Just did my first engine swap. It was pretty straight forward, ea81 to ea81. One with a Carter-Weber carb The other a Hitaichi. I pulled the heads, lapped the valves, new gaskets etc. One question that came up was My Fel- Pro kit came with 8 valves seals. While the heads only had seals on the intake valves.

 

See Thread: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36564&highlight=valve+seals

 

I installed seals on all valves.

 

I fired my new engine up all seems good no leaks, timing not too bad. Oil pressure is really high... Is this bad? It is not in the red but very close. i have not had it above 2500rpm yet. Is this normal? will it level out? Or did I screw up with the valve seals? Any feedback??

 

 

:-\

How high is too high?

How high is too high?

 

That is my question. My gauge goes up to 75psi. Above 1500 rpm it is reading a/b 70psi just below the red.

my 88 d/r wagon has higher oil pressure ,but i am using amsoil oil 10w 30 , 75psi , with regular oil about 60 psi , and the oil has been in there 3,800 miles , so my guess it is ok,

high oil pressure isn't always a good thing.

 

you need to remember that pressure is "the resistance to flow"

 

sometimes high oil pressure means you aren't getting proper flow.

 

often times people get worried about low oil pressure, but to a point low pressure is better, as forsure plenty of oil is getting to the bearings and such

After reading do it sidewayz post, would it be advisable to pull the sump off and check the pick up for sludge? Though i would think this would result in low pressure?

do you think the gauge is bad? I have had several EA81's that the oil pressure would say 75psi. I would start them up idle around 5-10 psi and then vrrooom at 2000 rpms 75psi, came to find out bad pressure gauge, this happened in three of my vehicles

After reading do it sidewayz post, would it be advisable to pull the sump off and check the pick up for sludge? Though i would think this would result in low pressure?

 

I did check the pickup when I resealed the oil pan/sump. It was clear. Although it could have become plugged since.

do you think the gauge is bad? I have had several EA81's that the oil pressure would say 75psi. I would start them up idle around 5-10 psi and then vrrooom at 2000 rpms 75psi, came to find out bad pressure gauge, this happened in three of my vehicles

 

The oil pressure pressure gauge seemed to work with the old engine. It would read 50 at cold start. The warm up and read 5-10psi at 800 rpm and maybe 20 at 3000 rpm. Now at start up it takes a few seconds to build up to about 60psi at 800-1000rpm and if I rev it up to 2500-3500 it reads 70psi. It is not in the red range, but very close.

 

One of the rockers seems to be ticking as well. I set the valve lash at 0.010 & 0.014.

 

Could it be the sending unit? Where is that located? Where does the oil pressure gauge take it's reading from?

 

The sender is on the bottom side of the oil pump. Got a nice single wire going to it. It just screws into the pump.

 

I'd grab a mechanical gauge and check the pressure just to be sure. Screwing in a mech gauge is much easier than dropping the sump.

 

Just for comparison, my EA81, running 15/40 Rotella, first crank in the 80* Florida morning yields 80psi for the first minute or so afterwhich it drops to 50psi as the block begins to warm up. Hot idle is about 30psi. I have a mechanical gauge installed in the cluster.