Oil Pressure maxing out 80 PSI @ 3,200 RPM(39)s-gctid403729

[Guest]

Last year I am pretty certain the Oil Pressure gauge stayed in the 40 to 60 PSI range whenver we operated in the 3,000 ~ 3,400 RPM range. The gauge tops out at 80.

This year I get the boat out on the water, start'er up, immediately 40 PSI while idle. Engage the drive, maybe 1,000 ~ 1,500 RPM's and pressure hits 60 PSI.

When I reached 3,000 ~ 3,200 RPM (typically the speed we cruise at) the gauge hit 80 - MAXED OUT.

I checked the oil level, and it was WELL ABOVE the "ok" level on the stick. So I proceeded to drain some oil - I drained nearly 3/4 of a gallon of oil before I finally got into the "ok" range on the stick.

Put boat back in water, and while letting oil out seemed to have an initial benefit - the overall experience was still the same - once I hit 3,000 ~ 3,200 RPM, oil pressure was "maxing out" at 80 PSI.

Now if I happened to push past 3,400 RPM, about 4,000 ~ 4,200, I noticed the oil pressure was only hitting about 70 PSI.

OK - first question - what the hell was the service shop doing last winter that I had nearly 3/4 gallon EXTRA oil?

Is my oil pressure gauge possibly faulty, and there really isn't an issue with the oil pressure?

The oil doesn't look milky, and I am pretty certain there isn't any water in there either.

Should I do a full oil change "just to be sure"?

Keeping in mind I have very limited resources - what "easy" steps could I take to find out why the gauge is reaching 80 PSI at 3,000 ~ 3,400 PSI?

Thanks!

[Vic_Stewart]

Well now, where to start? Oil is still fairly inexpensive as are filters. So, Change the oil and filter.

Number 2 check the connection at the oil sensor, just to be sure..clean it

Number 3 Check the connection(s) on the dash gauge...Detach and clean

Crank her up...all is well? Have fun... if not go to step 4

Number 4 Beg borrow or steal a test guage ( a real guage, not electric) and install it..and crank her up....all is well? Change out the electric oil sender...and crank her up..all is well? Your done..have fun...if Not go to step 5

Number 5 Change the dash gauge...and crank her up..all is well? Have fun...if not... start scratching your head and then go to step 6.

Vic

Ft Myers

[2850Bounty]

Vic Stewart wrote:


Number 4 Beg borrow or steal a test guage ( a real guage, not electric) and install it..and crank her up.... Vic

Ditto.

Oil presssure is controlled by the oil pump relief valve.

These rarely ever cause a change to the pressure value, so I highly doubt that you are actually getting 80 psi.

.

[Nikko]

The "had to drain 3/4 gallon of oil" part of this bothers me...oil doesn't replicate itself - so if there's more fluid in there than there should be, it was either added by a person or process. If you think you added it - great. But if you're pretty sure you did not, and the oil is not milky, there's a chance you've got gasoline entering the crankcase - not good.

Would suggest you give the oil the sniff test - if it's thin and "gassy" - you need to find the source of the gasoline. More often than not it's a stuck float, that allows fuel to enter the engine after the engine is shut off, an it then washes past the rings. While a sharp "rap" on the side of the carb with the handle of a screwdriver will probably unstick it, a carb rebuild will fix it.

And if this is what's happened - don't run the engine. Drain the oil - pull the filter - fill the filter with new oil and install, fill the crankcase. Use cheap oil for this. Then change the oil and filter again with the good stuff after warming the engine for a bit, and checking to make sure you've not filled the crankcase again.

[Chief_Alen]

Was the oil milky ?

[dktool]

Was the oil milky ?

answer is:

The oil doesn't look milky, and I am pretty certain there isn't any water in there either.

[Guest]

Milky oil and oil temp have no real relationship.

Oil pressure and oil temp do.

What is your oil temp? If normal, I suspect the gauge?

Easy and cheap fix for now is to swap gauges - if same indication then further investigation will be reqd. If not problem solved.

[2850Bounty]

Excessively warm or hot oil may cause lower oil pressure due to the relief valve, but certainly not a higher pressure.

[Guest]

The oil temp is not the cause, but the result. High oil temp is a sign of high pressure build up (somewhere), therefore if you isolate and confirm this (a gauge swap ) you may save yourself from catastrophic failure,

Low oil pressure is total opposite, usually sign of leakage or bad pump.

[2850Bounty]

I assume that Robert is not aware of high oil temperatures since he has not mentioned it.

His concern was the excessive oil level, and now what appears to be excessive oil pressure.

IMO, 80 psi is not an acceptable pressure, and I highly doubt that this reading is accurate.

[Chief_Alen]

I lost count of how many times i post to " T " in a manual gauge and leave it there. The dash gauge are so unreliable.

Yep i did miss the line about no water in the oil. And i did read about the smell test, i'm always smelling the oil in all my stuff.

Check this link out.

http://lubricants.s5.com/oil_pressure.htm

[Guest]

first thing change the filter.

[Guest]

The oil level should be read when the boat is in the water. If you checked it when it was on the trailer your reading may not have been right. I'd check with a different oil gauge and not run the boat until you get this resolved.