Well driving to the store today. Been going easy on it still breaking the motor in 944 miles today. The oil pressure was staying steady at 60 then all of a sudden it jumped up to 110. And stayed their until coming to a stop which it then dropped to 60. Then when starting moving again it jumped right back up to 110. This happened 1 mile away from home. Got to my place turned the car off the gauge stayed at 110 did not drop back down. Popped the hood to make sure the wire didn't fall off the oil pressure sensor. And it was their. Checked my oil levels and it was fine. Color and smell of the oil was typical as well. Is this just the gauge or the sensor malfunctioning or is their something wrong with my rebuilt motor.

 

Most likely the sensor or wiring. 110 psi won't cause problems, mine hits 125 on start up sometimes.

 

High oil pressure may be the result of a blockage after the pump somewhere in the system. 110 is the peg, so -- presuming the reading is not an electrical glitch -- the reality is probably much higher. When you have a blockage, the engine just pumps up the oil pressure until something breaks...like an oil cooler line. DO NOT take chances. Put a mechanical gauge on there to see if the high oil pressure is real, and if it is STOP and fix the problem before you cause real damage.

 

What could be causing blockage? Do you think the oil cooler is clogged? I still have the factory beehive. The OMP is blocked off. And it has new Viton Oil rings.

 

Have you changed your oil and filter on the new rebuild yet? I take it this is a new problem that just showed up?

 

Anything is possible but the external stuff can be checked by bypassing or swapping in known-good used parts. Viton oil control ring o-rings are not a good thing, btw. They are inferior to the stock parts, in my opinion. The stock ones never fail prematurely but we have seen the aftermarket viton ones fail with as little as 10K miles. More than once. And quite a few with less than 30K miles. Viton is a good material for some applications, but this is not one of them in my opinion.

Again, verify the reading with a mechanical gauge. The mechanical gauge will not only tell you if the pressure really is high, but also how high. Hopefully it's just an electrical gremlin but it is turns out to be real, treat it seriously. Don't jump to conclusions; troubleshoot methodically. If it is internal, you may need to open up the motor.

 

Yep changed the oil and filter at 500 miles. And yes the problem just showed up today.


How would I go about hooking up a mechanical gauge? Without some aftermarket oil filter pedestal that has the ports for it.

 

I'm thinking that the place to start (easiest and cheapest) would be to try another oil pressure sensor. Or, check the wire to see if it wore through the insulation and is grounding out somewhere. But I totally agree, don't take any chances with your new motor!

 

It was just a bad wire. Problem gone now. Thanks guys.

 

Thanks for the update and resolution...