high oil pressure problems

[ErikW]

I'm getting a little frustrated in trying to find detailed instructions of how to port a hole in the oil filter housing near the pressure relief valve. I've searched for 2.5 hrs to find info on this. I can only find comments of people doing this. No additional info on how and where this is done exactly. No pictures or adequate descriptions in any way.
If you have done this before with good results. Please reply with DETAILED info. (preferably pics as well) I do not want to mess up an (expensive) perfectly good housing if I do it wrong.
thank you!

[ErikW]

I think I might have found an affective picture. However, I wonder if this is excessive? Anyone?
http://www.utdsm.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album12&id=beforeafter
...Although. I've also read that this porting just may prevent the engine from priming as quick as opposed to it's original intent. Either way. I got to do something about this high oil pressure. It's not safe. The gauge is reading 80+% at high rpms.

[Van]

That's the pic I have saved as well. Maybe just port it a little less and see what you get. Keep track of the before and after psi readings and take pics too.

[sbiggi]

I ported my brothers, but not anything close to the picture. I basically oblonged the hole a bit and made it slighty wider.

His high oil pressure ended being cause by silicon clogging the stuff in the head. Some of the lifters had silicon coming out of them and the jets on the end of the gallies had silicon coming out.

After fixing that his pressure dropped back to 75 psi max.

[dsm_gsx97]

I posted about this same thing in my thread today. Didn't realize you had a thread open already about it Erik. I've visually seen what you have to do, but haven't seen pictures myself. Hopefully someone answers this for us. :)

http://co.dsm.org/forums/showthread.php?t=69

[ErikW]

If your oil pressure is increasingly getting to be a concern, then think about the unfortunate possibility that it may not be the cause of removing the balance shafts. It may be possible that some debris is clogging flow. ...At least for me. I can not believe this. I consider to be more anal than the majority when it comes to preventive care. And I don't mean this to be a valued trait all the time. I take lots of time to try to do things the right way by looking over things inventively. And more than once. Although, I do find things I wouldn't have if I had skipped along.
My point. I have found that there was some rubber glove debris in my oil a while ago!! I have NO IDEA how it got there. Needless to say I was not happy. This was a few oil changes and months ago. But there may be more inside the engine that I'm not aware of. So I'll be inspecting this oil, oil housing and cooler as much as I can without tearing down the block for this.
If there is any more restriction due to debris, I can only think of a couple places that it would clog. If the debris is relatively small, it could be:
The oil squirters under the piston: (Guys I'd keep them in there! Don't plug'em the piston gets cooled/lubed that way!)
The relief valve:
The oil cooler.
The oil filter.
Lash adjusters.
There may be some oil gallies in question but not as much as these areas, I wouldn't think.
Anyone else can think of some other potential points to check on oil restriction?
I will be taking pics again. I mush have a few dozen how-to pics I wish I could post. Maybe some day I'll grow up to be a proud owner of a website. :)

[ErikW]

...Also. I do not have an after market gauge. I've been going off the extremely high readings that the stock gauge is showing. (~80% 6k+rpms)
Yes it would be a good thing to have, but it's also a money issue too. I never thought I'd need it.
For those who have an oil pressure gauge. What are the psi readings read in relation to where the stock oil pressure needle reads? That may tell me something anyway. If you still have it plugged in. I would be very curious!
I can go by previous (normal) readings and when I raced the car, it read usually 65% up on the needle. And at idle at about 30%. After rebuild, with the balance shafts removed. 20% idle and about 80% racing and climbing.
ew

[dsm_gsx97]

...Also. I do not have an after market gauge. Yes it would be a good thing to have, but it's also a money issue too. I never thought I'd need it.

Gotta rub you here. :D It's $45 for a Autometer electric oil presure gauge. Not too expensive when you've just paid big money on a new motor. Go get one already! The stock gauges are a joke.

If you go to summit and order a oil pressure gauge from them today and you'll have it by Thursday.

I don't have this issue though. I more or less am just covering all my bases before I get my block together so I can solve my issues with high oil pressure before they happen becaues of a high pressure oil pump.

[ErikW]

Gotta rub you here. :D It's $45 for a Autometer electric oil pressure gauge.
:p Sure. (said in jest) Just like the boost gauge the one for fuel pressure, the one for my EGT's, WBo2, Knock set from DSM Link, DSM Link itself, on and on and... :D
I honestly think you better have one if you have constant issues or an after market pump. But otherwise you really can not control pressure as you can everything else in a "tuner" type function. So I'd have to say that a gauge is a necessity to the point of needing to bring oil pressure back in it's normal operating range. Passed that. A simple gauge telling you are within normal parameters is sufficient for me. Like the stock one. I don't need to know if I'm at 20psi vs. 40psi and worry about it while driving. Nor could I do anything about it unless I tear the car back down every time.
Personally, I think my line is drawn here as far as gauges on the dash and having to monitor this while driving. I'd MUCH rather keep my eyes on the road. ... Unless there's a gauge for showing how many obstacles my car dematerialized while running off the road. :rolleyes:

I seriously am wondering though. Does anyone know what their stock gauge reads for 6k rpm and up for oil pressure?

[XakEp]

I've actually done this. It works.

[ErikW]

Good to hear ...and how much difference did you notice, Quinn?

[Mr. Moose]

I've also read that this porting just may prevent the engine from priming as quick as opposed to it's original intent.

How would that be? The pressure relief valve is normally closed, and the larger port is not relieving ANY pressure until the valve opens. The only function of the porting is to relieve an obstruction that keeps the oil pressure from being properly relieved by the pressure relief valve when it works properly and opens when the pressure gets too high.

