# oil pressure



## chillow (Aug 18, 2004)

so its ben bugging me for a long time, the oil pressure gauge in my car says the pressure is always low. i also leak oil from time to time, only when i drive alot; i was wondering what kind of tool i need to check my oil pressure? and if it is low where do i begin to fix it?

any help would be awesome.


----------



## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

What pressure does the guage read at idle. 10-12 psi at idle is perfectly safe, so long as oil distribution to anywhere is not blocked. Actually, if it were, that would raise your oil pressure anyway......  It matters less what oil pressure is at idle and more where oil pressure is in the mid-range/ high rpm, when engine load is highest....
You also may be using too thin an oil , 5_W_30 and any weights in that area causes very low oil pressure readings. I use 10_W_40 myself, and have used 15_W_40 in my turbo engine.......


----------



## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

The gauge isn't accurate anyway...


----------



## chillow (Aug 18, 2004)

i fgigured it was the gauge but i use synthetic so i figured thats what caused the oil leaks


----------



## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

Check the screws on the valve covers. Go through and tighten them.


----------



## asleepz (Feb 24, 2004)

Hmmm I run 5W30. Of course I don't have an oil pressure gauge at the moment but should I run 10W40?


----------



## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

♣AsleepZ♣ said:


> Hmmm I run 5W30. Of course I don't have an oil pressure gauge at the moment but should I run 10W40?


You're in kinda the deep south, it really shouldn't ever get cold enough to require 5w30.......I'd say 10w40 just because the VG30 is a torque motor with some consequently higher bearing loads.


----------



## asleepz (Feb 24, 2004)

alright I'll try that in my next oil change coming up.


----------



## JAMESZ (Mar 12, 2004)

The factory says 10W30 so thats what I run.


----------



## Zen31ZR (Mar 24, 2004)

General Information in the FSM has the info you need. Page GI-13


----------

