I just finished installing my gauges and noticed that the oil pressure reading was extremely high. I went to the dealership and asked the tech guy there about it. After looking it up (he couldn't believe at first that my gauges were reading right) he found that 60-100 psi is within spec for normal driving! That means that my gauges were probably right. Anyway, I noticed this morning that the pressure was much higher for the first ten minutes or so of driving, even spiking as high as 120 psi. Is this normal for this car? Also, boost pressure didn't go above 15 during this warm up time. After driving for 20 minutes or so, they seemed to read a bit more normal...spikes up to 19 psi boost and 60-110 psi oil pressure.

 

perfectly normal though I'd say your boost gauge is a little off. The computer is supposed to cap it around 12psi until the car warms up to operating temp which takes only a few minutes. Just keep the revs lower since the oil isn't up to temperature yet after a couple minutes the oil will be plenty warm.

EDIT:

I'd thought I'd note the reason its done is to protect your engine from user silliness when the oil and block are not at operating temperature. Pretty much any modern performance car will have some kind of warm up limiter to prevent engine damages out of operating temperatures the M3 I believe even lowers the rev limit until its warmed up.

 

very normal, its high when cold, mine goes up to 120psi when cold..
dont boost when cold

 

haha ok just checking...120 psi seems like a lot for oil pressure. One mechanic I talked to couldn't believe the oil delivery system could take more than 100!

btw it probably wasn't going above 12 actually...I was just estimating. They gauges are Defi Blue Racer...should be pretty accurate (I hope)

 

FYI the oil pressure doesn't matter how high. It's about how low. long as it's doesn't drop to 0 don't worry about it.

 

I'm aware that low oil pressure is the real danger. Just wanted to make sure my readings were normal.

 

sounds good to me.

 

that is one reason why you have to warm it up before you go...
mitshu ecu limiting the boost when the engine is cold.safety for the engine.
wait untill your rpm drops down around 1000 rpm then you can go.

 

it is normal, the cold oil is harder to pump. if you tried to pump molasses your pressure would be higher still.

like the others have said this is an indication that the oil really isn't working yet, so take it easy on the car. no cold oil works as designed untill it gets warmed up.

 

Try switching to a smart oil like the German Castrol. It's much easier on things at startup and thickens once operating temp is reached.

 

Cold oil is thicker, so it will show higher pressure as its pumping, it will come down as the engine warms up but high pressure when its cold is normal.

There is thermostat bypass for the oil cooler so it won't be open all the time in cold weather.

Our oiling systems do have higher pressure than I'd see in other cars, but this is all normal.

 

I've seen as high as 130psi.




Of course, that was on a wintery cold day, and I didn't allow the engine to warm up, and I pushed it early to see how high it could go given these circumstances. No harm, no foul.

 

it is normal oil is thicker when u just start

 

All that oil pressure is why it is important to use a good oil filter - so it doesn't pop or unscrew.

 

Well oil pressure can be too high, It can also blow out the seal in the oil filter while you are driving and create a leak loosing all the oil from the engine or it can cause crank or rod bearings to spin ( spun bearing ) which is why they say dont rev it when it's cold, however under normal conditions I have seen oil pressure as high a 132 psi and as low as 8 psi in an EVO IX and the light comes on @ 4 psi I believe.
The main conditions under which pressure would be too high would be like a shimmed or modified oil pump or too thick a oil