A couple of years ago there was another big discussion on this list about
oils in TR's I made a comment to try and reduce the hysteria that occured
then about "the low oil pressure in my TR" I'll say it again now:
I'm not so sure that having 10-15lbs of oil pressure in a hot TR engine at
low idle is bad.
I've had a couple of cars this way. I drove the living hell out of them and
never had any sort of engine problems. Trust me . . . these engines are
quite sturdy.
I wouldn't be so worried about "low" oil pressure of this variety.
Especially if there are no other bad symptoms. If the car has high oil
pressure when it is cold, and it can move the needle up when revved even when
hot . . then don't worry about it. Make sure there is oil in the engine and
drive the car.
I had a TR-4 with a very worn engine . . . it spit a fair amount of blue
smoke and also had a lot crank case pressure from worn cylinders. .. (it had
the vent pipe at the back of the engine . .I could make a little oil misted
spot on the pavement during a long stay at a traffic light) It was kind
of scarry . .. seeing the idle oil pressure drop below 10psi. I would blip
the gas to make it jump back up and make me feel better. When It was hot it
wouldn't get about about 45 psi even at the redline.
Still the car ran like a bat out of hell. (a smelly bat though)
So don't sweat it so badly. Try out heavier oils, or even an oil cooler if
you are worried about it . . . but I dont' think you necessarily have to run
out and rebuild your engine for the oil pressure levels described.
Oh yes and one more thing. . . synthetic oils may be a blessing to some .
.but they can really stink up the atmoshere something awful in an old TR
whose engine is vented directly to the air. (no sort of emissions or closed
circuit breathing type of thing)
Okay I'm off my soapbox now. . . go ahead and flame me about how dumb I am.
Scott Tilton
Going back to Virginia to visit his TR parts for Thanksgiving.
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