Low oil Pressure Ideling? (pics)

Does this seem low tou you guys I cant remember if I seen it this low before oil level is fine and I'm running Mobile1 Full Synthetic with Mobile filter.

Mine reads the same at idle.

Mine reads about that, or every so slightly higher at hot idle. I also have over 250K on the clock.

Looks pretty much fine to me. Same here and 127k on the odometer.

my 2000 has about 91K on it and reads the same at hot idle. My friend put 10W-40 high mileage oil in his and it reads a little higher now at hot idle. Maybe you could try that if you want higher pressure. Stock specs say 13 psi minimum at hot idle so its fine.

If you want to "verify" your oil pressure, temporarily install a mechanical pressure gauge where the current sending unit resides. That will tell the true story.

But as mentioned, anything 13 psi and above at hot idle is fine. I've even seen guys with a verified 10 psi run for a very long time with no issues.

7 psi is where you should start to worry about your oil pressure according to my FSM (2001).

you guys are making me feel SO MUCH BETTER!!!! I've been stressing whether to put a mechanical gauge on mine because I run between 10-13psi at hot idle but I have no running or knocking problems so I think I'm ok. My 98 2wd Limited just rolled 141k

Mines the same I run the same oil.

Update today I was at a light and i noticed check gauges light was on and my oil pressure was at 0 at idle but went back up when I took off from the light.Now I just got back from the dunes and got into some high rpm's climbing do you think that some sluge got stirred up and it partially clogging my oil filter?

run a thicker oil if you want the pressure up a bit. I'd say your fine though. I'm abuot the same...maybe a bit higher. I currenty run 10W40. I had 20W50 for 1 oil cahnge to see if it helped a slight engine knock (i didnt) and BOY my oil presure WAS HIGH!

Stop guessing.

Get a mechanical gauge in there to verify your pressure. This gauge can be rented from many big box parts stores or any shop could do this for you for a nominal charge.

birchlakeXJ said:

Stop guessing.

Get a mechanical gauge in there to verify your pressure. This gauge can be rented from many big box parts stores or any shop could do this for you for a nominal charge.

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x2. You could have NO problem, a bad sending unit, a poor oil filter, sludge in the engine, and other problems. TEST, TEST, TEST.

I second the sender. I did a JY run today, and almost every XJ was missing the oil pressure sender.

Mine's been running pretty flat also, so that's why I was looking. Turns out that's all it was, a bad sender.


On the OP: That's a normal looking reading to me

Ron

Back in the day (early 80s) when Mobil1, the first popular, widely sold synthetic came out, I can remember those with pressure gauges being alarmed by the low pressure at idle. I was told it was caused by the more slippery nature of it. Also, around that time, cars started to use lower weight oils, 5-30 replacing the old faithful 10-30 or 40, or 20-50, all in the name of fuel mileage. What weight are you running? I ca remember my '72 Pinto (ok, stop laughing!) It burned oil so bad that I filled it with 50w oil, and two cans of STP. The blue haze subsided, but it had trouble getting over 50 MPH, and just felt very sluggish. Also, I once tried Arco Graphite oil, available for a while in the '70s, in my '63 Grand Prix with the 421 engine. It was so slippery that the car was noticeably quicker. But after a couple hundred miles, the graphite came out of suspension, and found the lifters. It never tapped before, and never stopped after. Of course, in the late '70s after the second 'energy crisis', Sunoco 260 was up over $.60/gal, so at about 4 MPG, I couldn't afford to drive it much, which is why I bought the aforementioned Pinto. At 20 MPG, the car paid for itself. Ahhh, those were the days!

A thought about senders. The gauge in my son's '95 started acting up. I said get a new sender. Over the course of a week he went through every sender Advance could come up with. No luck. So we went to Harry's, grabbed a few, they worked fine, but as said before, most were already missing.

I'm not sure on the oil weight It was changed over 2 months ago. Where are these sending units located at?

Directly above the oil filter.

birchlakeXJ said:

If you want to "verify" your oil pressure, temporarily install a mechanical pressure gauge where the current sending unit resides. That will tell the true story.

But as mentioned, anything 13 psi and above at hot idle is fine. I've even seen guys with a verified 10 psi run for a very long time with no issues.

Click to expand...

ditto. mine does the same thing put in a autometer aux one 60 going down the raod ~55 at idle. while cluster reads 10. you could also just listen to it if you get on the gas and the pres. doens't come back up listen for rappin lifters.