BlackRx7

okay lemme give you a bit of back round, before my rebuild my oil pressure would read right below 110 psi, so i assumed the previous owner had installed a high pressure oil pressure regulator....

with my current rebuild I decided to use a spare rear side housing that was in better condition that my current one, so I installed the oil pressure regulator on that rear side housing.

I had a slight leak from the o-rings under the oil filter and i fixed that.

My problem is when i start up the car in the morning and rev it to about 2-3k to get it warmed up the oil pressure gauge reads right above 60 psi, then when I start driving it sits right below 60 psi, and if I boost any the oil pressure drops more! There is oil in my intake after the turbo, which tells me the seals in the turbo may be going bad....any other suggestion on why I am loosing oil pressure.

BlackRx7

bumpity

NZConvertible

You do that deliberately!

BlackRx7

well with e vac rack removed and TB mod I must do it unless I want my car to run like crap for ther first 5 min

Icemark

sounds like maybe the wrong front cover gasket was used or the front cover O ring is pinched or leaking.

Typically you will have normal oil pressure (30-60 PSI) at idle and it will drop as RPMs increase above 3K.

Here's the two gaskets:


The one on the left is the one that comes with the 86-92 gasket sets from Mazda, while the one on the right is the one used on the earlier 84-85 style.

The problem is that the 86-88 actually uses the 84-85 style on some of the front castings.

BlackRx7

yes yes i have heard of the front cover o-ring problems, And due to that fact I did not use a front cover gasket, used RTV, and My front cover is not leaking, though maybe the o-ring is pinched highly doubful though since I used hylomar to seat it....

Is there any shimming needed to install a high pressure oil regulator?

mr_vaughn

iTrader: (1)

sound as if you have the wiring on backwards

BlackRx7

there is only one way to put the connector on the sensor....

NZConvertible

Which is why I would never remove my thermowax.

You still shouldn't hold it that high. 1000-1100rpm (just like the thermowax does) is fine. If it won't idle that low with your foot on the gas you have a problem somewhere.

BlackRx7

whats so bad about that I have the atkins oil pellet, so oil is flowing to the rotors 100% of the time....

Does anyone have anyother suggestions, i guess i may have used the wrong o-ring for the front cover, there are like a gazillion in the gasket kit some, I have never used...???

HAILERS

My suggestion tis.....buy a mechanical oil pressure gauge (Sun makes some cheap but accurate ones) and see what the oil pressure is. This is a whole bunch smarter than pulling the front cover/engine/thermopellet etc.

Then again, its not natural that as the revs pick up for the oil pressure to drop. I'd buy the real oil pressure gauge first and see what is really happening.

And as a side note, I bought and installed a series five alternator on my series four today and I recommend it for anyone with a series four and some spare change to throw around.

BlackRx7

Thanks hailers, I'm gonna try to hook my dads mechanical sender/guage up and see if it changes.

And yeah i think I need to get an S5 my e-fan is really draining my battery after i turn off my car on these hot texas summer days....did you by chance make it to the rx across texas?

HAILERS

Nope, no accross Texas. The 87 I have, if the a/c is on and the fan full on and the headlights, radio etc, puts the electrical system on the edge. Just turning the wipers on with the above makes it a close thing and makes my EdgeTech wideband go into sleep mode.

The series five fit just perfect. Just had to turn the output post from straight up to facing outboard. Piece of cake.

The Sunpro I bought sometime back will screw into the stock pressure sensor hole (came with some adapters). But, before I knew that, I took a banjo bolt that connects the oil pressure line at the rear housing, drilled a hole in it, and tapped threads for the aftermarket gauge. Works fine if you have an extra banjo bolt,drill and tap. Luck with the car. It does not sound terminal at all.

BlackRx7

you wuss I don't need no freakin a/c and i'm like 200 miles further south than you

also why the wideband with the n/a?

HAILERS

One Wideband is for the 87TurboII and another wideband for the 87N/T that now has a turboii engine and transmission in it.

Further south you all get that cool breeze off the Gulf of Mexico to keep you cool.
http://techedge.com.au/
But anyway, I did put a wideband in the n/t before it got converted for curiosity sake. It seemed to have a rich spot at 5000 rpm that could have used some leaning out

Icemark

The thermo wax that Jason was talking about is the cold idle cam on the side of the throttle body. It keeps the RPM up around 1000 until the engine is warm.

That has nothing to do with the E-shaft thermo valve.

BlackRx7

Yeah i know what the thermo wax is But what is so bad about reving it to 2-3K?

Okay just installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge today and the result is the same or close to the reading of the stock gauge.

So ****, should I pull the motor to remove the front cover and oil pan?

when installing the front counter weight I had to tap it with a malletto get it down the the e-shaft so it should hold the needle bearing in place...but the bolt on the front of the oil pan are gonna be a PITA if i leave the motor in the car....

BlackRx7

bumpity

Icemark

The high RPMs when cold are very hard on the motor and leads to increased wear and premature failure.

Yes I would probably check the front cover first, since you can do that with the motor still in the car, but if that is not it, then you'll be searching through everything to find the leak.

BlackRx7

would I need to shim something on the rear housing for the high pressure oil regulator? also I notice the pressure regulator I took off the rear housing had a washer the high pressure one I took off my previous housing did not have one.....also maybe a piece of RTV broke off when I was putting my omp back one and is clogging the screen on the oil pick-up.

BlackRx7

bumpity

den

Have you managed to get any further with the oil pressure problem ? I've got a '90 t2 with exactly the same problem - when accelerating above 3000 rpm the oil pressure will start dropping. Its a rebuilt motor with approx 35000 miles on it.