oil pressure question

[ctjackster]

BTW, speaking of simple jobs on the car, or what SHOULD be a simple job, can anyone explain to me GM's reasoning for putting the sparkplug shielding brackets in such an inconvient place right in front and on top of each plug on the SB motors?? My neighbor and I had to pull one of the plugs last week to check it and after removing the shielding it was still very difficult to get the sparkplug socket down in ther and around the bracket! He ended up having to slide the socket on the plug and than use a straight wrench to turn the socket instead of the socket ratchet. On his 427 BB motor the plugs are real easy to access. He said he can have all of his plugs out in 5 minutes - it took him 10 minutes to just the one plug out of my SB!
Sheesh, bad design there.

Barry - just wait, it gets even better . . . .

if you have issues with spark plug access, try replacing the lower radiator hose, or, for even more fun, try replacing the fuel pump (both of these are rather mundane tasks severely complicated by access issues)

 

[BarryK]

CT

when i read your post i went out to my car to look at the areas you mentioned. You are right, neither looks like something fun to have to get my hands and tools into.
Geez!, didn't anyone at GM think about this stuff when designing the motors and cars? JohnZ, you were there, what were these guys smoking at the time??
LOL

 

[JohnZ]

Yup, I was there - you gotta remember, though, that only about 25,000 Corvettes were built every year, and, at the same time, about 15,000 Chevrolet cars and trucks were built EVERY DAY. They weren't about to spend the tooling and facilities investment millions required for new ultra-low-volume Corvette-only parts, except where there were no alternatives; Corvette-only parts were tooled in a much simpler low-volume manner than passenger car or truck parts that had to support high daily volumes. More Caprices were built in a week than Corvettes in an entire year. Besides, Corvette buyers were "enthusiasts", right?

 

[sagnoff]

Barry-

My oil pressure gauge reads 35-40 lbs. at idle when the engine heats up. A higher RPMs it pegs the needle. Using 5w30 and having no problems with consumption. My engine is a 427/390. I assume the guage is off, but I'm not motivated to replace it yet.

Have you heard anything on the post related to concerns with high oil pressure?

 

[BarryK]

Yup, I was there - you gotta remember, though, that only about 25,000 Corvettes were built every year, and, at the same time, about 15,000 Chevrolet cars and trucks were built EVERY DAY. They weren't about to spend the tooling and facilities investment millions required for new ultra-low-volume Corvette-only parts, except where there were no alternatives; Corvette-only parts were tooled in a much simpler low-volume manner than passenger car or truck parts that had to support high daily volumes. More Caprices were built in a week than Corvettes in an entire year. Besides, Corvette buyers were "enthusiasts", right?

I understand fully what you are saying. on the other hand, Vette buyers may have been enthusiasts, but how enthusiastic could you get about all the access issues when trying to service or repair the car!
:confused
Oh well, part of the joys of classic Vette ownership

 

[BarryK]

Barry-

My oil pressure gauge reads 35-40 lbs. at idle when the engine heats up. A higher RPMs it pegs the needle. Using 5w30 and having no problems with consumption. My engine is a 427/390. I assume the guage is off, but I'm not motivated to replace it yet.

Have you heard anything on the post related to concerns with high oil pressure?

Hi

no, i haven't heard anything regarding the post about the high oil pressure, but the situation has reverted back to where it was. At idle with the motor cold the pressure will read 30-40lbd and at driving speeds will go up to between 40-60 lbs.
Once the motor warms up, the pressure at idle is back down to around 10lbs but at driving speeds is back up to between 40-60 lbs. it's no longer pegging the gauge at 80lbs pressure at driving speed but the low pressure at idle is back.
i'm really confused!

 

[JohnZ]

I understand fully what you are saying. on the other hand, Vette buyers may have been enthusiasts, but how enthusiastic could you get about all the access issues when trying to service or repair the car!
:confused
Oh well, part of the joys of classic Vette ownership

Actually, your Corvette has FAR better access under the hood for maintenance and repairs than ANY current passenger car - looked under the hood lately on an new car? You can't even SEE most of the parts, everything is jammed in so tight (known in OEM design circles as "efficiently packaged" ).

 

[vettework]

Concerning the high oil pressure issue,the oil pump has a pressure relief valve mounted in the side of it that the spring used in it determines max pres.supplied by the pump,also their is a pres. relief valve in the oil filter adapter to keep from blowing the filter out.
Also the average trouble light comes on at 4 lbs of pressure ,so your oil light isn,t on!
As far as the other suggestions if its burning oil like that ,its past testing and needs rebuilt,valve job and seals ,broken rings or engine overheating or normal wear reducing ring tension, hard or absent valve stem seals
I have rerung more then one engine still in the car before,clean-up after honing being very important,the corvette being the best frame to access under once the idler arm is removed the pan is wide open ,incase you feel like doing it yourself.........
FH

 

[BarryK]

incase you feel like doing it yourself.........
FH

i can see you are new to the forum
Welcome. it's great to see new members

As for your comments, if you read any of my posts you will quickly appreciate the humor I find in what you just said. i'm sure most other forum members are quietly or not so quietly laughing pretty good right now. ME, doing an engine rebuild?
The first and only work i've ever done on my car myself was just 3 days ago and that was only to replace the temperature sender unit. I had to work up enough nerve to get myself to tackle THAT simple job!


I do appreciate and thank you for the info though. I'm hoping to be able to avoid a complete rebuild of the motor if I can, at least for a while. I just got the car in March as the purchase of it really depleted extra funds and an engine rebuild is just a bit beyond what I can currently spend.

 

[JohnZ]

Barry, go to the auto parts store, buy an inexpensive aftermarket mechanical oil pressure gauge (about ten bucks), and connect it (they come with an assortment of adapter fittings) where the little square-head plug is just above the timing cover at about 11 o'clock. Start it, drive it, and compare the temporary gauge reading to your dash gauge; don't spend another dime on the car until you do that; it may well just be your gauge.

 

[BarryK]

Barry, go to the auto parts store, buy an inexpensive aftermarket mechanical oil pressure gauge (about ten bucks), and connect it (they come with an assortment of adapter fittings) where the little square-head plug is just above the timing cover at about 11 o'clock. Start it, drive it, and compare the temporary gauge reading to your dash gauge; don't spend another dime on the car until you do that; it may well just be your gauge.

John

thanks!
I'll do that first thing tomorrow morning.
do i need to drain the oil or anything before I remove that square head plug? I don't want to have oil come squirting out all over everything when I remove the plug! Sorry if this is a stupid question but you know I'm new at doing anything under the hood.

 

[curtis]

with the engine off there is no oil pressure to squirt the stuf out. grab a wrench and dig in!!!

 

[allcoupedup]

Barry,

There is a similar post on the NCRS discussion forum except the guy has HIGH reading. Some have warned that the plug may be very difficult to remove. If it doesn't come off with a crescent wrench, don't kill it!

http://www.ncrs.org/forum/tech.cgi/read/141573&expand/1

Brian

 

[BarryK]

with the engine off there is no oil pressure to squirt the stuf out. grab a wrench and dig in!!!

thanks Curtis

 

[BarryK]

Barry,

There is a similar post on the NCRS discussion forum except the guy has HIGH reading. Some have warned that the plug may be very difficult to remove. If it doesn't come off with a crescent wrench, don't kill it!

http://www.ncrs.org/forum/tech.cgi/read/141573&expand/1

Brian

Brian

thanks for the warning. I know if the plug won't budge on me not to force it too much. Believe me, since I'm not used to working on the motors I'd rather err on the side of caution!
Thanks for the warning though! Things like that will keep me out of trouble.

Barry