oil pressure problem
Turbo Mini Forums

Hey everyone, could do with some help or reassurance, not sure which yet! Had a good search but cant find any problems the same as mine. Fitted the turbo this week end and all seemed to be well after a few teething problems. Now things are running great, all pressures as before until you stat to push on, then say ten mins of semi hard use the oil pressure drops! My guess is oil temp is getting to high but searching has made me think maybe not. Before the turbo was fitted it was as steady as a rock at 20/30 at idle warm 60 plus when reving. Now as before until you use any boost, as soon as you do 5/10 mins later you only get mabey 50 at full chat dropping to 10 on idle, full pressure never returns till stone cold again then same as before.
Was thinking it'll be fine once i fit a cooler but after a good search im getting concerned that oil temp may not cause such a drastic drop! just to add i also changed the filter and oil at the same time to 10/40 semi. Thoughts and opinions welcome.
cheers
Keith

10/40 is a bit thin in my opinion,

you might find its better with 20/50 in.

that said 50 psi is fine at rpm,

really you need a gauge rather than a cooler.

was planning a new rad, oil temp gauge and cooler this week end and was really not that concerned till i searched now im thinking knakered pump, mains etc, lol. Its an ongoing project and getting a bit worried about it going on the rollers till this is fixed. Better oil first step though, would ign timing make a difference by heating up thigngs exhaust side? I'm thinking the oil may be picking up a lot of heat from the turbo? running 10 deg at the mo.

well as i said 50psi is ok, i always like to see 25psi+ at idle, but 10 psi isnt that bad.

i suppose 10 deg adv would get the turbo hot and in turn the oil,

also check what stat you have in there you want somthing fairly low, i'm using an 80 deg.

what milage has the engine done?

unfortunatly pumps do tend to suffer a bit if the oil isnt changed regularly due to the box though.

no idea about the stat, will check and change though, think im gonna keep away from the rollers for now though. Thanks mini13, will go with it for now, take a few steps at a time and see if i can improve things. The motor has only got to last out the summer. Just so tempting to hit the gas! Love it and def the best thing iv done so far :)

Sorry forgot to say engine is about 60k.

The drop in pressure is more likely to be just that the turbo is now taking some of the flow and the pressure therefore drops a littleas soon as it gets a bit hotter than it did when N/A but it does not sound bad enough to warrant a strip - yet.

Oil temp gauge is FAR more important than a cooler. Do it.

10/40 is no good put in there 20/50
then watch the gauge come up .......... its not a bad pressure considering those miles on it and the snake oil you have in there

and add a can of STP oil additive to thicken it further

I wouldn't worry too much. Remember that the turbo engines did have a larger capacity oil pump to deal with the extra flow required through the turbocharger, so if you are running the standard pump then it is logical that your pressure will have dropped slightly now it is feeding the turbo.

Keith.

20W/50 needed for sure.

Agree with others - 10/40 is no good as it doesn't hold its viscosity at higher temps and is more like water than oil when up to temp. Certainly not good for the gearbox.

As well as the change to 20/50 (Valvoline VR-1 is good), it's probably worth bleeding the air out of the oil pressure gauge feed pipe just in case you're not getting a proper figure - easy to do: just start the engine with the pressure gauge held in a rag in your hand then crack the gauge line nut a little at a time off the back of the gauge until you see a good solid flow of oil with no air bubbles coming out.

If after the oil change you find pressure is still low, it's worth checking that your block mounted oil relief valve isn't stuck with a piece of swarf or crap from the pump. Easy to do. With your engine stationary, just unscrew the big hex headed bolt screwed in the block. The spring, and a bullet shaped valve can then be extracted. If it's scored bad or even seized, replace it (or fit the alternative Cooper S ball and spring relief valve kit from Minispares).

If that hasn't sorted it, and as your motor hasn't seen much mileage, you might get away with packing out the relief valve spring a little at a time behind the hex nut to gradually increase the base oil pressure but it shouldn't really be necessary to do this and is extreme as it can accelerate pump wear due to it working harder against the increased delivery pressure.

I'd go with the 20/50, bleed the gauge line and clean/replace the relief valve for starters.

Richard.

Edited by turbominivanman on 12th Aug, 2009.

Minivanless, but reluctantly happy living with the decision. There'll be another one day.
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=minimadmotorman#p/u

excelent! Should have known when asking for oil for a metro turbo and the guy said "is that diesel or petrol?" he didn't have a clue what he was talking about! Thanks for your speedy and helpful advice chaps, feel much happier now :)

The relief valve has no effect on idle oil pressure.

The standard spring and bullet operates at around 55psi warm as RPM rises, and idle oil pressure is around 12psi warm. Those are the factory values.

Idle oil pressure is determined by the clearancies in the engine, so idle oil pressure is usualy a good indicator of engine condition.

Mine behaves in a similair way and i have 10/40 in, will be swapping to 20/50 before mitp.

Edited by MikeRace on 12th Aug, 2009.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Just to update on this, i now have 20/50 and the pressure has upped around 10psi on idle and doesnt fall when hot

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Excellent!

If something is worth doing, it's worth doing half of.

I liiikee

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Are those gianna michaels wobblers?

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

HAve you got your turbo sorted Mike??

Yahh, no more smoke!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Yet...

WWW.FORCE-RACING.CO.UK PLEASE CLICK HERE

Put new 20/50 plus some stp in this morning, yippee :) all is well again, bit down on before but thats to be expected. Now just need to figure out how to keep it cool and i can start turning the boost up yay. Thanks for the help.