B18...oil pressure....what is TOO LOW?

[noridetoolow]

OK...so I dropped a salvage yard B18 LS motor in my DA...oil light came on, would be DIM...FLASH or be on STEADY....MIGHT almosy go out but not really. Note that I drove it like this for a coupe days...aside from off and on rough idle ( which I have had since droppin in the motor ) the car still runs great, is very strong and doesnt smoke. Did much forum searching and decided to install a gauge. After 15 min or so of idling...it seemed to be happy between 10-15 psi, when driving..at 2500 rpm it runs about 40 psi and doesnt seem to wanna go over 80 psi, even in higher rpms. Once I drove it 10 min or so, the pressure dropped to about 5 at idle. So.....do I have a problem? Or is the better question, how much of a problem do I have?

Oil level is good btw

[FlyingStroke240]

it seems fine to me.

[noridetoolow]

one thing I did note was that my oil light...now with the stock pressure sensor disconnected....does the SAME things it did before...DIM, FLASHES, STEADY ON...and all this in 10 min of driving and 15 min idling.

[RBS]

below 10-15 psi is kinda deadly, just remember that

[noridetoolow]

Was watching it this morn....I think its due to the ROUGH idle...idles so low the car cut off like 5 or 6 times at lights. I need to trace down some still unhooked vacume lines. When at 700 or so rpm it is more in the 10 psi range. It looks like I might be good to go. thanks for replies!!!

[iEvo]

yea 5psi seems a lil low the my car at idle sits at like 10psi

[noridetoolow]

I think I am good then....5 psi is when its idling VERY low....I mean like stalling on me low. I just dropped the motor in, gotta clean up some loose vacume lines tonight, that should smooth and up the idle and at 700 rpm its running 10 psi

[patrick4588]

im at about 15psi at idle around 1000 and by 3000 rpm its at 65-70 and tops out around 80 by 4000 till redline. i have a gsr btw

[-S Double C-]

my oil pressure is 60-80 at idle 100 when accelerating.

[speedminded]

What oil filter are you using?

[noridetoolow]

Fram Toughguard

[speedminded]

Fram Toughguard

That one's alot larger than the OEM blue Honda one right?

[noridetoolow]

not sure....the filter on the motor was on it from the salvage yard....the Fram looked to be about the same size but I have never seen.......wow......have never seen an OEM filter. The Fram was what was called for this motor

[speedminded]

not sure....the filter on the motor was on it from the salvage yard....the Fram looked to be about the same size but I have never seen.......wow......have never seen an OEM filter. The Fram was what was called for this motor

They're $7 or so from the dealer, they changed the size of the OEM filters years ago to raise the oil pressure. All the aftermarket filters i've seen other than HAMP are the same size or larger than the old OEM ones...

[noridetoolow]

thats interesting.... I'll hit up the dealership and get a new filter...looks like I gotta change the oil anyway....onsidering i gotta put a $36 oil pan gasket on