So I am checking a FD out for a friend ,possible rebuild for me and I went through the basics.

It fires right up on the first try. Idle is superb and doesnt smoke at idle .Water temp is great. He is running a power FC so I was looking at all the data on the hand held.

He tells me that its been smoking lately , I took it for a spin and it seems fine. Now heres the curve ball. Oil pressure hangs between 10-30 psi and under load it will maybe hit 60 psi. No I know at idle 60psi should be the operating pressure. Under load anywhere between 60-85 psi is good.

But it doesnt smoke at all. NO leaks.

My guess - Could it be the front o-ring on the front cover?

 

where are you getting the pressure readings from ?
unless it`s from an aftermarket quality gauge .. they are wrong
install a mechanical instead of the oil pressure sender and check again

 

the stock guage and sending units in these cars are **** mine will read 60 them out of nowhere a minute later read 0 then go back up to 30 or 60. As long as you have oil pressure on the stock guage its fine but get a new guage soon and while you are at it get a new water temp guage they don't register hot untill its too late for your coolant seals. I recomend defi cause you can put them where the stock ones go and they look almost identical just relocate your oil warning light and water level light with leds.

 

Clean the connection at the oil pressure sensor...just under the oil filter. Ask the current owner what viscosity he runs and how long since the last change. Also check/smell the oil for any fuel dilution.

Minimum oil pressure at 3k rpm is 50 psi. AFAIK, the FSM doesn't give a minimum at idle, but it's not influenced by load.

 

Thank you very much guys

 

60psi at idle? does your car idle at 4000 rpm?