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“Normal” oil pressure?


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Hi all,

I am planning on removing the extra external oil feed from the oil sensor to head fitted by the PO. Just because I don’t think it’s necessary. Consensus on this forum seems to agree.

Before I do it, I just wanted to check what is considered “normal” oil pressure. I have checked mine as it is and I get around 70 and 80 psi on tick over and at 2000rpm respectively when cold. With about 25 and 55 psi when hot at tick over and 2000 rpm respectively.

I don’t believe I have any problems but just wanted to check your thoughts on the values.

Car is a ‘73 CR with around 130k miles but not sure what engine re-builds have been done in that time, but the history file suggests a few. Car runs really well and doesn’t appear to burn (much) oil, certainly nothing noticeable and no smoke from the exhaust.

Interested to hear your thoughts on what’s normal.

Cheers,

 

Rob

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Hi Rob,

My values are pretty similar.. 35psi ish at idle (bare in mind the idle pressure is quite dependent on what rpm your idle is) and about 60-65 at 2000 rpm.

Not sure of the accuracy of my gauge, had to change it recently as the original failed. The original had been giving about 10psi more at 2000 rpm before it bust.

Tim

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The only problem i experienced with the external oil feed to the head was a reduction in oil

supply to the camshaft resulting in seized journals. I believe the later ones have a reduced

feed to the head to overcome this issue.

                                                                         Harvey

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The external oil feed to the head is sold as an upgrade-and the only problem was it resulted in seized journals!?

Hardly a ringing endorsement. Maybe some of the so called improvements on the market are solutions looking for a problem, at least on standard engines.

Mike.

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8 hours ago, Rob Y said:

Hi all,

I am planning on removing the extra external oil feed from the oil sensor to head fitted by the PO. Just because I don’t think it’s necessary. Consensus on this forum seems to agree.

Before I do it, I just wanted to check what is considered “normal” oil pressure. I have checked mine as it is and I get around 70 and 80 psi on tick over and at 2000rpm respectively when cold. With about 25 and 55 psi when hot at tick over and 2000 rpm respectively.

I don’t believe I have any problems but just wanted to check your thoughts on the values.

Car is a ‘73 CR with around 130k miles but not sure what engine re-builds have been done in that time, but the history file suggests a few. Car runs really well and doesn’t appear to burn (much) oil, certainly nothing noticeable and no smoke from the exhaust.

Interested to hear your thoughts on what’s normal.

Cheers,

 

Rob

Your oil pressure figures are about the same as mine.

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I believe Triumph quoted a figure of 40 - 60 PSI at 2,000 RPM Hot, so your figures seem fine

I used to get 25 PSI at Tick-over when hot and 65 PSI at 2,000 RPM on both my TR5 & Vitesse

Regards

Gary  

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An interesting question.

Until recently my car was 20-25 psi at 800rpm idle and 65 above 2000rpm. Both hot after good high speed cruising.

When replacing the thrust washers it was noted the oil pump filter was missing. The pump was replaced as a precaution.

Now my readings with the engine hot after a high speed cruise are 30-35 psi at idle and not below 70 psi cruising above 2000 rpm. 

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When running on Halfords 20/50 I used to get very low oil pressure (5-10psi) at idle after a long hot high speed run. Changed all the shells and it improved to 10-15 psi and when I changed to Penrite 20/60 it improved further to 20-25 psi under the same conditions.

At 2000 rpm is has always been 40-60psi hot with the relief valve opening at 70psi cold.

Normal, what is normal?

Mick

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7 minutes ago, Mick Forey said:

When running on Halfords 20/50 I used to get very low oil pressure (5-10psi) at idle after a long hot high speed run. Changed all the shells and it improved to 10-15 psi and when I changed to Penrite 20/60 it improved further to 20-25 psi under the same conditions.

At 2000 rpm is has always been 40-60psi hot with the relief valve opening at 70psi cold.

Normal, what is normal?

Mick

The cam shaft bearings play a very important part in good oil pressure often over looked when people do home engine re- builds as it requires access to some special measuring equipment. Also not all engine machine shops have a line borer. That is a question that TR customers should ask them to check the camshaft bores and cam shaft journals. If they cannot, go else where. My oil pressure is 50psi on tick over hot and 70 psi at 2000rpm hot as from new!

Bruce.

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1 hour ago, astontr6 said:

The cam shaft bearings play a very important part in good oil pressure often over looked when people do home engine re- builds as it requires access to some special measuring equipment. Also not all engine machine shops have a line borer. That is a question that TR customers should ask them to check the camshaft bores and cam shaft journals. If they cannot, go else where. My oil pressure is 50psi on tick over hot and 70 psi at 2000rpm hot as from new!

Bruce.

