention to the oil temp anyway. 15-50 mobile 1

[rcko]

I got the gauge and sender for cheap with adapter and mounting cup ($50) used...

What I have done is plug a 34ohm resitor on the signal wire to double the sender voltage output signal and corresponding higher fidelity out of the gauge. The other neat thing is that I get a quick visual ck since the needle centers at ~60ish psi (ei 30ish) while crusing making it easy to get a quick oil pressure ck reading. So with the 34ohm resitor 30psi gauge reading equals 15 psi true. It wasnt hard to figure out the linear voltage scale once I obtained. I plotted 5 pressure / voltage readings taken at five different rpms and then use a liner curve fit to derive the require resistance to double the signal output. But true, the 80 psi gauge is ideal.

I am glad to hear that my motor is not alone in the low psi dpt. Guess these engines just tend to run low psi like the older brit engines.

[Jordan]

I wasn't aware that BavAuto sold used parts.

[nando]

BMWs aren't british. also, 10-12psi is pretty normal for a warm idle, and at high RPMS, M20s push too much oil if anything.

[rodrigo]

I should install a pressure gauge to see what my motor is pushing.

[mops]

Hi.

i got 130k miles, use 10w40 valvoline (i know cheap, just rebuilding the engine shortly, so i dont care).

warm idle is about 20 psi. warm cruise is about 45-55psi at about 3krpm. cold start is like 60+psi, i got an oil cooler (factory).

warm idle oil pressure really depends on the oil temp.; the higher the temp the lower the pressure.

[rcko]

Bav auto doesnt sell used parts but the PO got the gauges from them. I figure I list the source in case it made a diff...