[Ecotec] No Oil pressure after oil cooler

[Draimond]

Yeah I thought, although I was still worried, that turning the engine over without any load wouldn't hurt it, but the lifter tick is ridiculous now.

I thought that about the pressure bypass too, that pushing it in would have the opposite effect. In his video on his car, he's getting more oil pressure with the screw wound in.

Cheers for coming along for the ride immortality. Strictly speaking there may not have been a solution to be found, but it was good to have someone to double check as I went through it.

 

[Draimond]

Parked up idling after half hour on the freeway.
Used to sit at 100 to 110°c, couldn't get it over 80 just then.
Pressure looks like it's up about 5% or less. (With 1mm protrusion on bypass bolt)
Idle is a lot rougher, shakes the car around.
Feels like it's lost a little power, like it's a bit sluggish although I did go from 10w40 to 15w50.
Whatever is ticking in the valve train dies off a little bit with some temperature but initially on start up it's significantly loud.

Yeah... Mixed feelings and lessons learnt.
It's bitter sweet to have put in so much labour and money to upgrade the cars thermal capabilities for skid pan sessions and heavy traffic just to have done the kind of damage I was hoping to mitigate.

I booked 3 spots for mount cotton's wet skid track over a month in advance and planned to have oil temps under control before the event next weekend.

 

[Draimond]

Have a listen to this. Probably a familiar sound if you've owned a V6 Commodore

Ticking noise

 

[Heavy VT]

I would cut open the oil filter and check for any metal.
Hard to tell in the video. But it could just be the lifters are bleed down. Sometimes they can take a while to pump up again. Especially with the thicker oil.
But I would check the filter before doing anything else.

 

[Immortality]

I would cut open the oil filter and check for any metal.
Hard to tell in the video. But it could just be the lifters are bleed down. Sometimes they can take a while to pump up again. Especially with the thicker oil.
But I would check the filter before doing anything else.

Good advice.

Yeah I thought, although I was still worried, that turning the engine over without any load wouldn't hurt it, but the lifter tick is ridiculous now.

I thought that about the pressure bypass too, that pushing it in would have the opposite effect. In his video on his car, he's getting more oil pressure with the screw wound in.

Cheers for coming along for the ride immortality. Strictly speaking there may not have been a solution to be found, but it was good to have someone to double check as I went through it.

It would work for a bit, pushing it in effectively puts more load on the spring and the adjustment screw covers up a portion of the surface area of the valve face. Pressure is directly related to surface area so more load on the spring and less surface area on the valve means it will take more oil pressure to start to open the valve. However this only goes so far until you uncover the bypass hole at which point pressure drops.

Personally, I'd still prefer a stiffer spring behind the valve or a simple packer/spacer between the valve and spring.

At what temp does the oil thermostat open?

 

[Immortality]

I had a look at that thermostat/filter housing block. I think the oil temp for the cooler circuit is to low for a daily driver but probably fine for a skid pig where controlling temps is the critical factor.

On a daily driver what sees normal high mileage oil changes you really need to get the oil temp hot enough to burn off any contaminants/moisture that can build in the crank case. To get rid of moisture you really need to get the oil up over 100°C. Engines also make better power at higher oil temps, you just don't want to get the oil to hot. I'd be much happier with a thermostat that gets the oil to 100°C or a touch more, IIRC the normal operating temp on the oil (for my old VN) was about 110°C (with a 82°C coolant temp) and I think that is totally acceptable. I'm sure I got the oil warmer with some spirited driving

 

[Draimond]

I kept the filter, I'll cut it open on the weekend and post pics.
I drive linehaul for work so won't be home till the weekend. That's why I was scrambling to get it finished because my time at home with the car is very finite.

I'm a little bit disappointed with how the thermostat is behaving. I understood it differently to how it actually works. I thought the thermostat would start to open at 82 and just bleed a little oil into the cooler and then be in full swing by 100.
I wonder if there's some adjustment or modding potential.
I know the thermostat is replaceable so maybe there's a hotter thermo.

I added a bottle of lifter quiet to the oil.

 

[Ginger Beer]

Aren't you meant to fill the oil pump with grease or Vaseline and prime the system with a hand pump?

 

[Draimond]

Aren't you meant to fill the oil pump with grease or Vaseline and prime the system with a hand pump?

If the oil pump is coming off sure, but essentially I was just doing an oil change.
It did crossed my mind... But stuff having to do that every oil change.

Or are you saying it would be impossible to hand prime the engine as long as the oil pump is dry.
The oil pump pushes oil out through the outside of filter doesn't it?

Sump > Pump > Out port > Filter out side > Filter inside > Engine.

I back filled the oil pump through the out hose, which is what did the trick to get everything happening.

 

[Ginger Beer]

If the oil pump is coming off sure, but essentially I was just doing an oil change.
It did crossed my mind... But stuff having to do that every oil change.

Or are you saying it would be impossible to hand prime the engine as long as the oil pump is dry.
The oil pump pushes oil out through the outside of filter doesn't it?

Sump > Pump > Out port > Filter out side > Filter inside > Engine.

I back filled the oil pump through the out hose, which is what did the trick to get everything happening.

My understanding is you need oil in the pump and the rest of the system as well

If the pump pushes it's oil out, and then sucks air, it will just spin air and not draw oil

There is some thread about it in here, hand pumping oil initially to fill all the oil galleries pre and post the pump