First, over the course of a typical drive, my oil pressure starts off being 45-50 psi at idle, 55-60 psi while driving. As the oil warms up, that psi slowly falls. This understandable, and as the engine ages, I would assume that it would drop more drastically.
Second, once the engine is up to 170-180 degrees (about 10-20 minutes....) the psi will drop to about 30 while driving, 22 while idling. Still not a problem, seems normal.
Finally, once it runs for over 30 minutes, or if the temp ever gets to 180-190 the running psi will be no more than 25, while idle is around 18 psi. This seems low. Again, the engine is probably just old. But I think I can tell the difference in how the engine runs when it gets to this point. It seems more clacky, it seems a bit rougher, etc...
If I allow it to cool down for just 10-15 minutes while I'm in the store or whatever, the water temp stays just about the same, but the oil pressure will come back up to 'healthy' levels.
So here is my question...... would it be worth it to figure out some way to keep the oil a bit cooler? Could a small cooler be installed in line? Assuming that you do want the oil to be at a normal operating temp, could that make it run too cool? Could something as simple as having a sump cover with cooling baffles be a good way to hold off that long term heating, and allow the air flow to better cool the oil?
Again, this is because it seems like there are three 'levels' of oil temp/pressure that occur, and I'd want to keep it in that middle level for as long as possible.
Second, once the engine is up to 170-180 degrees (about 10-20 minutes....) the psi will drop to about 30 while driving, 22 while idling. Still not a problem, seems normal.
Finally, once it runs for over 30 minutes, or if the temp ever gets to 180-190 the running psi will be no more than 25, while idle is around 18 psi. This seems low. Again, the engine is probably just old. But I think I can tell the difference in how the engine runs when it gets to this point. It seems more clacky, it seems a bit rougher, etc...
If I allow it to cool down for just 10-15 minutes while I'm in the store or whatever, the water temp stays just about the same, but the oil pressure will come back up to 'healthy' levels.
So here is my question...... would it be worth it to figure out some way to keep the oil a bit cooler? Could a small cooler be installed in line? Assuming that you do want the oil to be at a normal operating temp, could that make it run too cool? Could something as simple as having a sump cover with cooling baffles be a good way to hold off that long term heating, and allow the air flow to better cool the oil?
Again, this is because it seems like there are three 'levels' of oil temp/pressure that occur, and I'd want to keep it in that middle level for as long as possible.
