very low oil pressure
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Stage I
Joined: Jun 2007
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very low oil pressure
We just had the 55 pan rebuilt and now have about 10psi showing when it first starts, then when gets to temp, drops down to about 2psi. Tore apart the pump and it looked fine. any suggestions? Thanks.
Cruiser
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 207
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RE: very low oil pressure
There are a couple of places that you can check, if you areNOT running hyd. lifters in it, you will need to remove the rocker arms and block the oil galley to the push rod ends, as with the stock set up the hyd. lash aduster was in the push rod, and got its oil supply from the rocker arm, with out the hyd. as the cyls. grow it will open up a oil leak at the push rod end. also you can get a little bit more by removing the lifter blocks and plugging the oil feed for the lifter if you are running later lifter blocks. also oil pressure is not that critical on pan heads more flow than anything. hope this help, and good luck.
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2006
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RE: very low oil pressure
so, unless your running the in-pushrodtype hyd lifter you should block off the oil hole on the end of the rocker arm ? the reason i'm asking is i'm running 1948 lifter blocks with JIMS solid lifters, colony alum. pushrods in a 1959 panhead. the lifter blocks block the oil passages to the blocks so the only oil the lifters get is from the rocker arms. is this good ??
2nd Gear
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 6
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From:
RE: very low oil pressure
Two big mistakes I see on Pan rebuilds relating to oil pressure. Oil pump gaskets, pump to case aftermarket gaskets are 10-12 thou thicker than than stock. May not seem like much, but if your pump gear to crankcase clearance is more than 5 thou, you lose oil pressure. 2 rocker arm clearance, attention needs to be paid to the amount of clearance in the rocker arm shafts. Too much, and your oil runs out in the heads. Not a problem as it ends up in the case and back to the tank, but you will not hold oil pressure. Most of the time it is one or the other that accounts for low oil pressure.
Tourer
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 322
Likes: 8
From:
RE: very low oil pressure
the pressure relief spring on the pump can be stretched to give you a bit more pressure. if its the cast iron style pump, it is the screw in cap on the right SIDE of the pump.(not the little flathead screw)if its an s&s, its the one with the plunger not the check ball on the top of the pump
Cruiser
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 207
Likes: 1
RE: very low oil pressure
I had the rockers pined in mine, that will let a small amount of oil to the top of the pushrod, to see if you are loosing pressure from the rocker to pushrod try warming up the engine and adjusting the valve lash hot, if your oil pressure comes up that is one of your problems, oil pump gaskets are a problem also. Do not stretch the pressure relief spring, that will only raise the pressure when engine is cold, and screw everything up when you get your problem fixed.
Before I found the low pressure problem in my pan, I ran with the oil lamp on for about 50k miles (less than a pound of pressure when hot) just thought I would let you know about that one.
Before I found the low pressure problem in my pan, I ran with the oil lamp on for about 50k miles (less than a pound of pressure when hot) just thought I would let you know about that one.
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Joined: May 2007
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From: Florida
RE: very low oil pressure
ORIGINAL: crampfan
There are a couple of places that you can check, if you areNOT running hyd. lifters in it, you will need to remove the rocker arms and block the oil galley to the push rod ends, as with the stock set up the hyd. lash aduster was in the push rod, and got its oil supply from the rocker arm, with out the hyd. as the cyls. grow it will open up a oil leak at the push rod end. also you can get a little bit more by removing the lifter blocks and plugging the oil feed for the lifter if you are running later lifter blocks. also oil pressure is not that critical on pan heads more flow than anything. hope this help, and good luck.
There are a couple of places that you can check, if you areNOT running hyd. lifters in it, you will need to remove the rocker arms and block the oil galley to the push rod ends, as with the stock set up the hyd. lash aduster was in the push rod, and got its oil supply from the rocker arm, with out the hyd. as the cyls. grow it will open up a oil leak at the push rod end. also you can get a little bit more by removing the lifter blocks and plugging the oil feed for the lifter if you are running later lifter blocks. also oil pressure is not that critical on pan heads more flow than anything. hope this help, and good luck.
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