No Oil Pressure ??????

[barefootbonzai]

The other nite my oil light turned on. After 5 mins of driving it turns off, and car seaemed back to norml, can still vtec etc... This happened for 2 days everytime from cold start.

But it had me a little worried. I thought it might just be the oil sensor stuffing up and changed it, but everytime i do a cold start the oil light comes on still. So i got an oil pressure gauge and put that into where the sensor goes, and getting a reading of Zero pressure on idle.

I know chances that oil pump has died is fairly slim, but any idea of what else it can be? What else can i do to check? I got pretty annoyed and ripped the whole engine out last nite, and will be changing the oil pump, is there any where else i should check? like for blockages or something?

Any help appreciated.

[Limbo]

Have you got a large oil cooler? I notice that my pressure is crap on cold start cos its trying to push thru my oil cooler. Check the hoses on the oil cooler.

Also check earthing on the oil pump

[JasonGilholme]

If you've got an electric oil pressure guage and you can still vtec etc etc, it sounds like its a shitty wire in the loom somewhere.

I'm assuming you tapped into the wire near the ecu?? If you have you might wanna crack out the multimeter and test the oil pressure wire close to the plug on the block to make sure theres no breakage in the wire.

Good luck bro.

[barefootbonzai]

there's a earth on the oil pump? where is that?

And no i didn't tap into any wire. I'm doin an actual pressure test straight from the block.

[JasonGilholme]

Is there another outlet that you can check the pressure from?? maybe that oil passage is fully/partially blocked and when you've got cold oil it might not be able to get through.

[Slow96GSR]

Many things need an answer first:
y/m/m?
Mileage?
Original motor/no rebuilds?
Original oil pump?
any other mods?

[barefootbonzai]

Yeah i really got no idea. Was hoping some expert could shed some light on things. But i'm pretty sure there should be some sort of pressure right there even on idle.

[barefootbonzai]

y/m/m? - 01 ITR motor
Mileage? - 140 000ish km
Original motor/no rebuilds? - No rebuilds
Original oil pump? - Orginal
any other mods? - No internal mods.

[Slow96GSR]

Check the oil pump and bearings for clearance tolerances. Are there any external mods? What weight oil are you using? What is the weather like down there? I'm in the U.S. sorry!!

[barefootbonzai]

Yes that will be my first check as soon as i get home from work. As for external mods - I/H/E, solid mounts, lower final drive, lower temp thermo - switch and stat. Weather here is average, not super hot or super cold atm. Nothing but Geniune Honda Oil.

[Hipowerracing]

duy mate get a air blower and blow into your oil pressure switch to clean it out of any blockages. then retest it with the oil pressure gauge, see how that goes!

[barefootbonzai]

ivan is grant a trust worth mechanic? lol. If my mechanic too busy to check it out, i might just bring my whole engine down to you guys.

[SKREMN]

you havnt done any changes or service or mods before this happend?
could be blockages in your oil pick up...
and your oil lines it might need a good clean out...

[fatboyz39]

tappets on idle?

[barefootbonzai]

oil pick up is clean as a whisle. what oil lines are you talking about?

tappets on idle?

[ECU-MAN]

I would put an oil pressure gauge on it and see what the oil pressure is doing.

with a cold motor the oil is a bit thicker and the rpm are higher so you should be getting good pressure.

check the oil pressure when the engine is cold until warm up and record the results.

aslo watch the needle of the gauge. does it pulsate ????


have you had a "bottom out " and dented your sump ????

[barefootbonzai]

yeah i've been checking with the gauge, it just sit's a zero. Worries' me to leave it like that for too long.

Nope no accidents that i know off, unless my cuzin has bang my car without me knowing about it.

Anyways, should be all good i've ripped the engine out will be inspecting it all when i get some spare time.

[fatboyz39]

when the motor is cold oil pressure should be above 60 psi. THere is definately something wrong there. Hope you find your problem.

if there's no oil pressure usually there tappets.

[Slow96GSR]

I posted on here how to inspect the oil pump, I'll find it, doing bearings now that it's out is a great idea, also cleaning it wouldn't hurt. Heck might as well do a basic rebuild. Then you know there shouldn't be anything wrong with her then.

Wasn't on this forum!! Here: http://www.strathlan.com/CMS/viewtopic.php?t=27

[barefootbonzai]

Thanks for that GSR, i've ordered a new oil and water pump already. What else do you suggest i do with the engine out? What bearing are you reffering to and what's involved with a basic rebuild?

[tinkerbell]

dented oil pan perhaps?

i woudl not drive until i was satisfied there was oil pressure...

is there oil pressure above idle? how much?

[JasonGilholme]

Have you tried that guage on another car??? Could just be the guage....

Just wouldn't wanna do anything too major and have it turn out that its the guage. lol

Good luck man

[Slow96GSR]

A basic rebuild will consists of a teardown, cleaning, and blue printing before machining to see what needs to be done. Then if it's all with in specs it will began hoaning of the cylinders, decking the top of the block and bottom of the head(optional), detailed cleaning of the block, piston cleaning/bead blasting, new rings, reassembly of the bottom end. If you want to dig in to the head you can freshen it up. The cost will jump a little there as there is more labor involved. A bottom end rebuild here is about $1200USD with the new parts and labor. The head will add about $800USD in just labor and machining charges. But it may be needed so you'll have to get together with your mechanic. Thrust, main and rod bearings cost about $120USD for a full oem set or $250USD coated from Calico. THen shipping. But those are included in the cost of parts.

Detailed parts list:
Piston rings and pin locks.
Main, rod, and thrust bearings.
Master gasket and seal kits for block and head.
Oil and water pump (Which you said you just ordered.).
Timing belt.
Front and rear crank seals (Might come with a master gasket/seal set.).
Head to block alignment pins (Optional.).

[todaek9]

light from where?? dash?

[barefootbonzai]

thanks for the replies guys, i was gonna do another home job but i got fed up and it's my mechanic atm. I just told him to fix it, lol.