Oil Pressure Questions...

[swettysblazer]

Ever since I've owned my Blazer, the oil pressure has been right around 30 PSI or so no matter what. On the highway, at idle, doesn't matter it sticks at 30. I was doing some research and wondering if this was an issue or not. As far as I know, the motor is the stock 350 with 220K on it. It still runs good, and it burns a quart every oil change. I'm just wondering if this is a bad thing, as in the near future I'll be driving up to Rhode Island pretty frequently, which is about a 450 mile round trip. Thanks guys.

 

[sweetk30]

sender might be bad. cheep/easy to toss in a new one.

but best is to install a mech gauge to verify the indash unit. thats how a shop would test it.

and if same then not sendor.

if it goes up/down and dosnt hold 30 all the time i bet the sender is shot.

 

[buefchris]

That many miles on a stock smallblock,30p.s.i. is normal. at least for the ones I've seen.

 

[TerryD]

If it has oil pressure at all, it's good for a small block. It may not look good to most people, but you don't need alot of oil pressure to get the job done for a Chevy. My Camaro idles with around 30psi and only makes 60psi at 7000RPM. It's using a factory 1976 pump from a Scottsdale 2 bolt main 350.

Most of the time, high pressure oiling systems are just dumping the excess through the bypass, heating the oil up, wasting horse power, and stressing the timing set/distributor gear.

 

[swettysblazer]

If it has oil pressure at all, it's good for a small block. It may not look good to most people, but you don't need alot of oil pressure to get the job done for a Chevy. My Camaro idles with around 30psi and only makes 60psi at 7000RPM. It's using a factory 1976 pump from a Scottsdale 2 bolt main 350.

Most of the time, high pressure oiling systems are just dumping the excess through the bypass, heating the oil up, wasting horse power, and stressing the timing set/distributor gear.

Thats what I figured, I haven't had an issue in four years and I know it has a lot of mileage on it. Just makin sure it wasn't gonna grenade soon, but you never know when that will happen i guess...