Today was a bit warmer than it has been. 71 today. I was driving for a while and the car oil pressure warning came on. Looked down at the gauge and was sitting around 2-3 PSI. This was at idle. Idle was around 950. Usually My Oil pressure is around 10 at idle. No issue at WOT. Should I just ignore it or should I be concerned?

 

I think the spec is lowest 4 psi at idle

 

Ok Just wasn't sure if I should be worried. i do have cams. Mild cams 269/269 so just want to make sure my pressure isn't way off the mark.

 

10 psi for every 1000 RPM

 

just check the pressure with good mechanical gauge , if its low it could be few things , first wrong oil , oil pump going bad , maing berrings going bad

 

at idle my pressure is at 18-20 psi ,

 

is it hard to install a oil pressure gauge?

sorry for being offtopic!

 

Me too. When i idle at around 850 rpms i will sit at about 15psi, Now if my cams start to lope, it will sometimes drop to 13psi...But i think 3-4 is a little low lol. Did you check your oil? When was your last change?

 

I would want you to try another gauge, maybe stop over at a local shop and see what they are reading.

You never know, your sender might be faulty.

 

I read 6psi on your gauge-- how do you see 2-3..just checking, each line to me seems to be 2psi unless I am mistaken.

 

I have seen it this low quite a few times. Also ware you are grabbing the oil pressure source from can make a difference. If you are pre oil filter 10-15psi is normal. If you are post filter or in the head 0-5psi is normal for real low idle.

Just a few 100 rpm makes a huge difference. 950-1000rpm is 15-20 psi ware 500-800rpm will be 5-10psi.

 

factory manual states 11psi as minimum low oil pressure at idle. that would be at 750rpm measuring at the oil pump pre filter where the factory sensors are mounted. the factory low oil pressure light comes on at 4psi and lower. I would be very worried if low oil pressure light comes on while engine is running. most certainly have problems internally. I would try some thicker oil 20/50 to see if it comes up.