Okay, I haven't had the chance to stick a mechanical guage on to it yet but will first thing tomorrow. But I need some input, I did a search and I didn't have any questions answered! Well, tonight I was adding oil to the engine and after finishing up I start the car and suddenly I have low oil pressure. I mean lower than usual, maybe like 15 psi. at idle. I was like, okay maybe because it's colder than usual tonight (I used 20w-50 by the way) that it's reading a little until the engine get's warm. But as I started driving on the freeway, it suddenly dropped to ZERO after about 5 min. of being on the freeway! In a frantic and panic, I exited the freeway and turned of my car. I popped the hood and looked around to see if the capacitor is connected and it is still. Then I checked oil levels again and my oil was still full. I get back in mind boggled and decided to try starting the car again. Car starts up, no problems and then bamm, the guage is reading roughly 15 psi again at idle (while taking note that my idle was good and there was no smell of abnormal burning, plus no smoke coming from the exhaust). Still confused, I figured let's try driving it a little more and see what other symptoms will pop up. So I'm driving along again watching the guage like a hawk and noticed that it's taking forever for pressure to increase on the guage. At 3k RPM's in 5th it's reading probably like 40-45 psi and won't go any higher regardless if I went passed 5k RPM's. So after a few hours of chillin' at the movies, I start the car while it's cold and it idled at 30 psi, after warming up it dropped to maybe 15 psi. Then, after driving at about 3k again on the freeway the guage rises again to about 40-45 psi and then starts to drop to around 30-35 psi. When I get home I do another inspection and still no abnormal burnt smells and the capacitor is still hooked up. No luck till I get the mech. guage on tomorrow morning when I borrow it from a buddy.

Any guesses people? Maybe a bad oil sender unit? Failing O-rings? I'm stumped. If you have any ideas, Please help!

Thanks,
Chris

 

thermo pellet in the E-shaft has failed. replace it before driving anymore, you are oil starving your rotors.

 

wow i just noticed i spelled gauge wrong throughout that whole paragraph

 

Hmm, I'll do that first thing sunday morning or monday. If that doesn't fix the problem any other ideas?

 

it will fix it unless there are other symptoms that you didn't describe

 

no other sympton's Iceman, that's all I've gotten so far. As far as I know, that's all that I was able to notice. Nothing else.

 

Did replacing the thermo pellet fix your oil pressure problem?

I have almost identical behavior and readings in my NA (converted to turbo) engine.

Thanks,
Danny

 

front cover O-ring if not??.......sorry mark just had to

does oil pressure drop when RPMs increase?

www.atkinsrotary.com has a good cheap replacement thermo pellet that will never fail.

 

That is the key for the front cover O ring (unless the O ring is gone completely, and then there will be the same low oil pressure no matter what the engine speed).

 

I would confirm the oil pressure situation with a regular hydraulic gauge installed on the block before tearing into anything. Don't trust the stock sender and gauge. In the mean time just don't drive the car until you can confirm the oil pressure situation.