oil preswsure 3 litre ranger

[tundraathome]

finally got the engine in and fired . ihadreplaced rod and main bearings even though they were not too bad and put in a new pump.the oringinal problem was that when coming to a stop when fully warmede up the guage would bottom out once and then return to normal. i put in a mechanical guage and when bench testing the enghine with a electric drill to drive the pump pressure was at 55 p.s.i. now with the engine in and fully warmed p.s.i./ at 600 r.p.m is about 18 and thyen goes to about 40 at 2000 r.p.m. cold pressure is 445 at idle and 65 at 2000rpm.. the 18 warmed and at idle seems low any ideas sam

[tundraathome]

i should also mention that i put in 10w -40 oil in it

[tundraathome]

i should also mention that i put in 10w -40 oil in it pensoil

[12Ounce]

Those pressures don't sound that bad to me.

[rhandwor]

I assume you cleaned the strainer good. I would check idle with the mechanical gage your sending unit may be bad. If every thing is as stated they make a slightly oversized bearing. I would talk to a machine shop but you should have used a mike and checked before installing bearings. I think you can get .001 and .005 bearings. As long as you have over 15 at idle you shouldn't hurt the engine.
Depending where you live you could try 20w50,15w40 or 40wt racing oil.

[tundraathome]

put in new bearings,crank was good and run a clearanceof .001 on rods and mains. the pump was replaced along with a new pickup screen

[tundraathome]

p.s. i have the stock useless guage tee,d in with a mechanical one and this is where i got the pressure readings. it almost appears that the oil, pensoil 10w- 40 is thinning out excessively

[rhandwor]

I had a 1997 ford f-150 with 5.4L and I used 5W30 which I changed after 1000 mile. I had noisy lifters and the oil didn't feel like oil between my fingers and it didn't feel oily. I went to 20W50 but I live in Ga. where it is warm.
This solved my problem. I use 15W40 in my diesel tractor if you live in a cold area I would try this. Most equipment owners use shell in their equipment and I also use it in my tractor. I use wallmart oil and filters in my truck and car. I even found the check valve in the filter works better in my tractor.
I have used pennzoil in the past and never had any problem with it.
If you rebuild your engine some times the drain lines from the head to the block get some dirt in them and it doesn't drain fast enough. You can run a long slim screwdriver through them.

[tundraathome]

update the engine was ok for about 8000k,s when the cam bearings went completely out and in the process the cam was running on the bare block and screwed the cam and the block. i picked up another with about 190kms on it and heard it running and it sounded good with about 18 psi at idle. i tore it down and found the cam bearings ready to go so i had them replaced along with new rod and main bearings. pressure now warmed up is 60 psi at 1800 rpm and 38 at idle sam