All Small Six Oil pressure/ignorance is bliss

[ActionYobbo]

I built my 200 myself and it’s got 700 miles and another 6 hours running time for tuneup etc. I was just running the idiot light and it went off and stayed off as soon as the engine started. Well I got me some electric gauges and put them in and cold it was showing 30 but as soon as the engine warms up it drops to 10 and sits at 10 or just under. The idiot light in the gauge comes on under 10. So here I was happy driving around with an idiot light and not a care in the world and now I got a gauge and worries of low oil pressure.
I am going to get a mechanical gauge and screw it into the side of the block to get a reading and go from there.

 

[aussie7mains]

Ok, you are probably ok as far as damaging the engine, it did have some oil supply, albeit low pressure. So do check to confirm, the spec is 35-55psi at 2000rpm, hot. If its NOT within that range you need to find out why. Possibly, oil pump is U/S, there is a oil leak internally, for instance a plug has be left out in a gallery. Oil pressure can drop very low at idle, thats OK.

 

[awasson]

How reliable is that electronic gauge and is the oil pressure sender calibrated for the gauge? That seems quite low.

I have the stock but less than precise ford gauge in my 1966 Mustang. My oil pressure cold at startup is a little over half the swing of the gauge and a little under half when it’s cold.

One day it completely went to zero at startup but I could hear that oil pressure was still good. It turned out to be the sender unit. It was a year and a half old when it died. Fortunately I bought two so I put the other back in and oil pressure came back to normal.