Rebuilt 6.9 oil psi questions

Laine D

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Hey everybody, I just finished rebuilding my 6.9 and swapping in a zf5. Runs and drives great. Only thing that bothers me is that it only makes 10 psi at a warm idle and around 2000 it’s at like 45 psi I think. I don’t have a tach and haven’t driving the stick enough to know the rpms by heart. Now I have read that it is fine but I still get paranoid. The only thing I don’t replace on this engine is the oil pump but I took it apart and it looked perfectly fine, I mean it is the most lubricated part of the engine. Is there any way to get a little more pressure out of it? I know I can shim the pressure relief valve in the oil cooler but I have no clue how much is enough. I’m not trying to blow that oil filter off of that thing. Anyways, hoping I can get some advice about it.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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Hey everybody, I just finished rebuilding my 6.9 and swapping in a zf5. Runs and drives great. Only thing that bothers me is that it only makes 10 psi at a warm idle and around 2000 it’s at like 45 psi I think. I don’t have a tach and haven’t driving the stick enough to know the rpms by heart. Now I have read that it is fine but I still get paranoid. The only thing I don’t replace on this engine is the oil pump but I took it apart and it looked perfectly fine, I mean it is the most lubricated part of the engine. Is there any way to get a little more pressure out of it? I know I can shim the pressure relief valve in the oil cooler but I have no clue how much is enough. I’m not trying to blow that oil filter off of that thing. Anyways, hoping I can get some advice about it.
The guys above have you covered. To help ally some concerns, IH has service books that show minimum specs and you're fine. They have been posted before, try searching around the site.
These oil pumps are high VOLUME pumps by design and not particularly high pressure.

Also, the placement of the sensor can make a big difference, if it's up sensing off the turbo then that usually nets a lower pressure, especially at low RPM. Mine is in the oil galley in the rear drivers side of the block and I see much higher idle pressures than most IDI'ers-- just because of placement. I can't remember my hot idle pressure off hand exactly but I think its around 25psi.
Where is your sensor located?
 

IDIBRONCO

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Just remember this. You're getting 10PSI on a warm idle with 8 internal oil leaks called the piston cooling jets. You DO NOT have an oil pressure issue. 10 PSI for every 1000 RPM is the general guideline. You're idling at less than 1000 RPM so 10 PSI is fine. High oil pressure is kind of an old wives tale. It's not really needed. On gas engines, when you get a higher volume of oil flow, it increases the pressure too since they don't have any piston cooling jets. Of course, there could be a new design that I don't know about.
 

Laine D

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The guys above have you covered. To help ally some concerns, IH has service books that show minimum specs and you're fine. They have been posted before, try searching around the site.
These oil pumps are high VOLUME pumps by design and not particularly high pressure.

Also, the placement of the sensor can make a big difference, if it's up sensing off the turbo then that usually nets a lower pressure, especially at low RPM. Mine is in the oil galley in the rear drivers side of the block and I see much higher idle pressures than most IDI'ers-- just because of placement. I can't remember my hot idle pressure off hand exactly but I think its around 25psi.
Where is your sensor located?
I have my mechanical gauge Tee’d in at the turbo with the oil feed line.
 

IDIBRONCO

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So you're seeing the lowest oil pressure that your engine has. If you put a T in a lower position, you may see 15 or even 20 PSI on a warm idle. That would look better than 10 PSI.
 

IDIBRONCO

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The only thing I don’t replace on this engine is the oil pump but I took it apart and it looked perfectly fine, I mean it is the most lubricated part of the engine.
I should have caught this last night. The general idea on here is that the stock oil pump is better than the new aftermarket ones. I don't remember seeing an explanation as to why, but I'd guess closer tolerances. They probably put out more pressure and volume. You're right. It's the best lubricated moving part in the engine. As long as you run good oil, do regular oil changes, and don't run low on oil, the stock one should tun a long, long time. I'll bet you're fine with the stock oil pump.
 

Laine D

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I should have caught this last night. The general idea on here is that the stock oil pump is better than the new aftermarket ones. I don't remember seeing an explanation as to why, but I'd guess closer tolerances. They probably put out more pressure and volume. You're right. It's the best lubricated moving part in the engine. As long as you run good oil, do regular oil changes, and don't run low on oil, the stock one should tun a long, long time. I'll bet you're fine with the stock oil pump.
Thanks man. Actually to put it out there. I ordered a sealed power replacement oil pump. I took the stock one apart and compared it to the new one. The new one had more play than the stock pump
 

IDIBRONCO

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That can be tricky. First, you have to find out exactly where the oil is coming from. My guess would be in the area of oil drain off of the turbo. It could be a gasket or o-ring between the turbo and the oil drain. There could be a seal in the turbo itself leaking. Another spot is around where the oil drain goes into the valley pan. The grommet could be cracked and not sealing. Another thing could be the valley pan itself. They all have a baffle underneath them to keep the oil splash out of the CDR. The later ones will let the oil drain back into the lifter valley pretty well, but the earlier ones sometimes won't let that happen. At higher RPMs, thee oil will build up inside this baffle and then will come back out around the grommet. The solution is to put a hole (or several small holes) in the baffle right under where the oil drains into it. One time, I put a reman engine in a truck with a turbo (it seems like it was either a Factory Turbo or an ATS093). No matter what I did, oil would seep out around that grommet. I even pulled the grommet back out and put RTV around it to seal it to the valley pan and around the oil drain itself. It still leaked. I finally pulled the turbo off again and put a hole in the baffle. That stopped the leak. After that, every time I installed an engine that had a turbo on it, I always put a hole in the baffle. I put one in mine last year, even though it's N/A for now, I'm going to install a turbo soon so I planned for that. Whatever you do, don't drill a hole. This will drop meatal shavings into you engine. You can use a hammer and a center punch. Some people talk about using an ice pick to put several small holes in it. I use a punch tip on my air hammer. I put a hole in it that's around 3/8" to 1/2". That's big enough.
 

Laine D

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That can be tricky. First, you have to find out exactly where the oil is coming from. My guess would be in the area of oil drain off of the turbo. It could be a gasket or o-ring between the turbo and the oil drain. There could be a seal in the turbo itself leaking. Another spot is around where the oil drain goes into the valley pan. The grommet could be cracked and not sealing. Another thing could be the valley pan itself. They all have a baffle underneath them to keep the oil splash out of the CDR. The later ones will let the oil drain back into the lifter valley pretty well, but the earlier ones sometimes won't let that happen. At higher RPMs, thee oil will build up inside this baffle and then will come back out around the grommet. The solution is to put a hole (or several small holes) in the baffle right under where the oil drains into it. One time, I put a reman engine in a truck with a turbo (it seems like it was either a Factory Turbo or an ATS093). No matter what I did, oil would seep out around that grommet. I even pulled the grommet back out and put RTV around it to seal it to the valley pan and around the oil drain itself. It still leaked. I finally pulled the turbo off again and put a hole in the baffle. That stopped the leak. After that, every time I installed an engine that had a turbo on it, I always put a hole in the baffle. I put one in mine last year, even though it's N/A for now, I'm going to install a turbo soon so I planned for that. Whatever you do, don't drill a hole. This will drop meatal shavings into you engine. You can use a hammer and a center punch. Some people talk about using an ice pick to put several small holes in it. I use a punch tip on my air hammer. I put a hole in it that's around 3/8" to 1/2". That's big enough.
When I installed my valley pan I drilled 4 holes and made sure to clean it out and get rid of any metal shavings. This was before I put it in by the way.
 
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