No oil pressure on steep inclines

how long can the engine run safely without oil pressure
or is it not safe at all and if not how can I correct the problem.
I was messing around in the back yard the other day and managed to turn the XJ up skyward on a bank and lost all
oil pressure but didnt stay long once I noticed the pressure was down.
Thanks.

How long without oil pressure??? What is a safe time period?? Zero...Zip...get a Murphy gauge, set it at 1/2 of the normal idling oil pressure...get a backup accumulator...deepen the pan..etc, etc.

At the very least get a sending unit for a "idiot light" and plumb it parallel with your existing sender...and use it to turn on a very bright light on your dash where you can't miss seeing it.

Take this for what it's worth.

I spend more than my fair share of time on my back wheels and bumper. I constantly drop oil pressure into the zero range. I have yet to fry a motor due to oil related issues. I've sat running on the back bumper for many, many minutes and the ol' girl keeps on pluggin' away.

I'm not saying that it doesn't worry me, I just don't let it affect me anymore. If I know I'm going to be sitting vertical for a while i.e. waiting on someone to stack rocks, hook a line, etc, I will shut down the motor. Otherwise, realize that there is still a little bit of oil in all of those passages and journals and bearing surfaces. It's the nature of the beast unless you want to spend the coin on a dry sump system.

Sean

If you find that your driving gets you into this situation more than once, short of modifying the sump or adding an accumulator you should think about what you're running for oil.

Oil pressure is needed to get oil into the space between the bearings and the crank surfaces. Viscosity is what's needed to prevent the oil from being squeezed out once it gets in there. If you're running 5W30 (or, God forbid, 0W30) on the trail and you dump oil pressure, there's not a lot of residual viscosity there to rely on.

You need stickier oil. Synthetic as opposed to conventional is a start. Heavier weight also helps -- Mobil 1 15W50 or Castrol Syntech 5W50. Castrol also has a 20W50 in conventional oil.

Then think about a "viscosity index improver." This is what STP is, and also that Lucas stuff that many of the parts stores now have the little rolling gear display to show off. Check that display out and you can see that "sticky" oil really does climb higher and last longer. The same holds true down in your engine. If the pressure's gonna drop, you want oil that's not going to be squeezed out before the oil pump comes back on line.