My driveway consists of a '79 Midget (140K on unrebuilt engine) and a
'92 Totota pickup (Morris pickups were NLA :-)
I put a mechanical oil gauge in the Midget 20K miles ago. At that time,
oil pressure was 80 cold, 50 hot, 25 idle. Now it is down to 70 cold,
40 hot, 20 idle, and occassionally drops to 10 idle if I foul a plug
and it idles rough. Engine is coming out this winter, so it will be
interesting to see what the bearing wear is. I last looked at the mains
when I put in the gauge, and they were OK.
The oil pressure gauge in my brand new pickup reads close to zero at hot
idle. I talked to the dealer and some friends who are Toyota mechanics
and they said this was normal. I am running Mobil 1 in the truck.
My last pickup was also a Totota, a '78 which I bought new. I used Mobil 1
in this from 5K miles on. (If it's good enough for Smokey Yunick, it's
good enough for me.) I finally replaced the truck when the _frame_ rusted
out at 150K miles. The engine still ran like new.
I run Castrol in the Midget (to minimize oil consumption), but I'm planning
to use a synthetic after the rebuilt engine breaks in.
timd@ptltd.com (Tim Dziechowski - Phoenix Technologies - Cambridge, Mass)
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