Amsoil & Oil Presure

[railball]

Since this is the first extended drain on my SE-R with S2K I question the oil pressure. I have had it in 8 months and prior to changing the oil filter out at 5000 miles the oil pressure would be 25 at idle and 75/80 lbs at higher speed. Now I have about 6500 miles and it goes down to 23/24 ldb at idle and at least 10 lbs higher at high speed. My guess is the AMSOIL is thickening up and at idle I have no idea. Does the oil pressure mean anything anyway.Or is it only in extreams.

 

[TooSlick]

It's more likely in that engine that the oil first sheared down by 5%-10% and now has thickened back up, close to it's original spec in terms of viscosity. I see this sometimes in the Acura V-Tec motors as well. It's rare to see much increase in viscosity with any oil in fuel efficient, four cylinder motors, due to the low # of fuel related contamination.

With the low number of miles you have on this sample, I wouldn't be concerned at all about this...

TS

 

[Mike_dup1]

What is a SE-R??

The gage may not be as accurate as you may want to believe. Many vehicles rely on a sender on the engine with a wire to the gage or computer, not oil pressure in a line to gage.

Personally, if the oil pressure was within the normal range on the gage, I would not be concerned about it.

 

[teamDFL]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mike:
What is a SE-R??

---

Nissan Sentra with either an SR20DE 2.0 16v four in the two previous generations or a QR25DE 2.5 16v four in the current car.

 

[TooSlick]

Mike,

It's the Sentra w/ the high performance, multivalve, DOHC engine (I believe the cams are chain driven as well). These types of engines tend to shear multigrade oils - even synthetics.

Ted

 

[railball]

Yes I have the 04 SE-R 2.5 165 HP. type. I started slow with Castrol Syntec 10/30 then the Amsoil S2K 0/30.I never noticed the flucations in oil pressure with the Castrol.I am going to stay with Amsoil though mabey the HD 5w30 or the ATM 10/30.The wear is great but perhaps I drive too much city is why my milage is 24/25 mpg and up only on the road to 27/28.

 

[Mike_dup1]

Oh!

I can't keep track of all these models abbrev's.

 

[BlazerLT]

quote:

---

Originally posted by railball:
Since this is the first extended drain on my SE-R with S2K I question the oil pressure. I have had it in 8 months and prior to changing the oil filter out at 5000 miles the oil pressure would be 25 at idle and 75/80 lbs at higher speed. Now I have about 6500 miles and it goes down to 23/24 ldb at idle and at least 10 lbs higher at high speed. My guess is the AMSOIL is thickening up and at idle I have no idea. Does the oil pressure mean anything anyway.Or is it only in extreams.

---

Time to change the filter.

 

[47HO]

railball,
Since you are in FL I can't see a reason to use a 0W or 5W anything. Since shearing is an issue, go with the ATM 10w30.

 

[RF Overlord]

quote:

---

Originally posted by railball:
Does the oil pressure mean anything anyway.Or is it only in extreams.

---

Oil pressure DOES mean something, but only in broad terms. You say your pressure is down 1-2 pounds at idle...that change is meaningless. Running 10 pounds higher at speed is a little more meaningful; AMSOIL does in fact thicken up as it gets older (see the Paradise Garage synthetic oil life study here )...so that may be the reason for your higher pressure at speed.

 

[TC]

This isn't directly related to this thread's topic, but I thought it helpful in addressing certain oil pressure misunderstandings when I first read it a while back:

"MYTH: Brand X motor oil is the best because my engine shows higher oil pressure.
FACT: The viscosity of engine oil has a direct effect on engine oil pressure. Oils with higher viscosity may show higher oil pressure. Therefore, your engine may show higher oil pressure when using an SAE 40 grade than an SAE 20 oil. Oil pressure is also affected by temperature. Shortly after start-up, your engine may show higher pressure in winter than in summer. Quality oils, of the same viscosity grades, would be expected to give the same engine oil pressure under similar operating conditions."

http://www.citgo.com/Products/LubesOils/CITGOBrand/PassengerCar/MythsAboutEngineOils.jsp

 

[John in the ATL]

railball,

Go with the Amsoil ATM 10w30. I have used this in my 94 altima beater. It stayed in grade for a 9 month interval with a filter change in the middle. The analysis on it was much better than the ASL 5w30 that I used in the previous interval.

The Nissan 4 bangers seem to do better with 10w versus the 0w/5w synthetics.

 

[Pablo]

In most cases such as this it has to do more with cleaning at the pressure sender than the actual oil pressure itself.

Usually rectifies itself on the next oil change.

 

[LSVTEC 91 Civic]

My Oil pressure remained the same with Amsoil.

I'm running 26psi @ idle, 85psi@4000, and 100psi after 5k.