dying oil pump?

[jt15833]

i got around 15psi of oil pressure at idle and 50+ at 3000rpm, then I was playing around and when the motor would go over 7000rpm the oil pressure would jump anywhere between 50 and 75 really quickly, so i let off. This happened twice. I was on a normal 15-40 oil, non synthetic. After this oil pressure at idle appeared to be 5, just real low on the gauge. At 3000rpm i'd be lucky to get 40psi. Im not sure if this is because I used a base oil and pressure is just low because I had just beaten on the motor, or if my 7000 rpm runs killed my pump. Im going to switch to a 20w50 synthetic tomorrow and see where things are at, but does these sound like the symptoms on a dying oil pump? My real concern is because theres a race saturday and if my oil pump is going, you guys think it could die when I beat on the motor at the race?

[Dattebayo]

I am confused as to why you are using a higher viscosity oil rather than a lower viscosity one. Is there something I missed?

As far as I know, nissan engines are rated for use with 5W-30, not 15W-40...

[redamnavit]

Manufacturers often run/recommend lower viscosity oil to eek out a little better MPG in testing. You may lose a small amount of HP using the 40W oil but (unless its freezing where you are) you're not hurting anything and may be adding a bit of protection.

Sorry, I don't know enough about the oil pump to give a useful answer to the OPs question.

[float_6969]

5-30W in a turbo motor is a joke. As per PalmerWD, (he's an admin. and our local oil GURU) never use anything less than 40W in a turbo motor, unless it gets, and stays very cold where you're at. He's in Kentuky and runs mobile1 0-40W. When I switch back over to synthetic, I plan on doing the same. I'm currently running 15-40W on mine w/o any problems. When I went down to a 5-30W, I started leaking oil past the oil seals on the turbo. When I switched back up to a 40W, it stopped.

[float_6969]

Sorry, as for the oil pump, it doesn't sound good. If it was my car, I would forgo the race this weekend, and spend that time, finding the cause of the problem. You may want to pull the oil pan and see if the screen on the sump is plugged up.