Just wondering if high oil pressure is a bad thing or not? I've got an 86 GL 3dr that when I drive in the cold the oil pressure guage goes up nearly to the top, to around 5 on the scale. I'm wondering if this indicates a problem?

Cold oil will give you high pressure. Not a problem. You may have a sensor that is a little out. What's the reading when things warm up?

If you start to see oil blowing out of the dipstick tube, you might be concerned, but otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much. When I first bought my Brat, I had very low oil pressure, so I had the pressure gauge changed. Then I had high oil pressure. The pressure didn't change, just the reading. As long as it doesn't go to zero, or make a leaky mess on the engine compartment, I wouldn't be too concerned what the instrument sats. Listening is probably a more accurate measure.

The short answer to your question is that very high oil pressure is a bad thing.

 

The real answer is that, as the others said, that the reading of the oil pressure gauge is not very reliable. One of mine reads negative when warm.

Well, the guage reads around 2 or 3 at idle, and usually around 5 at highway speeds when cold, or maybe a little less when warm. Like you all said, the sensor is probably inaccurate.

Well, the guage reads around 2 or 3 at idle, and usually around 5 at highway speeds when cold, or maybe a little less when warm. Like you all said, the sensor is probably inaccurate.

That's some good pressure, your sensor maybe of by .5, it sounds like you have good seals. After a new oil pump and reseal my sube in the sig runs within the range you describe on 30/50 synthetic + lucas additive.

The short answer to your question is that very high oil pressure is a bad thing.

So that we all can expand our minds, please define "very high", and how its "a bad thing" as it relates to the EA engine.

very high oil pressure would be probably 70+ psi.

It is bad because it blows out all the seals where the oil gets pumped to

very high oil pressure would be probably 70+ psi.

It is bad because it blows out all the seals where the oil gets pumped to

There is also the issue of the oil pump drive needing more energy to create this pressure, which will stress the t-belt. What torxxx wrote covers it: The engine seals and orifices were designed for certain conditions, and exceeding these conditions can be damaging.