Oil pressure problems

[Full Size Jeeper]

Need someone to get me pointed in the right direction. I have only driven the Wagon in my neighborhood 1 to 3 miles at a time. it would come up to temperature, and the oil pressure was always the same. once warmed up,(185f.) I would have 12 to 13 psi @ idle, and 45 psi under acceleration. These numbers are with an electric Auto Meter oil pressure gauge, the sender screwed into the block near the oil filter.

Today I took it out on the road, and drove it for 30 miles. Stop and go, cruising speed(45mph), and out on the interstate at (75mph). Oil pressure was good the whole time.

Later in the day I drove it ten miles to a friends house, all was fine on the way to his house. On my way home I noticed the pressure not rising under acceleration, it was staying around 25psi. and when I would come to a complete stop, it would drop down to near zero. (never made any noise like it had low oil pressure. Total trip was 20 miles.

[Full Size Jeeper]

Just went out and started it, coolant temp sensor was at 123f. and oil pressure was a steady 55psi at idle. These are some pics of what I did to my timing cover. If someone sees something wrong with what I did please let me know.
Before clean up on glass.

[Full Size Jeeper]

[Full Size Jeeper]

[Full Size Jeeper]

It was between .004 and .006, is that to much clearance and did it get wider as I drove it?

[Full Size Jeeper]

[Full Size Jeeper]

I did the face of the timing cover too, but I don't have a pic. I did nothing to the inside of the cover where the gears touch the top and sides of cover. Here is a pic of that.

[Full Size Jeeper]

[Full Size Jeeper]

If I remember correctly, the side clearance checked out okay. I used a flat feeler gauge, but don't remember the number.

[Full Size Jeeper]

Also, I'am not running the pressure relief spring and plunger, should I ? thanks in advance. Running VR-1 20/50 with a NAPA oil filter.

[tgreese]

The oil pump cover could be perfect, and you could still have low oil pressure. Note that the oil gets thinner as the engine warms up. It also loses its multivis character as it gets old. Both of these factors will affect the reading.

How did you measure? The TSM has a section on what and how to measure. The gear-to-body clearance is not important compared to the end clearance.

How can you leave out the pressure relief piston and spring? I'd expect the overpressure bypass would be wide open all the time and you'd have zero pressure.

Indeed, engine-cold readings are meaningless, since you never drive the car when the engine is cold. Your engine-cold readings will be much higher than at operating temperature.

If you refurb'd the oil pump and the pressure did not change, you could have
1) bad gauge or sender - just because it's a new gauge does not mean it's proven
2) worn out bearings
3) cam bearings delaminated (known to happen)
4) something else?

Your posts are confusing to follow. Many empty posts. Perhaps you have trouble with your phone or computer?

[Full Size Jeeper]

Sorry about the pics. I tried to fix, but they won't load. Anyway, this morning I put a mechanical gauge on the engine. At cold start up I had 60 psi at idle. Drove it about 20 miles and at idle with an engine temp of 180f. I had about 19 psi. At 75 mph, around 2700 rpm, I had 58 psi. Stop and go pressure starts at 20 psi and jumps up to 40/45 psi. depending on rpm. So I believe the electric auto meter sending unit is not functioning as it should. Also, I did a search online and auto meter does not want the sender screwed into the engine block, like I had it. They claim the vibration from the engine could damage it. They want you to run an oil line and sender to a spot somewhere under the hood, like a fender well. Then run the wire to the sender and then don't forget to ground the sender.

[Cliff]

I have owned three FSJ's and half a dozen AMC cars with V-8's. A warm engine at idle has consistently been below 10 PSI, whether a mechanical gauge or a sending unit. I ran a high pressure setup in a drag car and even that had low PSI at idle (10-12). My current 401 Cherokee will go as low as 3 PSI at idle on a hot day, warmed up engine. That's a digital gauge through a sending unit. Of course the slightest increase in RPM and PSI jumps to 20 then increases with RPM.

And I have always threaded the sending unit into the block, never had one fail or read inaccurately. Sending units have been so reliable that I will never go with a mechanical gauge again. My only failure was a copper line, as odd as that may be. Never had a nylon line break or melt.

[letank]

for these early years the way the gauges work is tantamount to medieval technology... it works but with time the voltage regulator built inside the temp gauge fails and the readings can be unreliable.


You can do a little surgery and get some more reliable readings, key words

Instrument cluster voltage regulator upgrade

https://www.fsjnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8334

[tgreese]

I would shelve the Autometer gauge (unless the seller will take it back) and run a mechanical gauge. You hear occasional horror stories about the lines breaking, but they have consistently worked well for me. Autometer sells an installation kit with copper line, if that feels more safer than nylon - this is what I currently am running in my CJ-6. The Stewart-Warner installation kit with nylon line has also worked well for me, as has the Summit plastic line kit for their gauge. If you use copper, I suggest adding a big stress-relief loop between the engine and the dash, since copper does fatigue with continued bending. If running nylon, suggest you sheath the entire length in rubber vacuum hose before installing the ends. Keep the line away from the hot exhaust.