alpine

Of course there is such a thing, but the my question is, when do you need to worry about it?

I'm here in San Fernando, and damn it's been cold in the morning, the trusty ol Thermo in the car has displayed 55,54,53,52.... in the garage no less!

Anyhow, start up the car and I've got a whopping 90-100 on the idiot oil pressure gauge and god forbid I rev ANYTHING, it'll go straight to 120 and I think it doesn't go any further because it's pegged....

So yes..yes... we all know that oil is denser, when it's cold, and at startup anyways etc..etc..etc..

So I've tried to be a good boy and let the car warmup even longer than usual due to the cold, and high pressure.

However even after being warmed up 5 minutes the pressure is hovering over 60, and under normal driving conditions for maybe up to another 5 minutes, it's floating between 60 and 90, and if I do "get on it" it'll clear 90 again.....

I'm running mobile 1, 4 Parts 10-30 and 1.5 Parts 15-50.

This was perscribed to me, by Mobile 1 Techs, due to the regular hell I put the car through, and on track days I basically go 50/50.

Mobile one @ 10-30 flows better than 5-30 mineral based.... So I choose the higher protection.

The 15-50 is recomened for heavy duty and turbo/performance applications, and of course is going to perform better at the higher end, where my car does spend sometime there OFTEN... trust me....

And because I drive my car too/from track, I'd don't just go straight to the 15-50 for track days, plus it takes me a few days after a track run to get an oil change.... But I ALWAYS change before!

By mixing them, I am getting a little thicker oil at startup, that is flowing equally well as mineral based, and getting a lot more protection towards the top end....

Again, all perscribed by Mobile 1 themselves.

I've been doing this for well over a year now, is it that much colder this year?

I'm prettu good at noticing this kind of stuff, mainly due to the Turbos and ALWAYS keeping my eye on things.

Do I need to thin my mix down?

Or, is there something going wrong in the oil system?

Anyone else experiencing excessively higher oil pressures as of late in colder times/regions?

Anyone else doing anything other than WHAT THE USE MANUAL SAYS? with their own car?

g356gear

iTrader: (12)

I noticed that the last couple of winters...even with Mobil 1 5w30. When it was -15 F for a couple weeks last winter, I would start the car and let out the clutch in neutral, and the car would almost stall from the weight of the stock flywheel.....it was that cold!! Until the oil thins out the oil pressure will remain high....even with 100% 5w-30. This is not a bad thing at all. Think of it as the motor protecting itself from cold start-up wear.
Maybe if you are not racing alot this winter go to a straight 5w30 for a bit and see what happens.

alpine

I didn't know it got cold on the sun, but I suppose -15 is possible, even on the sun.

thanks for the info, it is appreciated, and I will most likely drop back to 5-30, and then stay off the hard runs for a bit....

I've got a potential track day in a week, so I might go that far with my current mix as to not completely waste it....

g356gear

iTrader: (12)

[QUOTE=alpine]I didn't know it got cold on the sun, but I suppose -15 is possible, even on the sun.
[QUOTE]

There are a few cold spots here and there.

arizzee

iTrader: (28)

I'm currently running 10w-40 and its about 55deg when I startup in the morning. At fast idle (cold) I'm reading 90psi, rev past 2500 and its approaching 120psi. After the oil temp is about 130deg, the pressure starts to come down to normals i.e. 30psi at idle, 60 - 75psi on throttle.

alpine

thanks for the post, good info, nice to know I'm not waaAAAyyy out there.

Also, you have 30 at idle, cold, or normally?

Pre turbos, I ran about 15-20 at idle, since the turbos, and I assume this is due to the extra capacity pan, and oil lines to the turbos, and the turbos themselves, I'm idling somewhere between 10-15....

arizzee

iTrader: (28)

30psi idle when normal (around 180deg). I'm running the ARC oil pan, took 7qts to fill first time (dry), 6.5qts normal change w/filter. Do you know what your oil temps are when you're showing 10 - 15psi at idle?

alpine

No I don't have extra gauages yet.

I wasn't able to do the gauges I wanted, but I am setup/tuned very well, so I do not "worry" about those things too much... but I know I should, I'm just over confident in my setup, my tuners, and the VQ!

I'm only able to put in 5.5 dry or I end up with smoking turbos.... That I guess is an "issue" with the APS kit... but it's not a real problem.

What would the oil temps indicate from this scenario?

In case you are going to ask, I want a COMPLETE DEFI setup, with HUD for gauges!

arizzee

iTrader: (28)

Well, low psi indicates thin or hot oil, high psi indicates thick or cold oil so if I saw 15 psi on my gauge (and the oil is at the correct level) I'd say I have hot oil but without a gauge its hard to tell how hot. BTW, I have the Defi Display and really like it. HUD looks nice also.

alpine

I hate you.

alpine

Hey Buddy, Got pics?

alpine

Sure, ok.... I know what you're talking about now, I thought I might have overlooked something when you asked about the oil temp.

Well we know the oil can't be hot at startup.. So it's cold or thick.

as far as having hot oil, at idle, being my reason for low psi is not likely, at least in my case, or those with APS TT kits because I have seen similar behaviors in them so again, I assumed it was the oil lines and turbo affect on the oil system....

But I'm not the expert, or engineer, that others claim to be.

arizzee

iTrader: (28)

not yet, maybe next week

350Zteve

iTrader: (6)

Your pressure isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. I live where you do and I get 80+psi when I start the car on a cold engine. I run Royal Purple, but I cant remember if I have 5/30 or 10/30 in it this time. I don't drive the car until the temp gauge moves, and by then, the oil pressue is around 60psi at idle.

spdkils

There have been dozens upon dozens of oil posts on the forum.

Its not totally uncommon to see people get worried about it. (I've been worried about my car since I threw turbos on it, and my oil pressure "seemed" to rocket.)

After reading a ton, and trying several differnt weights of oil, no body has given a difenitive answer. Supposedly some Nissan techs said...(paraphrase) "You can run that high, its not uncommon, no biggy."

Now if your needle stayed pegged (as one guy has had happen) I'd get the gauge checked, or if you never reigistry pressure.

spdkils