So we drove from Winnipeg to Flin Flon to La Ronge to Prince Albert over the last few days. I'm having a few strange issues.

Oil Pressure reducing.
Our main current issue is the oil pressure. I don't have a real oil pressure gauge. I just have the factory gauge that always sucked. But the factory gauge always seemed to show some sort of pressure. Over the last 2000 miles, the pressure seems to be reducing. It is now maxing at the "N" and often falling below the normal range. It hasn't touched "L" yet, but it seems like it's going to at any moment.

Our plan (now that we are in a real city) is to buy a mechanical oil pressure gauge and tee, then install it to see if the factory gauge is reading properly. Just for my information, what is the proper oil pressure range for a 6.9 IDI?

If the oil pressure is reducing, then we are considering aborting the trip and get the van home ASAP. The only thing I did different with the last oil change was run a slightly lighter oil weight 10W-30 and the longer oil (FL-1995) filter than the typical filter (FL-875, i think). I never used the longer oil filter... could that be contributing to my oil pressure issue? Would an oil change with 15W40 and the FL-875 filter be a way to fix the situation?



Springs.
We made a brilliant solution (using hockey pucks) to give our springs a little boost. The hockey pucks are holding up great.



Vacuum Pressure.
As we were pulling in to Prince Albert, the brakes got hard (and the shifting and climate control is wack). We suspect it's the vac pump or a hole in the vac line. Probably where that bolt interferes with the vac line. We'll investigate it in the morning cuz it's dark and late at the moment. I'm not so worried about the vac issue, because the oil pressure is more important.

 

I think on oil pressure as long as you have some your good. 8 know sounds funny but the range is very large.

Glad the pucks are working for now.

For the vacuum pull t b8g e line from 5gge pump and see if it is producing vacuum.

 

Your vacuum problem will be lack of vacuum. The hard brakes and the shifting is all connected to the lack of vacuum. i had the same problem awhile back and it was a thrill finding the brakes almost nonexistant hauling a 1 ton load of wood pellets. Also the shifting or lack of shifting will be a vacuum problem if it worked good before the brake problem showed up

 

what is the proper PSI range for the oil pressure on the 6.9 IDI?

 

I've read over and over these engines use a High-Volume, Low-Pressure oil supply setup. There was even an excerpt from the service manual someone posted last year(ish). Anywho the consensus after re-reading a couple threads just now is:

10psi per 1000rpm or better. In my case I just drove over 200 miles towing a 4000lb+ trailer and I have just over 42lbs at basically anything under load. Idle is something like 15lbs. (I tapped into the mains on the block not the stock location and I seem to get better readings than other members using the stock spot)
My guess is like yours, that the sender for the gauge is finally dying. It's not worth a damn anyway, and is only a 7-11psi switch depending on who you believe.

BTW I love the hockey puck thing. Good thinking! Glad they are working well.

Sounds like you're on the right track with the vac issue.

Happy Independence Day!

 

My 87 6.9 runs 45pounds after she is warmed up at 60mph. When she idles it drops to 15 to 20 pounds presure. I do run a quart of lucas oil stablizer with every oil change

 

International told me minimum 7 psi at idle. But as long theirs oil pressure she wont blow up. 10/30 would have dropped the pressure down, but the filter wont affect it, put a mechanical gauge on it and see what it has worse case put some 15/40 in it and it should put it to about stock. Usually around 30-45 psi at cruise.

 

Pop the dog house off, take the whole oil pressure sender assembly out, and clean out that hole. Had the same thing happen on the motorhome years ago, during a trip as well far from home. I never did put a real gauge on it, but I check it with a real gauge with the dog house off, and only after pulling the stock oil sender did I notice the hole almost all clogged up. Cleaned it up and stock gauge came back to reading in the middle!

As for your 10W30 oil in there....I'd dump that out and put 15W40, or Synthetic 5W40. Bet the pressure comes up some too.

10W30 is great to run in winter, but I wouldn't run it in summer...

 

THanks for the oil pressure info. I got a Canadian Tire mech oil pressure gauge installed. I can't take it out for a spin cuz....

My flipping vac pump went out again. Crazy AF. This is the same vac pump that we installed when we were stranded in Prudhoe Bay AK. I guess we got a good 50K out of it on these trips, but we are bit reluctant to drive more until we can get a replacement. We have the Prince Albert NAPA sending us a new pump from Edmonton tomorrow.

I guess the silver lining is that it's a relatively easy part to replace, it just blew a day on our schedule.

 

Very good comment about cleaning out the hole. However, we already put in a mech gauge on the side of the engine, and also, in order to pull my sending unit, I'd have to pull my turbo off. Probably, this is another reason why the hypermax kit is an inferior design, cuz their oil pressure tee fitting puts the stock oil pressure sender right next to a 1000+degF turbo system. Probably, that's why my sender is on the fritz, cuz I doubt they were designed to handle that kind of heat. IDK. But I won't be able to test the oil mech gauge until I get the vac pump reinstalled.

 

I failed to mention that I've been running 10-30 Rotella T for at least 10 months now. My pressures didn't change. Also my idle pressure is actually higher, right about 19-20psi.

You CAN run the engine without a vac pump just to test the oil pressure gauge if you wanted, but i'm sure you knew that!

 

Mine is relocated to a t that was setup when I bought the turbo. Banks has you plug the original location. My oil feed for the turbo comes of the block above the oil cooler.

 

Installed the vac pump and oil pressure gauge a few days back. Been driving all around remote northern alberta and saskatchewan for a few days. Just getting to a hotel and internet now. The gauge shows about 15-20psi at idle, and 50-60psi at highway. So my oil pressure seems ok. The vac pump has been working fine too. All seems to be working well so we've been driving around a lot to make up time for the springs and oil and vac issues.

Latest hiccup was the rear drivers tire blowing out on a gravel road near the "Crooked Bush" in Saskatchewan. Not a big deal replacing it since i Have packed two full size spares, but still annoying when you have been driving for two days straight.

Keep on Keepin' on.

 

Crooked Bush just sounds like a place you do not want to breakdown

 

Nah, it's great. Had a few cars pull over asking if we needed help. We had it pretty much wrapped up. When we do roadside repairs like custom fab hockey pucks in our suspension and quick-swap vac pumps, a tire change is a piece of cake.