Tigerx7

Alright, I have an 88 TII with 130K miles, running castrol 20w50 oil, fram oil filter, racing beat turbo back, rtek 1.7 w/720cc secondaries, shimmed e-shaft thermowax, OMP and most other emissions deleted and running premix, and twin scroll deleted.
As the title says I'm having a problem with low oil pressure. When I bought the car it was fine, sat around 30psi at idle and about 60psi while cruising. After a while the idle oil pressure started to drop, and when it hit about 10psi I stopped being lazy and shimmed the e-shaft oil thermowax and replaced the oil filtert at the same time to be sure. Seemed to be okay after that so I drove it to my parents (100 mile drive) and when I got there the Idle pressure was at 15psi again, but cruising pressure was still fine. I didn't think much of it and took it to the drag strip and made a few passes, everything seemed fine. Then when I was driving it back home to my place (100 miles) the oil pressure started fluctuating between 45 and 55 psi. it sat at about 50 psi at steady throttle, but as soon as I accelerated the slightest bit the pressure dropped to 40-45 and as soon as I let off at all it increased to 55-60. also, every time I pulled over to check for leaks and such it smelled strongly of burning 4 stroke oil, and once I got back moving again the oil pressure would hold steady at 60psi then slowly drop and go back to fluctuating. I don't even know where to start on this one, lol.

As for the idle issue, it only happens when I'm in a forward gear, clutch in obviously, and I bring the RPMs up bast 1200. It sounds like an old lawnmower and idles at about 1300RPM but as soon as I take it out of gear, clutch still in, it stops and the idle drops to normal. heres a video of it

I apologize if this has been covered before, I did search but didn't find anything. I'll admit that I suck at searching on forums though, lol.

hanman

The oil pressure issue may well be the sending unit. They go bad at an amazing rate on these cars. Do you still have the factory oil pressure gauge?

Tigerx7

yup, meant to say that and totally spaced it :P assuming its not the sending unit what else might it be? I can't find a damn npt to bspt adapter to install my aftermarket guage. Also, do you think its safe to drive in this state?

Tigerx7

update: went to drive the car today, and now the idle issue is the opposite. as soon as I out it in gear (doesn't matter which gear) the idle RPM drops to about 500, but as soon as I take it out of gear it goes back up to 750-850.

Also, at startup the oil pressure goes right up to 60psi, then drops to about 45psi after a second or two. Didn't get a chance to warm it up and see what it was doing because I realized my right rear tire went flat overnight as I was pulling out of my parking spot, lol.

Rx7_Nut13B

iTrader: (1)

On the Oil pressure, You can use a 1/8 NPT adapter in the stock oil pressure gauge hole, just use Teflon tape. If you want to keep your stock one and add the aftermarket gauge.

Get a 1/8 "T" and a 1in 1/8 nipple install the nipple into the T and then the stock pressure sender on the end, use the side outlet for the aftermarket line.

And truly, I don't have a real good clue on the idle thing, maybe the clutch isnt disengaging fully, does it try to move in gear.

Also WELCOME.

I am Chuck, Helper of ALL

Tigerx7

haha, thanks chuck, I was thinking the same thing with the clutch but it doesn't try to move at all, and the clutch engages like normal. Also, that wouldn't explain why it idles at almost 1500 rpm with the mower sound some times, but only while its in a forward gear. I'm thinking it might be a ground, but I'm not sure. Its also consuming a lot of oil, probably about 1/2-3/4 quart every 100 miles or so though sometimes that goes down to 1/4-1/2. It only smells like burning 4 stroke is the engine bay, and it only smokes when I'm boosting at high rpm and let off. I really just need this thing to stay driveable until the end of october when I go back to school because I'm going to be doing a rebuild, though it would be nice if I could do a high speed autocross with it.