Low oil pressure?

[93Cavalier]

It's me again.

Same car. ('93 Cav, 3.1 V6)

When I first start the engine, from a cold start, the oil pressure guage shows about 2/3. (I think that's about 310kPa.)

Everything's fine until I start driving and the engine warms up. The oil pressure drops to 1/4 of the guage (about 130kPa), and only rises to 275kPa when I'm accelerating...

I have checked for leaks in the oil pan, and of course checked the oil level. Everything looks good. In fact, I just changed my oil, so I know it's not because of bad oil.

I have read some information on products like Lucas, additives for your oil that can help with this, but I don't want to put any of that shit into my car unless I have to.

What do you guys think?

Ryan

[KJRich]

Oil pressure drops when the oil gets warm and is thinner. However, if your used to your gauge giving higher readouts than it does now, there could be a problem, possibly a weak oil pump. I'm not too familiar with the Kpa system, I'm used to oil press being measured in pounds.`

[93Cavalier]

It's the same guage as your car apparently. Whatever your 1/2 mark is the same as mine. Just that mine's in kPa.
Normally I wouldn't worry too much about this, but a friend of mine noted that it should be higher... So I thought I'd ask.

//Edit//
What's the regular idle oil pressure for the V6 engine? PSI or kPa, either one, I'll just convert it.
//Edit//

[godenm]

for 93 3.1 oil pressure is only 8pounds @600 rpms;not sure what that is in kpa

[93Cavalier]

Perfect. Nothing to worry about. 8 psi is 55kPa.
Us crazy canucks with our metric system...

Thanks for the quick reply.

[KJRich]

So is everything cool then? They don't put factory oil pressure gauges in the '95 and newer Cavy's but I have a mechanical aftermarket oil pressure gauge on one of my Mopars with a 318 V8 and oil pressure is always higher when the engine is cold.

[93Cavalier]

Yep, everything seems fine. If the 3.1 is supposed to have 8 psi oil pressure (55kPa) at 600rpm idle when warm, then I'm right on the mark.
Now does anyone know anything about the problem I'm having with the heater motor?

Ryan

[KJRich]

Do only a couple speeds on the heater fan work? Its a relay, a common problem.