oil pressue and new turbo

[pontoonrob]

Hello ya'll,I recently installed a Hypermax turbo charger. When I reinstalled my electric oil pressure gauge I put a T where the oil is fed to the turbo on top. My oil before install was 40 psi on the freeway, after the install it went to 21 lbs. yesterday pulling a flat bed trailer modestely loaded my pressure started to go up and down between 20 and almost 0I had a full oil capacity. Anyone have any ideas what would cause the pressure to go up and down? possibly a bad guage? today driving around I noticied the gauge would read close to 0 sitting at idle it used to read 10. rose to 20 going down the road.oil pressure light is not hooked up.oil is 15/30 with 5000 mi on it. Any thoughts would be appreciated---Rob

 

[Silver Burner]

I do know it will read lower up top than if you put the gauge under the manifold, but keep in mind the Ford oil pumps are high volume, not high pressure pumps. Even up high though, you should be seeing 10lbs at idle and over 30 at speed. I believe I've read that a low pressure problem could be related to the oil cooler needing to be rebuilt, but it sounds like you had good pressure before. If I were you, I would put the sender where the oil plug is behind and under the rearmost driver side exhaust manifold port. It should be a 1/8" NPT thread plug. Just don't confuse it with the larger one in front of it that's nearby. That's a coolant plug and once that comes out, good luck getting it back in without drinking a half gallon of coolant.....

 

[gatorman21218]

was the turbo new or used?

if used there could be crud in the oil feed line.

I have a Tee on top of my turbo and I read about 15-20 at idle and 40-45 under load at operating temp.

 

[pontoonrob]

was the turbo new or used?

if used there could be crud in the oil feed line.

I have a Tee on top of my turbo and I read about 15-20 at idle and 40-45 under load at operating temp.

turbo was rebuilt by one of our members. the oil feed line was made out a brand new piece of hose with aeroquip fittings.---Rob

 

[pontoonrob]

I do know it will read lower up top than if you put the gauge under the manifold, but keep in mind the Ford oil pumps are high volume, not high pressure pumps. Even up high though, you should be seeing 10lbs at idle and over 30 at speed. I believe I've read that a low pressure problem could be related to the oil cooler needing to be rebuilt, but it sounds like you had good pressure before. If I were you, I would put the sender where the oil plug is behind and under the rearmost driver side exhaust manifold port. It should be a 1/8" NPT thread plug. Just don't confuse it with the larger one in front of it that's nearby. That's a coolant plug and once that comes out, good luck getting it back in without drinking a half gallon of coolant.....

I may try moving location of sender but that may not address falling and rising gauge readings. I have noticed a small amount of black crud on the inside of radiator cap.Maybe possible leaking oil cooler.I hope not,its a pain to change---Rob

 

[MUDKICKR]

if oil pressure was fine before, then you add a new"ish" part and then it changes, then it has to do with the new part. id almost say your oil line to the turbo is to big and it relieving to much oil pressure. if i remember correctly the factory fitting has a lot smaller hole in its fitting so it doesnt "over oil" the turbo.

 

[subway]

Did you clean the oil feed tube in the engine with a bore brush or anything? If you have any crude build up inside your oil feed lines that can be broken loose when you install a turbo and ruin your new turbo. This happened to Justin on the board here. Or some of this could be clogging your oil pressure lines, is your engine making any noises that would indicate it is low on oil pressure? Something is wrong I would be tempted to pull the gage and check to make sure the line is clear and the gage is accurate.

Start simple to diagnose

 

[pontoonrob]

Did you clean the oil feed tube in the engine with a bore brush or anything? If you have any crude build up inside your oil feed lines that can be broken loose when you install a turbo and ruin your new turbo. This happened to Justin on the board here. Or some of this could be clogging your oil pressure lines, is your engine making any noises that would indicate it is low on oil pressure? Something is wrong I would be tempted to pull the gage and check to make sure the line is clear and the gage is accurate.

Start simple to diagnose

I had just run a dose of Auto Rx about a month before the turbo install. We did not run any kind of brush into the oil passage in the block. I was checking my notes earlier and this turbo was installed December 1,2012. A little over 4 thousand miles have been put on it. 2 weeks ago I pulled the 5th wheel over 150 miles,everything ran smoothly. My gauge is electric, so I guess I can pull the sensor that the wire is attached to and maybe flush it out. I have a mechanical one somewhere maybe I could plunb it in to check the gauge. I am going to call Hypermax and talk to Ron about maybe the oil feed line being to large of a hole and over oiling the turbo. Will post what I find out. Any more thoughts would be appreciated---Rob

 

[hesutton]

I'd suspect the sender or it's wiring. The fact that is jumping around makes think if the sender/wiring, not the actual fluctuation in pressure. It'd be unusual (not impossible of course) for the oil pressure to jump around like that. The turbo has some really hot parts and if the wiring is close at all to these parts..... it could mess with the reading. Could be a intermittant bad ground...... something along those lines.

Heath