454 Oil pressure question
#1
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Joined: Sep 2008
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From: Austin, TX
330 hp 454 is about 40 idling when cold, then runs up to about 50-60 psi on takeoff, then after warms up 30-40 when cruising. when hot idling 10-20. about 100 hrs on engine.
The 454 in my 71 vette is 70-80 psi when cold, 60-70 when driving, 20-30 idling hot. not sure of miles on the engine.
I always heard rule of thumb 10 psi per 1000 rpm. sometimes at 4000rpm on the boat I am around 30 psi when hot.
This is with AMSoil 50 w synthetic. Should I be concerned.
The 454 in my 71 vette is 70-80 psi when cold, 60-70 when driving, 20-30 idling hot. not sure of miles on the engine.
I always heard rule of thumb 10 psi per 1000 rpm. sometimes at 4000rpm on the boat I am around 30 psi when hot.
This is with AMSoil 50 w synthetic. Should I be concerned.
#7
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From: Austin, TX
I've only owned the boat since June so I don't know how long its run this way. Prev owner said engine only has about 100 hrs on it. The boat was overpropped(25p), it was only hitting 4000rpm wot...so maybe he lugged it too much and shortened its life. I ractheted down to a 22p prop to make it a little easier on the motor.
#8
The only way to really know then is to pull the engine and pull it's oil pan. If you ran it easy, you might get a lot more time out of it. However, if you run it hard, you run the risk of sticking a rod out the side of the block. It's a lot cheaper to fix it before something breaks.
#9
I have also had people tell me that 50-60 at idle cold is OK and 10-20 idle hot is ok, I was not comfortable with that so I did mone, funny thing is that i have a friend that runs Merc 1075's and he has 52.2 cold and 15-25 hot, that is on a digital readout and all merc controlled.....I would think that is not enough but they are dry sump so maybe it is different, i assume Merc knows and they are 1075HP!!!!
#10
It's a good possibility that the engine was rebuilt with slightly larger clearences and just needs a higher volume oil pump.The Melling hv pump also has the bypass set for higher pressure than a lot of the Merc. original equipment. Unfortunately that means pulling the engine to check.



