Oil pressure blues ;(
 

Well my FC hates me since i just got my FD

It has a rythmical light bucking now on light acceleration.

The oil pressure is all messed up. It will drop to zero on idle sometimes. I have to be over 2k rpm for 60psi.

The engine has like 10k on it since i rebuilt it. It has teflon oil rings.

I see no leaks. I let my friend drive it out to IN to pick up my fd and now it's being silly. I'm pretty sure he didnt' mess it up while boosting (he's scared of it)

Once i reset the ecu there seemed to be no power compared to before (might still be learn'n the curves?)............i guess the bucking started after he filled it up at a gas station. He lost the cap to the gas tank too. I have the cap back on.

There is no smoke that i can see and i use syn.

My vac at idle went down roughly .03 bar and idle is lumpy (was thinking still building compression and need to change some more settings as i have removed everything)

doubt it's the guage but could be.

any ideas what would cause this low oil pressure?

well i took her out for a bit.

seems like she only wants to get to .6 bar now. Turbo is probably going.

the only thing i'm worried about now is the fact that it goes below 30psi at idle. What would cause this? a bad oil pump?

A tired turbo wouldn't cause that would it? It probably has like 150,000 on it.

Other than the bobing (gotten better) and the low oil pressure at idle everything seems fine
can i put in a 60psi regulator?

i also have the same problem, cept mine doesnt even go above 40 ever and idles at like 15 or less

have you checked your oil PSI censor connection at all?

how do i check the connection?...the area itself is clean

yeah i looked at it. It was hooked up.

i think syn oil is the problem.

when it's cold i have no problem getting about 40 or so at idle. When it gets warm it goes below 30. Around 1k i can get 30 but when it idles at like 750 or 850 it doesn't get up to 30psi.

I'm running 10-30 syn. I might switch to 20-50 non-syn like everyone else.

i run 10-30 or 10-40 mobil 1 non-synth.

hmm, you should se atleast 15 psi at 750 idle, at 3k you should see 60 psi, if oil pressure drops when you go above 4-5k then you may have a pinched o-ring

for the most part i can see 15psi at idle....but that's a little low for me.

pressure has no prob besides at idle.

i was lead to beleive it was suppose to be 30-60

i usually see 60 psi by 2k

this only happened recently .........oil pump wear'n?

would a bad 02 cause the light bucking?

i think i've heard that somewhere

i had my previsous 2 rebuild being under 15psi @ idle and below 60psi above 300rpm
i have not yet had overheating issues or relabitiy issues.
i have also got a backing only between 300-400rpm and it is only since i got my Greddy Front mount intercooler installed

update-

changed oil to 20-50 non-syn and at idle (950-900 street port) it is easily over 30psi.

I can set it down in the 800's and it's still in the 30's. I have no problem now before i was using 10w30 syn. I don't think i will ever got back to syn.

My oil pressure got as low as 0 at idle with syn. Now it has no problem what's so ever.

Your oil sending unit is probably going bad. They are natorious for doing that.

I HIGHLY doubt it's the oil, it is the pressure sensor, or the Front cover O-Ring. make sure you get it nice and warm before you assume it's fixed the O-ring issue soes not show up much until the oil/engine is warmed

I had a pinch oil cooler line that was causing low oil pressure. There is a clamp on those lines and sometimes people over tighten them and crimp the lines. Could the thermo pellet cause low oil pressure??

Oil ring pics on location?
 

I am new to the RX7, I just bought an 88 SE, and it has its problems. I originally bought it for a V8 Swap but now want to keep it stock, I am getting low oil pressure at Idle and there is alot of oil in the front of the engine going down onto the cross member. Also I have a power problem going over 4000rpms.

Any help would be greatly apprciated.

Okay differn't viscositys of oil will give you differn't oil pressures, I would never use 10w-30 unless I live where it get below freezing frequently. If you wanna use synthec go for Moble 1 15w-50 that good stuff, I use castrol gtx dino 20w-50 oil because of price.

most worn engines will exibit low oil pressure at idle for one main reason, Oil Pump chain, if your oild pump chain is out of spec you WILL have lower pressure than normal at idle but this usally doesn't effect higher rpm oil delivery. For those worried about low pressure at idle, bring up the idle untill you comfortalbe with the oil pressure...

another factor is if your engine floods often your oil will get gas in it. This reduces the pressure too (viscosity).

It explained why when I replaced my oil it fixed the problem and it did smell horribly of fuel.

It was flooding often before the rebuild

Ok I don't get the loose chain thing. It is still turning the oil pump isn't it. So why would the pressure vary? My 88 GTU is exibiting the low oil pressure problem, just above 0 at idle and 30 at 2k and up when warm. Pulled front cover and the oring was flat but in place, the thermo valve was extended, press. spring on valve was within 2mm of spec.(don't know what + or - tolerance is) oil pump clearance checks out with Haynes manual. WTF?

Sess- you still got the EGR valve on the car? Or an aluminum block-off plate installed?

I don't get the loose chain thing either. Ain't like it can slip...

for those with problems with their oil pressure
i had similar problems, check the grounds on the sending unit, WAYNE88/NA helped me out with this a few weeks ago...or the unit itself could be shot

as for the bucking...i duno...fuel filter? air filter? bad afm? check vac lines?

good luck

I didn't have a thermo pellet.

It's been fine for over a year with castrol gtx 20w-50 and 10w 30 (original post 2003).

engine prolly has 20k or so on it. Engine has been flawless.

I don't run syn b/c i don't see that much advantage vs price. Could have been excessive fuel in the oil but i never check when i changed.

def not an oil ring on my case and i don't run egr.

everything is gone....... even bac. Only thing i kept was thermo wax.

is 20-50 safe for our cars?
isnt this being injected into the housing.... i just picture taking apart the engine and finding lots of crap

In that case start checking ALL of your block-off plates for leaks, especially the ones that have any form of exhaust gases underneath them. That EGR plate was causing all of my problems for 2 months (mini-hesitations)...