Oil pressure?

[dac69er]

One of my starlets has always been a bit more reluctant than the others to build oil pressure quickly when cranking.

It's the lowest mileage and best looked after one of the lot!!!!

The car does tend to sit a lot as I don't use it much.

Today I changed the oil after it has sat a few months. I didn't start it, I just drained it out, replaced the filter and filled it back up. Even with the plugs out I couldn't get the oil light to go out before starting it.
I went with starting it anyway and it rattled a bit up the top end for a few seconds until the oil light went out and then was ok.

After a restart it is fine and whilst driving it is fine.

Anyone else have this issue?

 

[gorganl2000]

i'd check the easy stuff first,,,oil pressure sensor and connection--maybe swap one from one of your other cars and see if there's any difference...try cleaning the contacts as well

 

[SKINY]

Could be the oil relief at the bottom of the engine, blocked or clogged. I know a boy local(Young Phil)his valve went and lost the oil pressure, sad day that was for him
On the flip side mine lays for months sometimes a year without running and always builds the pressure.
Oil change I would always let whatever it is warm up then sit for maybe 10 mins before spinning the bung off, warm oil flows and drains better

 

[RoyalDutchie]

Seems we have some things in common with our starlets

When cranking mine without plugs I've never seen the light go out. Also takes a second before it goes of when starting it and if it is cold outside is goes to 1500-2000 rpm for that crucial second.

Has done that for the past 3 years I've owned it, but would have liked it to be different. I do thinks some bits are a bit gummed up since I have a reasonable amount of deposits in the engine.

The glanza also has a weaker starter of .8KW instead of 1 or more most suppose to have, no idea if this makes any difference.

Plan is to flush it some times and replace all gaskets with the kit I have/replace the oil relief and oil pump. Then start using 10w40 full synth

 

[dac69er]

i'd check the easy stuff first,,,oil pressure sensor and connection--maybe swap one from one of your other cars and see if there's any difference...try cleaning the contacts as well

the top end rattled on startup until the oil pressure light went out, so it was definitely low on pressure.

 

[dac69er]

Could be the oil relief at the bottom of the engine, blocked or clogged. I know a boy local(Young Phil)his valve went and lost the oil pressure, sad day that was for him
On the flip side mine lays for months sometimes a year without running and always builds the pressure.
Oil change I would always let whatever it is warm up then sit for maybe 10 mins before spinning the bung off, warm oil flows and drains better

pretty unlikely, the car has an oil change every year and i only do about 100 miles per year. the engine is like new inside (last time i had the cam cover off to check clearances). its done about 65k miles. i have had the car since it had done about 35-40k miles. i have owned it for 15+ years now and it has always been a bit like that. ive never not been able to get the oil pressure up by cranking before though!

i would normally warm it up a bit, but it was 30+ degrees in my garage, so the oil was flowing plenty well enough.

im tempted to just rebuild the engine this winter as i have done my other engines. i know it is done then.

 

[Jay]

Odd one Duncan.

The only hassle I've had with oil pressure:

A new built forged engine, would not build pressure no matter what I did. Turns out I had coated the oil pump in well.. oil rather than assembly paste so it wouldn't build the initial pressure to get the party started. On a new build I didn't fancy starting it and crossing my fingers so ended up removing the pump and giving myself a slap after realising what I'd done.

Second one was Anthony's GT which lay here for around two years with only intermittent starts (usually start and run them every few weeks). It lost pressure and I was dreading ripping the pump out. Someone smarter than me said to pour oil down into the pump manually which would give it the kick it needed. Taking the cam cover off and pouring oil into the port was easier than removing the bottom pulley, etc. Didn't question it too much as it worked lol.

Is it possible there's a bit of wear in the oil pump rotor? If you are pulling it apart to refresh things a new pump is probably on the list anyway.

 

[dac69er]

There could be some wear in the oil pump. I am surprised considering the frequency of oil changes, the low mileage etc.
I would definitely change the pump when I rebuild.

I tried turning the car over today and oil pressure build up as expected. Only seems to be if it is a left for a long period. Draining the oil seemed to make it even worse!?!?

Will probably only take it out another couple more times this year, so will keep an eye on it and then rebuild it and then it will be sorted

 

[dac69er]

Took it out today. No issues at all.

Must have just lost that initial prime when I dropped the oil out. Learnt not to do that again

 

[SKINY]

Nice to see its sorted itself
How long when it's sat a while do you crank it before starting it ? Mines ran every day for a few minutes now it's beside me but when it was in storage I always cranked it with the efi fuse out until the light went out(normally about 5 seconds) then another good 10 at least before putting the fuse back in for the noise

 

[dac69er]

Nice to see its sorted itself
How long when it's sat a while do you crank it before starting it ? Mines ran every day for a few minutes now it's beside me but when it was in storage I always cranked it with the efi fuse out until the light went out(normally about 5 seconds) then another good 10 at least before putting the fuse back in for the noise

I always crank it until the light goes out.

Apart from this time round when I couldn't get the light to go out.

It takes varying amounts of time to get the oil pressure up. Normally between 5-10 seconds depending on how long it has stood for.