oil pressure changes

[full stringer]

hey all i have an 1984 sea ray cruiser with a 5.7 260 hp engine at warm up my oil pressure reads in the middle of guage and after sitting and fishing for a while then starting it up it will read in the middle as well but after a long run and i put her in neutral it reads about 1/4 the way up on the guage sometimes a bit lower any ideas on this issue btw it doesnt use oil i checked it last time out while sitting and fishing dipstick read full exactly and oil was very clean? stumped!! is the guage bad or something worse

 

[paultjohnson]

Re: oil pressure changes

Warm oil thins out. Gonna have lower oil pressure cuz your engine can pump thinner oil easier then thick oil.. I understand an accepted rule of thumb is that you should have at least 10#s of oil pressure for every 1000 rpms of your engine. What weight oil u runnin ' ?

 

[full stringer]

Re: oil pressure changes

im running straight 30w royal purple

 

[Silvertip]

Re: oil pressure changes

1/4 and 1/2 on the gauges is relatively meaningless since we can't see your boat. It is the numbers on the gauge that are meaningful. But NO -- you very likely don't have an issue. 10 PSI/1000 rpm is fine on a "Chebby" engine.

 

[Bondo]

Re: oil pressure changes

10 PSI/1000 rpm is fine on a "Chebby" engine.

Ayuh,... Most All motors really.... Hot oil always reads lower than cooler oil,...

I don't see any problem....

 

[Lou C]

Re: oil pressure changes

sounds like its probably OK, mine runs middle of the gauge cold idle (40 psi) and about 1/4 from the left at hot idle (20 psi)....