Oil Pressure on 03 Viper

[Blown99c5]

I had the motor rebuilt in my Viper at under 30K miles, spun and stacked the bearing on #4. This happened at highway speeds at about 1400 RPMs. I have read tons of posts here and elsewhere where I see people say their Vipers ar holding huge oil pressure numbers. My does initially at start up but after the engine is warmed up it only holds about 6 lbs of oil pressure at idle. I thought this could have caused the motor to fail but I checked with the Viper Tech here in Las Vegas and he said that a 03 viper should hold 6 to 8 pounds of oil pressure at idle. Any thoughts? Is there a way to increase oil pressure in a Viper?? Thanks

Dennis

 

[99 R/T 10]

No Way, oil pressure should be way past 40 PSI. The Viper tech must have mis-understood or is a complete idiot. Even at idle after some hard driving, my pressure is at or near 40.

 

[plumcrazy]

should be more than that. you dont need more than 600-800 as thats what your idle is but ive never seen that low of an oil pressure.

what is the pressure when driving ?

are you sure the sending unit and gauge are good ?

 

[RedViperinMD]

6-8 pounds??? I think you may be missing a digit there. Please let us know if you find out any more on this issue, I'd be interested to see what people say. I don't think I've ever seen it below 40, but I'm not an expert.

 

[Blown99c5]

At 2000RPMs it holds about 40 lbs. I am going to take it to Dodge later this week and have them put an external gauge on it and check the pressure. If it is holding more pressure than my gauge is reading then have a new sensor/guage put in it. Just don't want to hurt my new motor at this point. Thanks

Dennis

 

[plumcrazy]

At 2000RPMs it holds about 40 lbs. I am going to take it to Dodge later this week and have them put an external gauge on it and check the pressure. If it is holding more pressure than my gauge is reading then have a new sensor/guage put in it. Just don't want to hurt my new motor at this point. Thanks

Dennis

40 lbs at 2k rpm is fine and good move on checking it

 

[99 R/T 10]

You might also want to check with the engine builder. It's possible he might have built the motor with large tolerances. If so, it will affect oil pressure. I think stock is .001-.002. If they built it with .003, it will have low oil pressure. Are you still using 5-30 oil?

 

[SquadX]

Mine would drop to 25 at idle sometimes but normally its pinged allll the way right (its rebuilt with paxton). My NA motor would remain 40ish when idle and drop to 30 once in a blue moon on the stock and rebuilt. both Gen2 cars though. Also, from my understanding the Gen3 should have higher oil pressure.

 

[SquadX]

You might also want to check with the engine builder. It's possible he might have built the motor with large tolerances. If so, it will affect oil pressure. I think stock is .001-.002. If they built it with .003, it will have low oil pressure. Are you still using 5-30 oil?

Concur..............

 

[JAY]

03 cars will have lower pressure, check previous posts in regards to why? 05 and 06 cars will have higher oil pressure. Arrow Racing Engines may be able to help you out? Jay

 

[Blown99c5]

10-30 Mobil 1

 

[Steve-Indy]

A little more on 2003 Viper oil pressures...which are not that low in my opinion:

http://forums.viperclub.org/srt10-srt10-coupe-discussions/615007-oil-pressure-question.html

Observed pressure readings and "oil distribution problems" are different issues!!!

 

[Martin]

If mine read 6psi at idle, I'd be worried... Supposedly, the 'minimum' acceptable pressure at idle is around 10psi from what I've heard, but even that seems crazy low. My Gen II never gets below 35 psi even at idle after very hard driving and with the A/C on. The Gen IV is still pretty much brand new, but I've never seen it drop below 45 or so. Even my old Bronco with close to 300,000 miles on it holds 30+ psi at idle with 10w40 oil in it. If your pressure goes up to normal at higher engine speeds, chances are that your gauge isn't too far off from reality.

I don't know how the oil pumps work on Gen III cars, but does anyone think that a possible cause could be a faulty pressure relief valve? I had that happen once on another car and I had scary low oil pressure.

