almost everytime i start up my car with a decently cool or cold engine, my oil pressure guage read about 60-70psi, if i gun it it come right up to 80psi almost. Once i drive the car for a while it is about 40 while driving which it think should be normal right? but anyways why would my oil pressure read so high at first?
i just changed my oil and checked my pcv valve(fine), not sure what else to check?

 

That's normal. Oil is thicker when it is cold. The resistance to flow makes the pressure higher.

 

What oil are you running?

Bret

 

Yes, colder is thicker and will raise pressure. When it warms up it will drop. Just like running a thicker oil will raise pressure. If your oil is low you will have high pressure and too much oil will be low pressure.

 

explain..

 

If your engine is low on oil, the car will show a rise in oil pressure and when the oil pressure is lower than normal (of course with good bearings etc) you could have too much oil. I've had this experience with my car and alot of others, it's one way I tell if I'm low on oil, higher oil pressure than normal.

 

That makes no sense.....again....'splain?

How much oil you have in reserve (in the pan) makes no difference in what pressure you have. Unless you are out of oil

 

yeah..i was thinking the same thing.

 

yeah i am running regular 10w-30. And i am not low on oil, if its normal then ok just wasn't sure and i just been realizing that so i don't know if i just didn't catch it before

 

Just back it down to a 5W-30 synthetic and it will go away on cold starts.

Bret

 

Min is up high like that too and I thought it was higher than most. Who knows???

 

What is it normally supposed to run at, mine is from 40 -60 all the time, unless I sit in traffic a LONG time, then it goes down to about 25 ---

 

When my car had the stock engine, the oil pressure would be at around 60psi cold and once it warmed up would be about 15 to 25 psi at idle.

Too much oil causes windage (crank whipping up the oil into a bunch of air bubbles) which will drop your oil pressure and cause the gauge to read somewhat erratic.

Remember the stock oil pressure gauge is more of an indicator of having oil pressure. If you really want keep a good eye on oil pressure (knowing exactly what its doing) hook up a mechanical gauge.

 

That's what helped me with my ~80psi

 

ok, next oil change i will try 5w30 and see how it does, not really bothered by it since high oil pressure won't do too much except for cause some seals to leak if anything, I'll just make sure to let it warm up before hitting the track.