92 Loyale, 90K miles on 1.8L SPFI

 

When it is sitting parked, the oil pressure is at zero or nearly zero according to the gauge. I cannot remember if the last time I saw that was when it was cold or hot.

 

I have to rev it up to get the oil pressure to come up.

 

Is that a problem? Does the oil pump need to be changed? If so, where it is located and how hard is it?

Ok, I'm not being a wise :moon: about this, if you have the owner's manual for the car it is actually written in it! It is normal for ea-82s to show little to no oil pressure on the cheap factory gauge, and that is stated in the manual. If you buy a mechanical aftermarket gauge and hook it up you most likely find that it is running about 10psi at idle. The factory gauge has to cover a large pressure range in a small area so it tends to be off. Lots of people have asked that same question, and my RX was that way when I got it. So it's normal, but for the $50 it might be a good idea to buy a cheap gauge and hook it up.

 

Keith

yep, i agree with keith.. manual does state that pressure may drop to zero at idle when engine is warm... don't fret..

Thanks. It's actually is slightly above zero.

with regular non synthetic 10-30 or 5-30, at temp, the stock gauge will show almost zero. With snythtics, 10-30 will show more than zero at idle. Much more so than compared to the non syn stuff. 20-50 or so will show something different as well.

 

then again, its stated in the owners manual...that its normal....

wal-mart has one for something like under 10 bucks. its cheap but it works

Are you the original owner of the vehicle? If not, someone may have put the wrong sending unit on it. My oil pressure was very low and I checked and found out the sending unit on my rig (a brat) actually came from an imprezza. Switched to the right one and I now have oil pressure to spare. You may want to check it out.

Basically if your oil pressure was actually that low at idle I would think you'd have loud valve clatter at least. My wagon usually sits at 1/4 at idle, but on cold mornings it sits at 0, and I get valve clatter for the first minute or so. So before I bomb around in it I let it warm up, and it's back to normal.

Originally posted by northguy

Are you the original owner of the vehicle? If not, someone may have put the wrong sending unit on it. My oil pressure was very low and I checked and found out the sending unit on my rig (a brat) actually came from an imprezza. Switched to the right one and I now have oil pressure to spare. You may want to check it out.

 

HUGE HUGE HUGE Difference between his car (EA-82) and your Brat (EA-81). If you have an EA-81 that reads 0 or little oil pressure at idle then there is a serious problem! Good thing you found it had the wrong sending unit.

 

Keith

I've got a 90 Loyale. Bought it with 134,000 miles and it read slightly above zero at idle when hot. I said "we'll drive it till it stops". At 165,000 it's still going strong with no indicated problems. It only shows about 35 lbs max when hot at 4000 RPM.