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View Poll Results: What is your oil pressure at your favorite cruising speed?
10 PSI or less 4 3.70%
20 PSI 12 11.11%
30 PSI 27 25.00%
40 PSI 60 55.56%
50 PSI or more 5 4.63%
Voters: 108. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1   IP: 70.211.215.130
Old 05-28-2009, 08:53 PM
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What Oil Pressure?

At Shawn's request:

Tell us about your oil pressure at your favorite cruising speed when the engine is fully warmed up.
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  #2   IP: 69.251.211.217
Old 05-28-2009, 09:30 PM
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50 psi on cold startup then after about an hour of running it drops to 40 psi at 1800 rpm and 20 psi at 700 -750 rpm in forward gear.

fresh water cooled and using heavy duty straight 30 weight oil
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  #3   IP: 68.224.125.99
Old 05-28-2009, 10:47 PM
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15-20 on cold startup at 700rpm.
Then 40 after the temp gets off the peg and it stays there at any rpm.
Cruise at 1700rpm. 5.5k in calm conditions. (40psi)(160º)
Castrol 10/30w

(Thanks for the idea Shawn)
-Jerry
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  #4   IP: 70.109.238.88
Old 05-29-2009, 05:50 AM
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Just under 60psi at startup.

Recently my engine has changed to a new steady state; now it takes 2 or 3
hours of hard running at 1,800 rpm for the oil pressure to drop down to just
a tad over 40.

20 at warmed up idle.
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  #5   IP: 206.125.176.3
Old 05-29-2009, 10:02 AM
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Thumbs up ha, nice!

Ha ha..thanks, Bill!

You'll see why I was interested in this poll. I picked 20 psi, but it is often under that. I believe that I am fortunate not to have any of those fancy oil pressure dependent cut-off switches, or the thing would never run!

The oil pressure behavior is still somewhat of a mystery to me on my boat. When I first acquired her it seemed as long as the pressure gauge was above 'zero' I was supposed to be happy (this apparently was typical behavior reported by P.O. & I do not think he ever adjusted the pressure adjusting bolt) This was unsatisfactory to me, so before hauling, I turned it in one turn and saw a slight improvement, if I recall the ride to the travel lift it was 10-ish PSI. Over the winter I got another turn or so out of it, hoping for more PSI this spring.

I think I have just about run out of adjustment, after 2 or 2.5 turns in total (I got .5 more turns a few weeks ago and they seem to only turn together now, so I assume I've bottomed out on the adjustment.)

So, here is the current behavior. I always make my wife sit in the cockpit on the stbd side so her legs aren't blocking the gauge pod and I can see the gauges on the port side. I stare at them every couple of minutes! I am a gauge freak...
  • Cold - first 5 seconds of running - 40 PSI - I've never seen it this high, except right at start up.
  • After those 5 seconds of running it initially drops to 8-10 PSI
  • Warming up - 10-15 PSI (15 at idle, goes down to 10 in gear)
  • After extended running & warm up (30-45 minutes), it has been settling in around 20-25 PSI. I did see 35 one day at light cruise (1,400 RPM), but only once!

Type of oil is Mobil1 10w40, high mileage synthetic. This was the oil installed by the P.O., so for the over-the-winter change, I kept the same stuff. Now that I am getting the engine running a little better, I am probably going to experiment and go back to regular old SAE 30 and see how it does, unless you guys talk me out of it.
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Last edited by sastanley; 05-29-2009 at 02:48 PM. Reason: as usual, more babbling
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  #6   IP: 206.40.166.218
Old 05-29-2009, 12:48 PM
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I said 20 lbs, which is plus or minus where our pressure seems to be almost all the time, cold starting and at 1800 rpm, our usual cruising speed. The exception is when I drop the throttle to idle speed to slow down to pick up the mooring, when the pressure then falls to the low teens. When I mentioned this on the forum last fall, Don answered that many A4's run on low oil pressure and that Universal had said even pressure as low as 10 lbs. was sufficient. I'd like to see a bit more pressure at all speeds, say 30 at 1800 rpm and 20 or slightly less at idle.

Mark S
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Old 05-24-2010, 09:54 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sastanley View Post
Ha ha..thanks, Bill!

You'll see why I was interested in this poll. I picked 20 psi, but it is often under that. I believe that I am fortunate not to have any of those fancy oil pressure dependent cut-off switches, or the thing would never run!

Not such a worry, as it turns out.
I neglected to refill my old engine with oil one spring launch. The un-suck-able quart left in the engine was sufficient to let the electronic fuel pump run the boat out of the launch bay, around to the slip, etc. Only when I checked the dipstick later in the day did I realize my error.

I don't know what the pressure threshold is on those oil pressure "safety" switches is, but it ain't much!
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  #8   IP: 72.73.119.232
Old 08-03-2009, 09:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roadnsky View Post
15-20 on cold startup at 700rpm.
Then 40 after the temp gets off the peg and it stays there at any rpm.
Cruise at 1700rpm. 5.5k in calm conditions. (40psi)(160º)
Castrol 10/30w

(Thanks for the idea Shawn)
-Jerry
Ditto on all - except about 6 knots in calm.
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  #9   IP: 216.67.53.26
Old 05-24-2010, 02:28 AM
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Whiskeyjack is set a little high, 50 psi at cruise. I will most likely reduce it to 40 next month.

Shawn, are there any problems with synthetic oil in the clutch pack in the reversing gear?
Back in the day, the early synthetic manufactures said to not use it in motorcycles with wet clutch packs.

Russ
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  #10   IP: 206.125.176.3
Old 05-24-2010, 08:42 AM
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Russ,
not sure...that is what was in the motor when I got the boat, so last year that is what I left in there. If you are wondering if I noticed any problems, the answer is, 'no'..everything seemed to perform as expected.

This season, I went back to regular dino juice - Rotella SAE 30.

The gauge is still low at start up , but seems to slowly rise to about 18-20 PSI after 40 minutes or so.
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"Holiday" - '89 Alura 35 #109
"Twice Around" - '77 C-30, #511 with original A-4 & MMI manifold - SOLD! (no longer a two boat owner!!)
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  #11   IP: 71.7.216.37
Old 07-03-2009, 06:00 AM
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oil pressure

"Pot 'O' Gold" runs at 25 psi oil pressure when warmed up and running at cruising speed, when started cold higher at 35.

Joe
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  #12   IP: 71.118.13.238
Old 07-20-2009, 12:23 PM
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Red face pressure

I cruise with my Indigo (the last 5) at 1900 rpm at 125 degrees with 35 psi of oil preassure, well just for the last 26 years or so.

Dave Neptune
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