Oil pressure too high.
 

I recently purchased a 1957 GMC Panel truck with a rebuilt 350 Chevy engine (Casting number 3970010 1968-79). It has TPI from an 87' Camero. OBDII. O2 Sensors. Crank position sensor. No Cats. and about 200 miles on it.

At idle the oil pressure is almost 80 psi. and goes up from there when driven. This has caused the oil filler (with bypass) to push out. I think oil came out of the oil dip stick tube as well and has caused leaks from the timing chain cover and oil pan gasket.

I have replaced the following: Oil filler with bypass. Oil filler seal. Oil dip stick seal. Timing chain cover. Oil pan gasket. PCV Valve. Oil filter, Oil filter bypass and installed a stock oil pump. The oil pump I pulled was not High Volume and did not have a hi pressure spring.

The oil pressure has not changed. Any idea what might be causing the high pressure? Plumbing? Gaskets?

Thanks, Bob

i wonder if you to have a few blocked oil ports which i seen make the oil pressure run high. :? i know my motor in my drag idles at like 45-50psi and i get like 90psi on the gas

Re: Oil pressure too high.
 

I can't see oil pressure causing oil to come out off the dipstick tube or an oil pan gasket. That sounds more like a ventilation problem.

TS1955

Re: Oil pressure too high.
 

im thinking that is from using the wrone dipstick and oil lvl is too high

Ventiation problem wouldn't cause the oil pressure to skyrocket, however if the cam bearings were in stalled incorrectly that could cause the high oil pressure. Tight bearing clearances could also be cause to high oil pressure, but would eventually fail. I would first try 5W30 oil. It's also possibly that the distributor housing is blocking the flow to the top end. Have you looked to see if you're getting oil to the rockers :?:

Not advice just wondering.

Zip.

thats what i said too. :wink: i think the dip stick and pan gasket is from too much oil. :wink:

I wasn't refering to the excessive pressure just the oil coming out of the pan gasket, timing cover, and dipstick. But I see where Fast is coming from. I do agree with you Zip on the bearing clearance. As far as the cam bearing installation, I don't think the motor would last 200 miles with the cam bearings installed wrong. JMO

TS1955

If it is a melling oil pump there were some problems that we ran into with the wrong tension by pass springs causing excessive oil pressure. If this does not change then check rod and main clearances.

A quick 2 cents worth here . .

If he has extremely high Oil Pressure and has oil squirting out of the dipstick tube, he has TWO different problems . .

Better find out how much oil he has in it first.

Then figure out what (or why) the oil pump is being so efficient!

The only time I saw oil being forced out of a dipstick tube was on a Ford 302. The head gasket had blown and it was forcing compression pressure through an oil passage and pressurizing the crankcase. The car was in for a bad alternator. The dipstick tube was filling the alternator with oil, burning it out. A compression check located the bad cylinder, and a new head gasket and alternator fixed the problem.

I have a great memory... just short. I had forgotten this. The first time we drove it around the block I saw smoke coming from under the hood. When I popped the hood, the oil filler was out and the dip stick looked like it had overflowed. I checked the oil and it was almost a quart over full. Seems that during assembly they did some pre lube, then poured in five quarts after installing the engine sometime later. I drained off less than a quart. At that point it had been driven 24 miles. I don't think it's overflowed from the dip stick since.

I relaced a Fram PH30 with same.

stay away from them orange filters....... they can be deadly to a race engine :(

I think I'm going to try a new oil pressure sender and gage. Might be getting a bad reading if one of those are bad.

Try one at a time . . Then you not only will fix the problem (if it does) but you'll know what you fixed . .

Orange filters discussion:

http://forums.racingjunk.com/viewtop...am+oil+filters :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

Okay, so I had an extra sender in the drawer and decided to start with that. Swapped them out and fired it up. The oil pressure was about 35 psi. What a relief! I'm going to read about the orange filters. Thank you to everyone that responded.

i was figuring u were running an aftermarket oil pressure gauge and line..... lol

Yep, that's my idea of trouble shooting... just keep throwing money at it until it works!

For a minute there, I thought I had me a new 350 Chevy boat anchor.