When I'm driving, mostly on the freeway doing 65-70 or so, my oil pressure guage is sky high... to the red notch at 75 PSI alot. It chills out when I idle, or slow down to in city speeds. Is this normal? Safe?

I wish I had your problem! Mine never seems to get high enough when its at full temp. Maybe we just have crapy sending units?

 

Might try a real pressure guage first and see if its really that high.

When I'm driving, mostly on the freeway doing 65-70 or so, my oil pressure guage is sky high... to the red notch at 75 PSI alot. It chills out when I idle, or slow down to in city speeds. Is this normal? Safe?

 

 

I have the exact same problem in my '84 wagon. I drove it from Idaho to TX that way and it didn't blow up.

 

Have any of you had a catastrophic event as a result of maxed out oil pressure?

mine runs 75 psi with a add on gauge , i am running 10w-40 amsoil ,

my 80 1800 auto gl sedan has the same problem and its had 4 sending units put on it in the past 2 years its oil pressure at idle is 26psi and about 80psi at 3500rpm with a manual gauge so the sending unit and dash are right seeing as i didn't drive it right now its ok but when it becomes the daily driver aging it will get changed.

my 80 1800 auto gl sedan has the same problem and its had 4 sending units put on it in the past 2 years its oil pressure at idle is 26psi and about 80psi at 3500rpm with a manual gauge so the sending unit and dash are right seeing as i didn't drive it right now its ok but when it becomes the daily driver aging it will get changed.

 

What exactly are you going to change? Oil pump? Just the seals? Sending Unit?

 

I put a new sending unit it mine a few months ago and got the same readings. It seems if the oil pump seals were bad I would be getting low readings instead of high. Is this a valid assumption?

What exactly are you going to change? Oil pump? Just the seals? Sending Unit?

 

I put a new sending unit it mine a few months ago and got the same readings. It seems if the oil pump seals were bad I would be getting low readings instead of high. Is this a valid assumption?

 

Correct; and you might even develop a ticking in your hydro-lifters.

 

Higher pressure would indicate a restriction somewhere.

Here.. check this. Its easier to copy+paste the address than to type out a reply. Whoops.. isnt that what I just did? Oh well..

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26155

all ea81s i have ever had(too many) have had 75 psi at highway speeds. its not a problem, its a good thing, its what they do. =]