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No/Slow oil pressure in cold weather - temporarily fixed by new filter..what's up?

I took the cooler out before the first winter so I didn't have a chance to see how it would have behaved in cold weather with the cooler in place. I think I will put it back in if nothing else I can use the larger filter. Since things are ok for the time being with a fresh filter I can't promise I'll get to it before it warms up. Of course with the way this winter is going I should have plenty of cold weather yet to test some theories :)
 
It just came to my attention this morning, as I am cleaning up to reinstall new seals and gasket for the oil cooler on the truck I'm working on here at the moment, you say you removed the oil cooler adapt and installed the standard adapter for oil filter only.

The question I have, is are you absolutely sure you got all of the gasket material off of the block side when you pulled the cooler adapter off.

I only ask because when I pulled this one off, most of the gasket stayed on the block side and being a real mother-in-law to remove.

Wondering if you left some of the gasket stuff up in there and it's creating a leak within the adapter, not circulating within it's normal path, losing pressure.



You can see the left over gasket material I am fighting with getting out, but looking at this, it reminded me of your problem with low pressure.
 
Another thought cropped up, did they change the oil filter adapters at all over the run of the SBC? I'm pretty sure my oil cooler adapter (early 80's) only uses an o-ring to seal, no gasket. If the later stuff was using an actual gasket, perhaps the adapter itself is the issue?

It seems far-fetched to me, but I really don't know.
 
This one I just pulled off of a '99 had both a gasket, that you can see part of, but also has the big O-ring like an oil filter has on he outside rim area.
 
I don't recall scraping much of anything away when I did removed the oil cooler adapter, so it is possible something is still in there. So if some gasket material was creating a leak, I can't quite envision how this would cause no pressure in cold weather but allow good pressure once the oil is warmed up or in warm weather?

I have to admit I don't entirely understand the oil pathways from the oil pump through the filter and the different bypasses etc??:doah:
 
SBCOiling.gif
 
Thanks Ryoken

So if the pressure difference across the filter is greater than 10psi, the bypass opens.

From the diagram it looks like the bypass is part of the block, so I couldn't have accidentally removed the bypass, or effected bypass routing, when I took out the oil cooler adapter plate. (can anyone confirm my conclusion?)

Does anyone know exactly where the oil pressure tap down by the filter taps into the the galley? I assume it is in the vertical riser AFTER the bypass? Does anyone know for sure?

Is there anyway the oil could have been circulating and a mechanical gauge at that tap would've shown zero? I can't think of one...
 
So...now I'm confused...from the pics eagle posted, it looks like the bypass is in fact ENTIRELY within the spin-on filter adapter plate and not in the block at all?
 
yes, that's correct.. that diagram is misleading in that regard, it's just meant to give you a general flow direction.. ... there is no bypass in the block.. how could you boil the block, etc in a machine shop...


what's the history here? did it always do this?
 
Ryoken, yes, as long as I've owned it. I've had the truck for two years, bought it in the spring of 2012. Shortly after I bought it I realized it consumed oil.

At one point I thought it was leaking through the oil cooler in the radiator, so I pulled the cooler adapter plate/lines and retrofitted with a regular vertical oriented spin-on filter plate.

That winter (of 2012) I first encountered the issue with zero pressure. I had a few posts on this site back then, but then thought I fixed it with a new filter. Well, this winter it has happened twice already.

A new filter fixes it right away and gives me some good trouble free miles. But it seems to come back. Haven't noticed in warm weather.
 
unfortunately, I think it's the pump sh*tting the bed..
 
Drop the pan, replace the pump, change filter, and double check the adapter. When you got the pan out examine it really well, it can tell you things that a normal oil change cant. The weather is gonna be in the 50's on sunday.
 
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