• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

help with odd oil pressure problem

A

Andy98xj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Libertyville, IL
So lately when I start my XJ it takes like 5 seconds for the oil pressure gauge to go from zero up to operating pressure. It is enough for the check gauges light to come on. So my question is what is the problem. Is this an early indication of a failing oil pump? Is it a bad sending unit? Bad gauge? If anyone has any ideas please fill me in, because I'm a little worried the oil pump is going bad and I'm going to find myself on the side of the road with a blown engine.

thanks.
 
1. What oil filter are you running? If OCD--Orange Can of Death--replace it and see if the problem persists. Use a GOOD oil filter with a silicone drain back valve--WIX or NAPA Gold.

2. If you are running a WIX or NAPA Gold filter, then put a mechanical pressure gauge on the engine and see if it is actually not having pressure for that time or if possibly your sending unit is funky.
 
would a mechanical pressure gauge have to be threaded in inplace of the sending unit, or is there somewhere else to thread it in? I didn't install the filter, but it is not a fram. I am due for an oil change so I will throw an oil change and new filter at it this weekend and see if anything changes. It runs about 45 psi while driving and warm idle drops to 20-25 which is fairly normal at least for this rig since I've owned it. The slow build up has just started to happen recently. So I'm hoping it is related to needing an oil/filter change.
 
You would use a threaded fitting to replace the sending unit with the mechanical gauge.
 
not sure on the filter. I had it in a shop after my fan pulley bracket broke off on me on the interstate and they did an oil change while it was there. I hadn't thought to look at the brand, but I know it is black so not a fram. Not to mention I've never seen a shop use fram oil filters.
 
Andy98xj said:
not sure on the filter. I had it in a shop after my fan pulley bracket broke off on me on the interstate and they did an oil change while it was there. I hadn't thought to look at the brand, but I know it is black so not a fram. Not to mention I've never seen a shop use fram oil filters.
Click to expand...

Get the brand name off of it.
 
well I went out to check and I can't see a name, but what is visible is a chart that shows all the other brands and filter numbers that it "replaces" so probably a cheap POS. Looking like that is probably the issue maybe a bypass valve problem?
 
Andy98xj said:
well I went out to check and I can't see a name, but what is visible is a chart that shows all the other brands and filter numbers that it "replaces" so probably a cheap POS. Looking like that is probably the issue maybe a bypass valve problem?
Click to expand...

Maybe.. Seen this before. More than once. And so has Joe.

What's a Napa Gold or Wix filter cost? $5? Change JUST the filter and see what happens if that suits your fancy.
 
If it's not a bad oil filter, another possibility might
be a clogged oil pump pick-up screen. That is
a symptom when the oil screen starts to clog
(lazy pressure build-up).
 
I went ahead and changed the oil today because I was due anyway. I wound up with an STP filter because well they didn't have any of the others listed and I figured it wasn't a Fram and they had a hell of an oil change special. I'll see what it does and if it keeps up I'll find a place to get one of the ones mentioned above. I really hope it isn't the pump I don't want to deal with that.
 
Andy98xj said:
I went ahead and changed the oil today because I was due anyway. I wound up with an STP filter because well they didn't have any of the others listed and I figured it wasn't a Fram and they had a hell of an oil change special. I'll see what it does and if it keeps up I'll find a place to get one of the ones mentioned above. I really hope it isn't the pump I don't want to deal with that.
Click to expand...

STP is on par with Fram. Another POS.

Napa Gold or Wix. O'Reilly's carries Wix. Carquest filters are wix.
 
All you newbies: Please listen to Cruiser54. Read his posts. They are the
Book of Knowledge. I bet he does this sometimes:doh:
 
SO MANY of the old filter companies are GONE in all but name only--bought up or having their products produced by other companies, not "in house".

If you run DINO oil and change it every 3,000 miles, a filter is a CHEAP part. With the syn blends and synthetics going 5,000 or more miles on a change is even more of a NO-BRAINER.
 
That is why I run system 1 oil filters on everything I have. And on somethings I run a reg. filter also it help alittle and I get 1 more qt. of oil.
 
I'm not above spending money on my vehicles hell I have 6t of oil that cost over $13 a pop that was for my M3. But we're talking about a jeep with nearly 200,000 miles. There is probably as much oil blowing by the rings as flowing through the filter so when the store I happened to be shopping in didn't have any of the brands listed I went with what they had. I did notice this morning that when I started it for the first time the pressure gauge was still a little slow to move, but it didn't take long enough for the idiot light to come on like it was doing. So maybe the oil change did the trick. I'll keep watching it and if it is still acting weird I'll try to find a mechanical gauge to throw on it and see what's really going on.

on a side note is anyone running a filter relocation kit? this thing is a pain in the butt to access.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

A
1987 4.0 oil pressure problem
Replies
1
Views
1K
RCP Phx
R
M
Oil pressure question
2
Replies
26
Views
3K
Money_Pit_Incoming
M
O
0331 Strikes Again...?
Replies
11
Views
301
Ol Blue
O
S
1998 XJ no start - No fuel pressure
Replies
11
Views
2K
sjx40250
S
H
Oil pressure sender 98 vs 99
Replies
14
Views
2K
hbar..
H
Back
Top