Oil pressure

[Stroller]

Hey folks. I have a '79 Dodge D150 I have rebuilt. Fired it up last week to break in and took for an alignment the other day. Changed the oil I use Valvoline 10w30 conventional. Here is an inquiry. Ok I know the oil pressures in MOPARS can very quite a bit. Mine is running great but the oil pressure is up to 80 psi at least. No noise from the engine, nothing sputtering or hissing. Is it possible the stock electronic gauge is faulty or perhaps the new sending unit? I have never seen oil pressure this high. I know it can blow a filter apart or other bad things. Should I just run it to see if it loosens up? Only had the block bored .020, factory dish pistons, not a hot rod, 268/272 MOPAR Performance cam and matching springs, Holley 600 cfm spread bore, set of J heads. Rods and mains standard stock bearing size, nothing needed grounded or turned just polished.

So please if anyone has an idea please let me know. Also the temperature is doing great only coming up to around 180. Seems to me if there is block in an oil passage the engine would exhibit other symptoms like starting to clatter or freeze up. I use good old #105 and GM assembly lube, MOPAR cam lube. What makes me more than a tad worried I know at higher RPM's the pressure is likely to go even higher.

 

[57fury440]

Is it 80 at idle? I would try another gauge. Does the sending unit match the gauge and was the gauge working properly before the rebuild?

 

[RemCharger]

If you have a true 80 with 10 30 oil I'd be doing cartwheels.
Never seen a filter blow at any pressure but use a quality wix if concerned

 

[Blusmbl]

I've seen oil filters expand and also blow out the o-ring, but it's usually a design issue like an insufficiencly sized bypass, or the wrong weight oil for the temperature. Think 20w50 oil at -30*F, as an example.

80 psi after start isn't a huge issue, I wouldn't be concerned. If it's still 80 at idle when the engine is hot, that's a different story.

 

[CBODY67]

High oil pressure? You NEVER did see a 1980s Chevy 2.8L V-6. They had factory oil pressure gauges that went over 100psi, as they'd do that when cold. After they got warmed up, back to something more normal, like 60psi. It can take up to 10 miles of highway driving for oil temperatures to approximate that of the coolant temperature, by observation.

Wait and see what it does in the heat of the summer. Only thing you are losing is a few horsepower due to the load on the oil pump to generate those higher pressures.

DO check it with a manual gauge, to be sure of where things are before you start changing things.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Stroller]

Well thanks for all the replies. I got it fixed and no big deal. The wire that goes to the sending unit came off and was grounded on the block. Now it holds solid just over 40 psi, no matter at idle or speed.

 

[57fury440]

That sounds good.