i have a basic question--i just hooked up an oil pressure guage to my 68 F250 camper special with a 360. when hot, it shows 15-18 lbs pressure at like 1000 rpm. this seems kind of low to me. is this acceptable? it has a stock pump too. i have no idea how many miles the motor has on it. at cruising speeds of around 3000 rpm HOT, the guage reads 40-42 lbs. again this seems low--should i worry??

regards
ben

 

as expected

 

welcome to the low oil pressure club. i've been working on trying to get my oil pressure up for quite some time. new mains new oil pump new cam and cam bearings, still don't have great oil pressure. 15 at 1000 rpm and 30 at 2000 rpm. from what everyone here says that is exceptable. figure 10 psi per 1000 rpm. it still makes me worry a little but not much. i've decided to put in a high volume oil pump just for a little piece of mind, which isn't much considering it only pumps at the most 30% more which ain't much when your down to 15 psi. putting it in this weekend i'll let you know the differance,if any, that it makes.

 

No problem mon, it's right where Ford wanted it. My rebuilt engine runs about like that. We seem to think that it needs to be about 75lbs. to work properly. Just drive the truck, be happy.
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John

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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.

 

I don't quite understand why everyone is always bitching about oil pressure. If the OP is within spec, or varies little from when the engine was new, then what is the problem? It sounds like a lot of FEs have lasted a long time without even the benefit of the oiling mods everyone talks about.

Now, I have to admit that I don't yet have an OP gauge on my truck ('74 360 with 30,xxx original miles), only an idiot light. This will change. When I get that gauge installed, should I expect about 10 psi per 1000 rpm as stated above? What is "spec" for a 360 new?

Mark

 

Mark, The guage will only give you something to fuss over. If the water is a couple in. down from the top and the oil is above add, just get in and drive. The rest will take care of itself.
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John

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In the cool still quiet of night, you can hear chevies rusting away.

 

This is coming from the chilton manual for 1965-86 pickups that the oil pressure should be 35-60 psi at 2000 rpm. That's for a 360! If you have the manual the page is 123.


BuckyC
1975 F-250 Crewcab 4x4

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 28-Jun-02 AT 05:16 PM (EST)]xericx

I have a '72 f100 with a 360 and it has around 17 psi at idle and around 10 more psi for every 1000 rpm more. My dad has had several old ford trucks, '59,'63,'74,and a '78, and thinks the psi at idle should be about 60. I'm o.k. with the low pressure, hasent seized yet.

 

I have an oil pressure gauge,it works... my opinion is there
is a acceptable range of pressure that does the job.
cause my gauge will vary from day to day, but performance
doesnt.... but I havent inspected the insides of the beast's
motor yet,sooo I hope my thinking is some what right



Fe power

 

>Now, I have to admit that I don't yet have an OP gauge on my
>truck ('74 360 with 30,xxx original miles), only an idiot
>light. This will change. When I get that gauge installed,
>should I expect about 10 psi per 1000 rpm as stated above?
>What is "spec" for a 360 new?
>
>Mark

Not exactly. I had mentioned in another post about the 10 psi per 1000 rpm. What I meant was that as long as your engine was pumping 10 psi per 1000rpm your mains are well within their safety zone. Its an old grease monkey rule of thumb. In stock form, the standard FE should idle hot @ 15-20 psi of pressure, more than enough. Cold, or @ 3000 large they typically hover between 40-50 psi. You guys are fine.

 

>My dad has had several old ford trucks, '59,'63,'74,and a '78, and
>thinks the psi at idle should be about 60. I'm o.k. with the
>low pressure, hasent seized yet.



Tell your dad that the original ford engineers decided that as long as you had 6 psi you were fine for idle yep just SIX PSI as long as it picked up when you revved the engine.