Oil pressure probs? do you know what's going on?

[BlackZenki82]

like the title says, I'm having some oil PSI reading probs... so let's start from the beginning shall we??

okay, so when i first got my motor, a S13 SR20DET blacktop, i had put in my autometer Cobalt Oil PSI gauge, as well as a few others... either, way, just letting you know what i have. i've noticed over the past few days of driving 50 miles a day while moving to and from my new place that my oil psi seems to be dropping... at first on the interstate, it usually read around 50-55PSI cruising @ around 75mph. Yesterday, i noticed it on my return trip dropping to about 45-50 cruising... now this monring, on the way here, i dropped all the way to 40psi @ 3.25k rpm/75mph... and another weird thing is the oil pressure DROPS when under boost, or acceleration, but goes back up to 40psi once cruising... also, i've noticed a bit of oil on the back of my car, bumper, tail lights, back of trunk lid. i do have 3 oil leaks, all minor, one is on the NPT fitting for the gauge, one is the rear of my oilpan (bolts stripped in upper pan, already have another pan to replace), and the third is on my oil feed for my turbo... now these are all "light" leaks, overnight, i'm left with a spot about the size of a dollar bill, some of which is my PS fluid (to me that's not that bad hahahah)....

as a side note, i'm running Rotella 15w40 oil (recently recommended to replace my Mobil1 10w30 to help clean engine and raise PSI)

so to recap, for those who don't like to read...

oil pressure getting lower and lower every day, 40psi on highwayoil pressure drops when under boost, raises back up when cruising3 minor oil leaksoil/misc wetness on back of caroil pressure @ 15psi at idle (been like that for a while, was usually at 20psi till i ran it at the track one night)

so, as we stand, my theories are that it's either-

A-oil pump is giving outB-Rings are going out, yet i have ZERO smoke out of my exhaust, i mean NONEC-leaks are worse under load, and need to be repaired ASAP

i'm getting a new S14 on monday, and will be swapping the SR out of my current S14 into the new car, so as i have the motor out, it will provide easier access to repair, replace, rebuild if needed...

just looking for opinions from you guys as to what it might be, i do all work on my car, and pride myself on it, and very rarely ask for help.... later today, i'll do a comp test if i feel safe enough after going over it as soon as it cools down enough to fix a couple of the leaks.

thanks guys!!!

[BlackZenki82]

god i feel like such a n00b for not doing work before i post.... see what being lazy does?

either way, i got it figured out... the crush sleeve in the NPT fitting didn't seat right when i first installed the oil PSI gauge... it seated crooked actually, causeing a hole in the oil line... here's the pic...

bad sleeve/section of line that was leaking on the left, new 1/8 crush sleeve on the right

SO, i figured out why my oil pressure was dropping too... since i was spewing so much oil out of this line, it actually drained 90% of my Rotella... i pulled the dipstick, and just the very tip tip tip had a dab of oil on it... and that was probably from sliding down the tube.. so what I'm going to do is nurse the car to wal-mart (it's right across the street), get some more Rotella, top it off, and go for a test drive to make sure that's what was up with my lack of pressure/excessive leaking...this is the Second time my oil pressure gauge has saved my motor.....

i'll let ya guys know what's up....
Modified by BlackZenki82 at 12:53 PM 5/7/2009

[BlackZenki82]

that crush sleeve was the problem... oil PSI is up to normal, idle, cruise, and interstate speed