Oil Pressure/wrong filter - re-post from last forum


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Posted by Matt Wilson on Monday, January 31, 2005 at 11:10AM :

This is a re-visit of the topic posted last forum, right before the re-fresh. Tom Petroff mentioned that his oil pressure went almost to nothing when he changed his oil filter. He discovered that his new oil filter did not have an o-ring at the top where it slides over the post in the filter housing. When he installed a filter with an o-ring, his pressure went back up to where it should be.

I have had a low oil pressure problem for some time now, and it showed up after an oil change. Although I noticed the low pressure soon after the oil change, I never suspected the oil filter to be the problem. I mean the filter is simple enough, is it not? However, my new filter does not have the o-ring. So on Saturday, I searched around locally, but was unable to find one with the o-ring. I came home and tried an experiment, pinching off the rubber inlet line going into the filter housing to simulated restriction of the missing o-ring. Amazingly, the pressure jumped from 5 psi at hot idle to 40 psi.

My engine is a recent, thorough rebuild with something like 6000 miles on it, and I meticulously checked all clearances during assembly, followed all lube and assembly procedures, etc., including the proper installation of the filter and pressure relief valve, so I don't think there is anything wrong in that respect. I believe it must be the filter.

I looked at the picture posted by GTK last forum, showing the flow of oil with the relief valve closed and then open, and I'm sure mine is installed right.

To me it seems apparent that having the right filter is critical to maintaining oil pressure, and yet Vaughn mentioned that none of the filter companies are making the filters with o-rings anymore - this is disturbing. If it comes down to it, I'll remove the filter from my engine in order to keep the pressures up.

I'm surprised I haven't seen more about this kind of situation happening to other Chrysler flathead 6 owners. If it has affected Tom and me, I would think it's probably going to affect a lot of others sooner or later.

Can relief valves wear out, allowing oil to pass through extra-large clearances around the valve?

Are different relief valves used on engines with or without filters? If so, maybe my filter was an aftermarket addition, but the person who installed it did not use the right valve??

Any other suggestions, experiences, etc.? I've got to figure out what's going on here.


Matt



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