Thread: Oil Pressure

Tweet

I think I might have made an oops. I changed my oil today, and upon starting my 350, I did not see the oil leak untill later.
I let the engine run for a while. I went in and had a cup of coffee and when I went out, I saw a stream of oil coming from the filter.
I immediatly shut her down and tried to analize the situation.
I have a chevy 350, I had gotten a Fram PH5 filter. The box was sealed.
I have never had an issue with Fram before. I always had good luck. I screwed the filter on. It was a PH25 filter in a PH5 box.
Ok, the oil was down four quarts when I discovered the mess. All it did was idle as I was going to tune it later. I also used synthetic oil.
I filled the crankcase, changed filter double checking the PH5 was indeed Ph5 and fired it up. No knocks, immediate oil pressure and no pressure loss.
Is the filter part of the pressure system, or is it the recovery system. Might I have smoked it, or is it all right?

If it was just idling for a few minutes and now has good oil pressure and no rattles you might be ok. Did the temp get high at all??? Time will tell, guess I would just drive it for awhile and hope for the best. Just idling, especially with synthetic oil, doesn't take a lot of oil to keep things lubed.

A follow up. I have done a lot of internet research on oil systems. Yes, the oil filter is a pressure device prior to the crankshaft. All the while, the pressure guage read 40+ pounds. I am really hoping, the improper filter provided enough resistance to at least provide some oil to the bearings. It is a new engine, and I am finally off the rebuilders warranty so I can use synthetic oil. I ran it after replacing the oil, complete chainge, proper filter, and it did not make noise, nor did it show a drop in pressure.
I cannot believe I did that. I have done so many oil changes in the past, I cannot believe something that simple was not checked.
I did run the engine after I completed the oil change, and watched for leaks. I did not see any untill after I went for the cup of coffee. Perhaps, if I have anything left, it is because I do not really sit down a lot and have coffee.
The guage was reading 40lbs when I saw the leakage. Arrrrgh.

Thanks for the comeback. It hadn't even gotten to operating temp when I noticed the gushing oil. It was idling at 650, was about 160 degrees when I noticed it. I was just changing to synthetic oil so it had most of the 10W40 Valvoline in there.
After I put back on the old filter, and topped the crankcase, my wife drove to the auto parts store for some new oil, and the proper filter. It looked ok enough so I could relax, good pressure, no noise, no unnatural heat. I think I might have the Heebies at this point. I suspect, there was enough pressure to at least partially fill the galleys and with no load, or over rpm, maybe I got away with this this time.
When I start an engine after an oil change, I try to never let it get off idle. I keep them all low untill the pressure comes up, and stays stable. That is why I went in to relax for a moment. All was as expected.
Maybe now, I am just going through the Willies. I am thinking there was enough resistance for the filter to pass some pressure. It took time to flow like it did. Then it really flowed.

tell ya a story my wife had a 88 cavalier. i took it to the farm to change oil in it one weekend as he had a pit. i drained the oil changed filter and was bs-ing with my dad reached in started the car and we kept talking the car must have run for about 3 minutes when i suddenly thought gee the valves are making a lot of noise.
i hadnt put any oil in the engine. i filled it up after that. the last time i saw the car it had 360000 kms on it it had about 80,000 on it when it happended. i dont think too much damage should be done if you didnt drive the car away and load up the bearings.

I hope so, I just went out and listened to it. No noise. I idled it up to 190 degrees, and and the oil pressure read 55lbs. I had run it enough to even out the heat and the oil is new so high readings are likely. Tomorrow will be the test. THe oil pressure should be 28lbs at the last intersection before my shop. That is at idle, it usually operates at 48lbs at cruising rpm.
I really think I got lucky. I realize no one can diagnose at this distance, without the piece on hand and I appreciate the positive experiences. Reality being what it is, the truth will be known.
I just cannot believe I did that.