Vehicle: 1979 F-250 SuperCab. 460 Engine. C-6 Trans.

My situation is this: Generally, when i crank her up from cold, the oil pressure is sitting on the top end of the "normal" area. After she runs for a little bit, it drops down the lower end of the "normal" area. to the point where the needle rides just on top of the "N" in normal while driving.. I'm sure thats not a real good thing. I do realize that having a guage with some actual numbers on it would be a good thing.. but, needing something and having something are two different things...

so, that is my normal driving situation.

Today, i went and got some feed and while i was driving back, i noticed the oil pressure higher than where it usually is while pulling a hill. I had 2300lbs of feed in the bed of the truck and my fat butt in the cab.
the pressure was over the "o" in normal. is that a really bad thing to have happen? is it something that should happen?


i'm curious because i dont want to destroy something because i dont know any better. i would tend to think that the pressure being on the bottom end of "normal" after warming up is not a good thing either... but i dont know much about these things and that is why i decided to come here and ask. i know the engine needs a little work, but i am thinking that this may mean its going to need it sooner rather than later.

thanks for any input, advice, or scoldings...


wade

 

No scoldings. Idiot gages are just that but the Ford gage seems to work ok. When it starts up the oil is thick and you will run higher oil pressure. Once warm you oil pressure will drop because the oil is thinner. All this is normal.

Your oil pressure will also fluctuate depending on rpm about 10lbs per 1000 rpms is normal and correct for a BBF. Until you can get a real gauge though anything in the normal range is cool.

 

The first thing to do would be to hook up a mechanical guage and see what is really going on. I had a factory guage giving eratic readings and it was the only the guage. It would read kinda low after warmed up when it really had 45 lbs. of oil pressure.