Engine: Oil Pressure 289

[RareBird]

I've rebuilt the engine on my Hawk and am concerned that oil pressure seems to stay around 30 psi
What is the typical pressure for a 289?

[swvalcon]

Is the oil pressure at 30 all the time warm or hot? Is it lower at idle than at road speed. If it stays about the same at all times I would look at the oil pump. Altough it should run fine at 30 for years but a bit lower than it should be.

[brian6373]

Is that a cold engine, or at operating temp? Idle or at what RPM?

[PackardV8]

Were the rocker arms and shafts rebuilt?

If an engine has all new bearings, reground crankshaft and reconned rods and a new oil pump, it's usually the rocker arms.

jack vines

[jclary]

Did your rebuild include cam bearings?

[Mike Van Veghten]

Hot...cold, what rpms are you talking about ? What weight oil are you using ?

Need many more details..!

Mike

[DEEPNHOCK]

Did you service the pressure relief valve?
Did you replace the cam bearings during your rebuild?

Many thousands of Studebaker engines will run, and have run, for years on 30psi oil pressure.

[RareBird]

Engine completely rebulit, bought complete package from S.I. Haven't had it on road much more than 5-10 miles because of lack of brake light switch ( waiting for my hydravac) However, while driving on city streets, 35mph or so I've noticed oil pressure gauge at around 30psi. And while I haven't driven a Stude in over 25 years I figured I'd ask the experts.

Using 30w oil, new cam bearings, regrounded crank and rebuilt oil pump

[JoeHall]

What is the pressure in neutral, sitting still (i.e. in the garage), 160-180 degrees, at 750, 1500 and 2000 & 2500 RPM?
How about same conditions as above, except when the engine is still cold?

[bezhawk]

There is another thread with an R2 Avanti with low oil pressure too. He found that the rear main galley plug was left out. It can be seen looking down the distributor hole.
It's tricky, but it can be replaced if you have a right angle drive socket extension, and an allen bit driver.

[rockne10]

Bez, When we left that plug out of the rebuild on my '51 I registered no pressure at all!

Generally speaking, 40 lbs cruising hot is very acceptable. If hot idle drops to 10, that's still safe.