Couple of questions about oil pump.

[The Shape]

I have 115,000 miles on my 87 GT and my oil pressure has been a little lower than normal lately. I have between 37-40 at 2K when hot and between 18-25 at idle. This is on my autometer electric gauge running castrol 10w-30 with outside tempatures in the 30's-low 50's . Is this so low that I should be worried, and if so what is most likely the culprit? Could it be a weak oil pump or is it more than likely the main bearings or a combination of both?

 

[jrichker]

Rule of thumb is 10 PSI of pressure per 1000 RPM. If you can get 50 PSI you are good to 5000 RPM.

My original engine had about the same mileage when I replaced the stock pump with a HD one. The engine went to 183,000 miles before I replaced because it was starting to burn 1 qt of oil every 500 miles or so. It was a lot of work, but I had good oil pressure (55-70 PSI) at 2000 RPM right up to the time I swapped out the engine.

It was really a peace of mind thing, there are 5.0's that run more miles than mine with the stock pump and have no problems.

 

[The Shape]

So I should be safe with the pressure I have then?

 

[jrichker]

If your thumb measures up to the rule , run with it.

 

[The Shape]

cool thanks

 

[gopher_6_9]

Yeah you should be fine. 10PSI rule is great, but not mandatory I have seen SBF's run with 10psi at idle and about 30 psi on up to about 5500 rpm and last another 75,000 miles. The 302 seems to do a little better than a chevy with low oil pressure (not knocking chevies, but there motors tend to need more oil pressure).

 

[The Shape]

Yeah it seems to run fine. So I guess as long as I don't hear anything ticking I should be in good shape then huh?