Oil Pressure On A 89 350

[thoughtpolice]

Hello guys! I was wondering what the normal oil pressure should be on a 89 chevy 2500 witha 350. When I start the truck, it immidiately goes up to the gauge max of 60. After it runs for a while it will idle at arround 45 or 50 or so...is this normal? The engine is running great otherwise just making sure it wont blow up or anything.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by thoughtpolice

Hello guys! I was wondering what the normal oil pressure should be on a 89 chevy 2500 witha 350. When I start the truck, it immidiately goes up to the gauge max of 60. After it runs for a while it will idle at arround 45 or 50 or so...is this normal? The engine is running great otherwise just making sure it wont blow up or anything.

Chevrolet spec for oil pressure on the small block is 45PSI @ 2000 RPM. If you're idling around 45, no problem. Mine idles at 30 when hot and has for 262,000 miles.

[thoughtpolice]

so its normal for it to be at 60 almost all the time im driving?

[idmetro]

First question would be whether you are reading from a known good (read calibrated) gauge or relying on the factory pressure gauge which aren't known for being terribly accurate. Your factory gauge may display 60 but is probably not exact. The pressure seems a bit higher than one might expect but if the engine was rebuilt along the way and got a high pressure oil pump installed then it could very well be normal.

[67malibu]

I got my '88 new and it has always read at 55 - 60 psi cold and about 35 psi hot. It doesn't read quite that much cold during the summer but pegs the gauge every morning in the winter. My brother used to have an '89 that read the same with the factory gauge.

[Blue Bowtie]

The general rule of thumb for any SBC with standard bearing clearances is that 10 PSIG per 1,000 RPM is adequate. Anything more is a bonus.

What oil is in the sump?

[618stanley]

Thanks for the info Blue Bowtie, just making the switch from the dark side after too many years, so I'm relearning Chevy vs Ford.
I switched from valvoline/fram to castrol/wix last week. The oil runs about 48 - 54 psi at start up to around 30 or so at idle so I think it's ok. It does seem to run smoother with the new switch over. The 10 psi per 1000 rpm is good to know.

Thanks,

99 K1500 (cherry), Z71, LS, 5.7L, auto trans, old body style, 148k

* Now trying to figure out why the hell I drove fords from 1978 until 2006 ??