Edit: have you changed the oil filter since the rebuild? I don't know how many miles you have on the car since the rebuild, but if you haven't changed the filter yet, that's a great place to start. Depending on the kind of assembly lube they used, and how clean the block was when they did the rebuild, you might have a plugged filter. The bypass valve in the filter "should" handle this problem, but I'd check it nonetheless...

 

[Viper Specialty]

03 cars will have lower pressure, check previous posts in regards to why? 05 and 06 cars will have higher oil pressure. Arrow Racing Engines may be able to help you out? Jay

Other way around. 03-04 cars have higher oil pressure, and most of them will see close to or over 50 pounds at HOT IDLE.

05-06 cars usually see 25-35 pounds at Hot Idle.

 

[Viper X]

My 01 is about 45 psi at hot idle. Running 10 w 30 with 38,000 miles.

My 04, when stock, was as Daniel states above, close to 50 at hot idle. 10 w 30 w 32,000 miles.

My 06 can get down to 25 - 30 at hot idle - like after coming off of the track with 0 w 40 with 20,000 miles

My 08 can get down to 40 ish at hot idle. 15 w 50 at 8,000 miles.

6 psi at hot idle is too low - something is not right.

Dan

 

[Newport Viper]

50ish here hot on 04 with 37,000 miles.. mobil one 0w 40

 

[Blown99c5]

Thanks for all the posts guys. I took your advise and talked with Todd from Arrow Racing Engines. He is telling me the PRV probably has some debris in it and is stuck. I have not driven it since the rebuild and am in the process of having the PRV cleaned, and they recommended puting one washer behind the spring on the PRV and that should increase my oil pressure. Will give a heads up next week after I get this done. He said it is also very important to run the Dodge Filter on the motor or at very least a Fram HP3. I'll let you all know next week what this does to my pressure. Thanks again all.

Dennis

 

[plumcrazy]

how does one clean the PRV ?

 

[Gary Weeks]

how does one clean the PRV ?

From the service manual:

(6) Inspect oil pressure relief valve for scoring and
free operation in its bore. Small marks may be
removed with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper.
(7) The relief valve spring has a free length of
approximately 68.7 mm (2.70 in.) and should test
between 22.5 and 27.5 pounds when compressed to
57 mm (2.24 in.). Replace spring that fails to meet
specifications.
(8) If oil pressure is low and pump is within specifications,
inspect for worn engine bearings or other
reasons for oil pressure loss.
ASSEMBLY
(1) Assemble pump using new parts as required.
(2) Install spring onto oil pressure relief valve.
(3) Lubricate oil pressure relief valve and spring
with clean engine oil.
(4) Install oil pressure relief valve and spring.
(5) Inspect relief valve plug o-ring. Replace as necessary.
Torque plug to 34 N·m (25 ft. lbs.) (Fig. 69)
(6) Install pump rotors with chamfer side to the
inside of chain case cover.
(7) Install oil pump cover and screws. Tighten
cover screws to 23 N·m (200 in. lbs.) (Fig. 68).
(8) Prime oil pump before installation by filling
rotor cavity with engine

 

[Martin]

I kind of had a feeling it was the pressure relief valve - at least I was hoping that was the case... When you get the valve out, make sure you take a look at any debris that's stuck in it. If you got a big metal shaving stuck in there, I'd have a little talk with my engine builder... They really should be cleaning the blocks out REALLY well before reassembling. Otherwise you can run into all kinds of problems later on (scored bearings, leaky lifters, plugged oil galleys, etc.).

 

[Blown99c5]

Update on my oil pressure issue. Had the PRV checked and put back togeather, still no oil pressure at guage at idle. Put an external gauge on to check oil pressure, 30 pounds at idle-go figure. Took the external guage off and re-connect, 30 pounds at idle on the guage in the dash. I ordered a new oil pressure sensor will install this afternoon, tomorrow AM, what a pain this has been, I guess bottom line is I really didn't have an oil pressure issue. THanks for all your posts brothers.

Dennis

 

[Darbgnik]

Thanks. A good reminder to check the easy stuff first, before going in deep.
I think we're all guilty of this more than we should.