adam1942 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 (edited) I noticed the morning (being late for work) that going fast round a roundabout the oil pressure dropped to what looked like 10!!! I came out of the corner and it went back to around 30psi. I drove slow to work the whole way thinking that I was low on oil or something. I filled up as I was quite low but still above min on the dip stick. Took it out for a drive and did a few sharp left to right movements whilst only doing 20-30 mph and once again on each turn the oil pressure dropped albeit not as low as before.... also worth noting I'm using 5w 30 oil. What does everyone think? Oil pump problem or is this normal? I've never noticed it before! Edited February 4, 2013 by adam1942 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 you need to be checking the oil when its cold and not by pulling over after a drive. You wont get a correct reading. Check it before driving home from work and see what the level is. Do not drive it if the red oil light comes on it does seems to indicate you are low on oil though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam1942 Posted February 4, 2013 Author Share Posted February 4, 2013 (edited) ya I checked the oil at 12:00 I arrived in work at 06:45 this morning it was stone cold... The red oil light does not come on but I dont want to let it get that bad in fear of knackering my engine The strange thing is when the car is started from cold it shoots up to 80-90psi as expected which I thought would indicate it was at least getting full pressure... but then again I guess its thicker than so it will be higher *shrug* I'll check before going home thanks and just keep the RPM down until I find out what's happening. Edited February 4, 2013 by adam1942 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekona Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Should be looking at the road, not the gauge I'd ignore it personally. If the car is otherwise fine, and it's not burning any oil, then I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waltzinblack Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I had this... oil pressure dropping severely when turning/hard braking. Leave the car OVERNIGHT and of course on a flat surface. It surprises me even now how long Zeds seem to stay warm. Basically you want to wait as long as you can for the oil to cool and settle back in the sump so you can get an accurate reading. If you find it's low, then when did you last check it? If it was ages ago, then probably fine (some people's Zeds seem to burn oil a bit) - keep an eye on it. If you checked it less than a month ago, then top up and get to a mechanic - you're badly burning/leaking oil and need to get it looked at! Don't wait for the red light.. it's not a 'low oil level' light (as perhaps it should be!) but a 'no oil pressure' light, aka, 'youre f***ed' light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly@Kaizer Motor Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I noticed the morning (being late for work) that going fast round a roundabout the oil pressure dropped to what looked like 10!!! I came out of the corner and it went back to around 30psi. I drove slow to work the whole way thinking that I was low on oil or something. I filled up as I was quite low but still above min on the dip stick. Took it out for a drive and did a few sharp left to right movements whilst only doing 20-30 mph and once again on each turn the oil pressure dropped albeit not as low as before.... also worth noting I'm using 5w 30 oil. What does everyone think? Oil pump problem or is this normal? I've never noticed it before! It is quite common, you just didn't notice it before. As the oil moves around in the oil pan due to high g-forces (example in a long continuous high g turn) and it will slosh to one side of the pan away from the oil pick up causing short time oil starvation and oil pressure drop. It shouldn't cause any problem if it's only occasional and and it's not longer than a few sec. If you are doing frequent high g braking and cornering (like track days) than you should consider to fit a dry-sump system or a baffled oil pan. (A lots of different types/makes available for every budget.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris AME Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I noticed the morning (being late for work) that going fast round a roundabout the oil pressure dropped to what looked like 10!!! I came out of the corner and it went back to around 30psi. I drove slow to work the whole way thinking that I was low on oil or something. I filled up as I was quite low but still above min on the dip stick. Took it out for a drive and did a few sharp left to right movements whilst only doing 20-30 mph and once again on each turn the oil pressure dropped albeit not as low as before.... also worth noting I'm using 5w 30 oil. What does everyone think? Oil pump problem or is this normal? I've never noticed it before! It is quite common, you just didn't notice it before. As the oil moves around in the oil pan due to high g-forces (example in a long continuous high g turn) and it will slosh to one side of the pan away from the oil pick up causing short time oil starvation and oil pressure drop. It shouldn't cause any problem if it's only occasional and and it's not longer than a few sec. If you are doing frequent high g braking and cornering (like track days) than you should consider to fit a dry-sump system or a baffled oil pan. (A lots of different types/makes available for every budget.) +1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 If its doing that quite badly or your tracking it hard get a baffled sump as Kaiser said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam1942 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 cheers guys couldn't check it this morning as there was about 3-4 inchs of snow on my car grr.. will leave it until I'm going home and check again as Ive brought my oil with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark@Abbey m/s Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I don't think the G loading @ 30mph will cause the oil to un-cover the oil pick up unless the car was super low on oil , we normally only see oil surge on high G loading's normally only seen on the track where we would advise to run a larger baffled sump to keep the pick up pipe covered at all times. When you say the oil pressure drops are you sure that you not dropping RPM as well as the oil pump is driven by the crank so lower RPM will always mean lower oil pressure until you seeing enough RPM to cause the Oil pressure relief valve to be opened this is when the oil pressure will level off. Oil pressure will always be higher with a cold engine than a hot engine tho. Maybe worth having an auxiliary oil pressure gauge put on the car to allow oil pressure to be checked as the stock oil pressure sensors do start to read funny when they get old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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