Scott,
Great info. My TR3 has low pressure when hot, but easily hits the relief
valve when cold. I do not, however blow any blue smoke. I have recently
started hearing a rattling noise which I do not "yet" attribute to the
oil pressure, but I anticipate going into the bottom end this winter. I
will keep the list informed as the what I find, to add to the knowledge
available on the invaluable resource.
Jack Brooks
Hillsdale, New Jersey
1960 TR3-A, TS69032L
'74 Norton Commando Roadster
JIBrooks@Juno.com
On Wed, 27 Nov 1996 03:19:45 -0500 TR4guyinVA@aol.com writes:
>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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