[BlueVelocity]

How would that be? The pressure relief valve is normally closed, and the larger port is not relieving ANY pressure until the valve opens. The only function of the porting is to relieve an obstruction that keeps the oil pressure from being properly relieved by the pressure relief valve when it works properly and opens when the pressure gets too high.

Agreed. Allow me to toss in another thought because that picture just scares me. I've had these valves stick before. (probably remember me banging on the oil housing at the Chatfield picnic Erik) I wouldn't port it that large. How does that hole compare to the pickup tube? There certainly wouldn't be any need to go larger than that.

Erron S.

[XakEp]

Good to hear ...and how much difference did you notice, Quinn?

It went from "am I going to float bearings" to normal. My advice is to make the hole a little bigger than it is already (since youre still on a 2L) and you should be fine. I used a drill press on mine.

[DsmRacing]

I apologize for bringing up an old thread, but I am currently dealing with this same issue and has caused my car to be down for 6 months or so. I was running high oil pressure for a while, in excess of 100psi or damn close while on it, and idling at 30psi or so as opposed to the normal below 20psi. Anyhow, eventually, it blew my oil pump gear seal out and leaked horribly. I've replaced it 2X hoping that was the issue, but was not, worked for a little while and then same thing (oil everywhere). When I did a half rebuild, I replaced all gaskets, timing belt, bs removal, head gasket, etc..., and I also ported the relief valve, no problems. I bought a new front case and plan to install it this weekend, but I am worried that this will not actually fix my problem. How do I figure out if I have a oil passage blocked? Anything that I can use (chemical, tool) etc?? Do I port the relieve valve larger? I live in Florida now, and when I got here, I had all types of problems. High idle, fixed that, tuning sucks, still sucks, and now high oil pressure and oil pressure leak.

Any and all tips is much appreciated,

Thanks,
Chad

[rlarsen]

So are you saying you still have high oil pressure problems after porting the relief?

[mpdeneen]

So for a 2L with an idle pressure of about 25psi and a WOT pressure of 100+, how far should I port this? If I'm going to tear into this, I'd like to do it once...

-M

[Wazzelby]

I think I might have found an affective picture. However, I wonder if this is excessive? Anyone?
http://www.utdsm.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=album12&id=beforeafter


Holy crap that's alot of porting!!! I don't think I would go even half that size. You do need some pressure in your motor!

[Kibo]

The size of the ported hole does not affect the oil pressure at which the piston opens; that is controlled by the spring pressure. What the ported hole does affect is how much oil can bypass the piston once the pressure has overcome the spring.

[DsmRacing]

Alright, I am a little pissed now. I replaced the oil pump gears, front case, all gaskets and seals are new, and I didn't find anything in the pan, the girdle, block, oil filter assembly. I also enlarged the hole a little bit, and I still have high oil pressure. I am at a loss as what to do, or how to trouble shoot this thing. I also have a new pcv valve. I plan to pull the valve cover and see if I can find a chunk of rtv or something in it. ANY IDEAS? I need some suggestions.

Chad
97 GSX

[Kibo]

I've been meaning to post these photos for quite a while:

Oil Filter Adapter Porting (http://www.shiftedthinking.com/erik/Oil%20Filter%20Adapter%20Porting/)

The first few pics are a comparison of before/after porting. The unported adapter happens to be for a forward-facing filter, but that has no bearing here.

The gauge cluster pics show "high" oil pressure--that is, this is the highest the gauge has shown in several months of driving, including at full boost and 6k+ RPM. The last photo shows my oil pressure at idle.

What you don't see in the photos is my oil pressure prior to this level of porting. With "light" porting, the oil pressure when cruising would sit at the second tick mark (the one just before the 'H' mark)! This is on a 190k+ motor with balance shafts removed. The front case and oil pump were replaced with OEM parts ~10k miles before the balance shaft removal. The effect of this excessively high oil pressure was seen at the turbo CHRA, resulting in lots of oil in the intake (I poured 8+ oz. out of the SMIC!).

The oil pressures still seem a bit high to me, especially at idle; but without a "real" oil pressure gauge, there's no way to know for sure.

Hope this is useful to someone!

[MHT]

Disregard if not applicable:

My Autometer elec. oil pressure gauge reads 80-90psi cold idle start-up, about 20-30psi warm idle, and stayed pegged at 100psi hot/sustained WOT(on the Salt) on 20W-50 Syntec.

With 10W-40 Syntec, its 60-70psi cold idle start-up, 12-20psi warm idle, and 80-90psi hot/short-duration WOT(street/highway).

Don't know what weight oil you're running, but you might try a lower visocity oil to see what OP reduction that would make in your engine.

James
Mile High Talon
148+

[Kibo]

Ah, yes--I forgot to mention that I'm running 10W40 dino oil (I've learned my lesson about switching from dino to synthetic on a high mileage motor).

Since my last post I've found that the high oil pressure wasn't the cause of my smokescreen. Of all things, it was due to cold temperatures! How, you ask? For some reason I had excessive condensation in my crankcase breather, which would freeze when the mercury dropped. With no place to go, the crankcase pressure due to blowby (worn rings on a 190+k motor, remember) would push oil out the turbo. Thawed/emptied/dried the crankcase breather filter and catchcan, and haven't had a problem since.

For the record, do you have your balance shafts removed, James?

[MHT]

I've changed the TB 5 times but never saw much point in pulling the balance shafts out. Figure the engineers and bean counters wouldn't have put them in if they were useless.

James