Low Oil Pressure? 3VZ-E

[Arctic 4x4]

Comparing what my oil pressure guage does with what my CHILTON manual says it SHOULD do... I think my truck is running low in terms of oil pressure.

The CHILTON manual makes no bones about it... if it starts running below where it should on the oil pressure guage, PULL OVER AND TURN THE ENGINE OFF.

So that got me worried about it, and now I'm trying to figure out why my oil pressure always reads a bit lower than it should during any given operating condition.

Does anyone know of any common things that can cause a low oil pressure? What should I be looking for?

I drive a 1990 T4R 3VZ-E 4x4 AUTO w/ 100k+ miles.

 

[drmorbius]

Comparing what my oil pressure guage does with what my CHILTON manual says it SHOULD do... I think my truck is running low in terms of oil pressure.

The CHILTON manual makes no bones about it... if it starts running below where it should on the oil pressure guage, PULL OVER AND TURN THE ENGINE OFF.

So that got me worried about it, and now I'm trying to figure out why my oil pressure always reads a bit lower than it should during any given operating condition.

Does anyone know of any common things that can cause a low oil pressure? What should I be looking for?

I drive a 1990 T4R 3VZ-E 4x4 AUTO w/ 100k+ miles.

Did this condition come about suddenly or gradually, or has it always been like this since you became the owner. It doesn't sound like you are experiencing a drastic change. What weight oil are you running? A couple of possibilities are sludge or a blocked oil pump pickup screen.

 

[Arctic 4x4]

Re: Re: Low Oil Pressure? 3VZ-E

Did this condition come about suddenly or gradually, or has it always been like this since you became the owner. It doesn't sound like you are experiencing a drastic change. What weight oil are you running? A couple of possibilities are sludge or a blocked oil pump pickup screen.

It has always been this way. I've owned the truck for only a few months.

Ok, so when it's cold...overnight cold... I can go crank it up, and the oil pressure guage will hold slightly below the mid-line while idling and warming up. As the engine warms up, the oil pressure will very slowly start to fall.

Even after the engine is at normal operating temp, the oil pressure is still higher and reading well. But it will continue to fall over time, and after about 15 minutes of driving, it will eventually get to where it sits on or just above the L line @ idle, and gets no higher than mid-line while driving and accelerating.

I am running a 10W-30 conventional oil. Outside temperatures average in the 50s-60s F here in Alaska. During the winter, I plan to run a 5W-30. I'd like to switch out to a full synthetic soon too, but after I work out some other bugs.

thanks man.

 

[K_Labs]

Don't sweat that crap..... Follow this link because the motoheads that are on this site are retired mechanics and stuff starting at post #12-#16 sorry the posts are backwards so read up to the top of the page. Could just be the oil sending unit it is located on the drivers side in front of the oil filter. Buy a new one change it out and see what happens. Check oil levels change oil and filter and you should be back in business

http://www.fordmuscle.com/forums/la...d/473332-please-help-smoke-out-exhaust-2.html

 

[Red]

haha thats the thread I was looking for, I remembered reading that and then thought it was on Yotatech and couldnt find it.

My 4Runners oil pressure does the same thing, sits on the low mark at idle and stays at halfway when driving.

Runs fine.

 

[Bad_Majick]

I have this problem too it'll be fine at start up for about 10 minutes then when driving normal it stays right on or a little above the first line (low) and at idle will drop to the letter L and you can hear valve noise until i give it more gas and the pressure slowly rises. Is this because I'm using 10W-30 and not 5w-30 any other advice before I go digging into it... also it'll drop a cylinder very rarely i think its a bad spark plug wire and I'm taking out the cat any issues i may run into?

 

[pistol1000]

ME too ....K LABS is right sound like the Fix 4 that.. mine is bad too they all have the same problems can you say RECALL!