Also heard this.. Mine had replaceable camshaft bearings fitted when it was rebuilt. Similar psi to you at 2000 rpm but idle lower.. Guess it is pretty variable.

Tim

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1 hour ago, Tim D. said:

Also heard this.. Mine had replaceable camshaft bearings fitted when it was rebuilt. Similar psi to you at 2000 rpm but idle lower.. Guess it is pretty variable.

Tim

Hi Tim!

I did also use a Chris Whtor close tolerance oil pump on re-build. On my original oil pump when I renewed the shells at 50K I close toleranced the pump to the Dave Viszard spec. in his book. Oil pressure went up by 5 to 10 psi but I did have new shells as well!

Bruce.

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Think I have serious lack of oil pressure! Today out driving, when hot, was only recording about 10-15 psi at 2000 rpm, and just above zero at tick over. Previous owner paid a lot of money for a full nut and bolt restoration in 2016. Has done less than 2000 miles since then, mostly by me over the last 18 months in my ownership. Need to urgently get it looked at!

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1 hour ago, Chris Seymour said:

Think I have serious lack of oil pressure! Today out driving, when hot, was only recording about 10-15 psi at 2000 rpm, and just above zero at tick over. Previous owner paid a lot of money for a full nut and bolt restoration in 2016. Has done less than 2000 miles since then, mostly by me over the last 18 months in my ownership. Need to urgently get it looked at!

You do. I'd start by looking at the engine  oil system's  PRV.

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3 hours ago, Mike C said:

You do. I'd start by looking at the engine  oil system's  PRV.

If there are no engine noises I'd check the gauge. Get a mechanic to put a known pressure gauge into the oil gallery and read it directly.

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I brought my car with a known low oil pressure problem. The engine had only done less than 10.000 mile since a rebuild by a reputable supplier. On investigation I found that the cam had failed with several of the lobes very worn. The debris from this had passed through the oil pump causing severe wear. The oil filter had done it job and protected the crank from damage and the bores likewise looked fine. I fitted a new close tolerance oil pump from Chris Wittor and that restored the oil pressure to a reasonable level. I also replaced the cam but as the cam bores in the block were found to be worn, I am never going to get great oil pressure without line boring and fitting cam bearings but it is just about within spec for now. 

So, after checking the gauge, and PRV as suggested above I would have a look at the oil pump. There are some pictures of the failed pump on my website.

Good luck

Chris

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On 5/29/2021 at 9:50 PM, Chris Seymour said:

Think I have serious lack of oil pressure! Today out driving, when hot, was only recording about 10-15 psi at 2000 rpm, and just above zero at tick over. Previous owner paid a lot of money for a full nut and bolt restoration in 2016. Has done less than 2000 miles since then, mostly by me over the last 18 months in my ownership. Need to urgently get it looked at!

Before you commit to work or real money fit a second gauge and confirm low pressure. 

Alan

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1 hour ago, TRsixchris said:

I brought my car with a known low oil pressure problem. The engine had only done less than 10.000 mile since a rebuild by a reputable supplier. On investigation I found that the cam had failed with several of the lobes very worn. The debris from this had passed through the oil pump causing severe wear. The oil filter had done it job and protected the crank from damage and the bores likewise looked fine. I fitted a new close tolerance oil pump from Chris Wittor and that restored the oil pressure to a reasonable level. I also replaced the cam but as the cam bores in the block were found to be worn, I am never going to get great oil pressure without line boring and fitting cam bearings but it is just about within spec for now. 

So, after checking the gauge, and PRV as suggested above I would have a look at the oil pump. There are some pictures of the failed pump on my website.

Good luck

Chris

Hi Chris,

looks nasty!

My cams on my old motor before I had it rebuilt also took a bit of a pounding.

http://72tr6.blogspot.com/2014/

Which damaged the pump and oil pressure. Had the bock line bored and cam bearings fitted. All good now

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Hi Tim,

Yes, looks similar to the damage on my cam and my car also ran surprising well with some severely reduced cam lobes. I do intend to get the block line bored but happy to run for now. The current engine is bored to +40. I have another block which is standard probably needing a +20 rebore but has good cam bearing surfaces so torn between having the current block line bored or building up the spare engine.

Chris

Edited by TRsixchris
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39 minutes ago, TRsixchris said:

Hi Tim,

Yes, looks similar to the damage on my cam and my car also ran surprising well with some severely reduced cam lobes. I do intend to get the block line bored but happy to run for now. The current engine is bored to +40. I have another block which is standard probably needing a +20 rebore but has good cam bearing surfaces so torn between having the current block line bored or building up the spare engine.

Chris

Mine also ran well. before I took it to bits we did a run to the Spa Classic and some track laps.. seemed quite peppy! Now runing the saloon cam as it is a better match for the supercharger

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