Hi I’ve got an escort rs turbo and after a 30 minute drive the oil pressure reads 7 psi which is half a bar, the oil light does not come on but is this to low? Does anyone else have this oil pressure? Thanks

 

Yes thats far too low. Minimum oil pressure (at 750rpm) hot should be ~14psi

IIRC the standard switch triggers at something stupid like 0.3bar which is basically "yer your engine is total'd territory"
Unfortunately 7psi is rebuild time. Tho I would always validate the pressure with a second sensor/gauge just to be sure before tearing into an engine

 

yeah the cvh oil pressure when its low like that kills the top ends.. aswell as everything else mind but camshaft and followers etc suffer terrible more so at higher rpm.. as said i would try another gauge to check but even when red hot upto temp at tick over you really want like about 20psi area

 

ok what gauge would you recommend ? The previous owner gave me receipts for a engine rebuild that was done only 800 miles ago, do you think it could have the wrong grade oil in?

 

problem is who done engine build? just loads of places dont do it how imo it shoupd be done eg useing old oil pump etc.. i mean to me a engine rebuild done correct on a cvh will run into Ł1000 plus even doing it yourself.... if its a engine rebuild there call were its had piston rings and shells etc it could be tired... any aftermarket gauge like tim etc will do job to get a reading...

 

hi yes the whole engine was done including pistons, piston rings new oil pump new bearings ect. I did notice that the little tube that the dipstick goes into was loose and spins around and comes out a little bit, could this be causing low oil pressure?

 

You can try oil treatment this does maintain oil pressure but before you chuck it in best check oil pressure atm vold abd hot and a comp test on engine wont hurt aswell that way you will have a better idea of engine without pulling it out etc..

 

Hi no sadly that wont effect oil pressure

 

ok will do, what oil treatment could I try? Obviously this is just temporary until I can get it fully sorted cheers

 

i would try a good brand like slick50 or so on... you can get many types on net etc or even halfords tbh there will all work

 

Everything Lee has said really.
Unless you are running water, oil grade change is a plaster and not going to bump up pressure enough unless you pour treacle in (which in a CVH will do just as much damage when it can't get into the head).

As usual in the car world, a "rebuild" means sweet f.a. If it genuinely has had a full rebuild (which I personally doubt it has), then it could have been run in extremely poorly resulting in the low pressure, but ultimately that still results in the same outcome - strip it down again.
Thankfully these engines are piss easy to re-build, but to do it properly does cost.

Out of interest, what is the pressure on cold start? and what grade of oil?

 

yeah agree the oil additive people use in engines to try nd stop tappet noise it never works really.. it will up oil pressure but its by no means a fix as the damage would of already been done to most areas and the cvh engines its almost always the top end what suffers first...