Low oil pressure - SPEAK UP 2AZ GURUS!!
 

ok so recently i noticed on my oil pressure gauge that my car was idling at around 3-4 psi of oil pressure. ive never seen it that low before, so i decided to get an oil pressure tester and test it strait off the head, with everything else on the oil T's disconnected. And the test confirmed that the head is only getting 3-4 psi at idle when fully warm.

The only things that i changed before the oil pressure dropped were:
-installed oil catch can, routed both crank case breather's to open vented catch can
-capped off vacuum source on intake manifold
-changed o-ring on dip stick tube cause it was leaking
-changed oil, put in 5w30 mobil 1 with a mobil 1 filter.

Before i did this stuff the oil pressure was normal. and i cant seem to figure out why it dropped so low. also my oil light is not on. and hasnt turned on. my oil levels are fine also.

well, unfortunately the 3-4psi idle is actually normal according to toyota for our engine. now the real test is testing the pressure at 3k rpms report back i forget what that figure has to be i believe somewhere in the 40-60 warmed up? and about 10psi per every 1krpms but i never seems to get much higher than 70 psi when cruising above the threshold, one thing i can suggest is dropping your oil pan and checking the oil pickup screen as i found my old motor had that almost 75 percent clogged from rtv

its at 20 psi at 3k rpms when fully warm. from what i remember before, it was at 30-40 psi when warm at 3k, and about 10psi at idle. i just dont get how out of no where it drops. i didnt even beat on it since t was fine!

im going to drop the oil pan now. see if i cant find any gunk in the bottom of the pan, or in the screen of the pump

Good deal

Just checked and 3000rpms it should be at 2.5-5.4 bar so about 32-80 psi

well the oil pump screen did have a lot of what looked like RTV clogging it. i dont know if it was so much that it could have lowered my oil pressure, but i have worse news. pretty sure oil isnt sapposed to look like this.....
http://i44.tinypic.com/bdsba9.jpg
aside from my head gasket being blown, i dont see how that could lead to low oil pressure. unless the oil was leaking from the head also, but you would think id be burning it...plus my compression test yielded 190 on all four cyl. im gonna do a leak down and see what happens

You sure used a lot of rtv but yea I'm gonna go with ur hg unless it's winter over your way and that's condensation in your oil

Also the watery mix will cause less pressure

ok its not coolant, its magnetic :( lol this just keeps getting worse

i stirred it up with a magnet and i wiped the magnet on a paper towel and its like a black sludge...its really thick. it looks exactly like rtv, but rtv isnt magnetic (tested that). i pulled out the balance shafts and cover to see if there was any more sludge. i didnt see any on the walls of the block/crankcase. it seems to all be in the bottom of the oil pan. either way, thats not good. wtill havent figured out what this mud is

the only thing i can think of is if i spun a bearing, which would account for the drop in oil pressure, and the mud is either bearing material or steel from the crank/caps. does anyone know if bearing surfaces are magnetic?

or

the oil pump was clogged/ or bad, and the sludge....well i dont know lol

come on guys, need to identify what this gunk is!!! dont want to pull the motor if i dont have to!

I just encounterd this on a customers car. The oil looked like metallic paint. I pulled the pan, and one rod bearing to inspect. It was badly scored. New motor is needed. The low oil pressure is due to excessive oil bleed off because of the increased bearing clearances.

P.s. Don't bother with a leak down test, it doesn't show bad bearings.

yeap. i just confirmed this. balance shaft bearings were completely destroyed. balance shaft groves were badly scored, one side was missing about 1/16 inch of steel. cant wait to see what the rods and crank look like. looks like im pulling the motor!

what usually causes rapid bearing failure like this? ive never starved my car of oil that i know of. what else causes it?

Couple things I've thought about... If you have a cheap turbo and the bearings diminish, the metal goes into the pan. The oil filter doesn't filter 100% , oil bypasses somewhat. If there was silicone in your oil pickup screen, it can cause suctional loss and oil circulation volume is
reduced. Too long before oil changes. And I have a stereotype against royal purple oil. Don't use it

Sorry to hear dude. Was the car running funny or was the low oil pressure the only indicator? Just curious cuz im waiting for my next oil change to hook up the oil pressure gauge lol.

Well none of the above really fit the bill, besides the fact my car was born and raised on Royal Purple lol. There was was a significant amount of crap in the oil pump screen, but ive seen way worse and still maintain full oil pressure. Whatever it was that caused it, destroyed it very quickly cause my oil pressure dropped very sudden.

And slapdaddy, no i didnt notice anything besides the drop in oil pressure

I would inspect other bearings before calling it quits on the motor, game-over shredded up his balance shafts and just removed it and called it a day

The only other bearing i would be able to see is rod 2 or 3 (cant remember which one). If that one checks out good would they all "probably" be good? Lol i dont really care cause im gonna part it out and sell it anyway. Im tired of these damn things.

i dont know the exact flow of the oil but if you can figure out which way the oil travels check out the 1st bearing to get oil... its kinda a half assed way but if u dont care bout the car then ____ it delete the balance shafts and seal it up call it a day