454 with low oil pressure

[AJ Heuvel]

Hi there, new to the club. I have a 89’ 268 with a 7.4 454, when im running 3400-3800 my oil pressure is only hitting 30psi? Should it not be higher? At idle it sits around 20psi? Suggestions

 

[kevin27]

Sounds ok to me. I think the 454s ran a little lower oil pressure. Does it run good? Knocking?
20psi at idle is just fine. I wouldn't worry.

 

[Juliery]

Hi there, new to the club. I have a 89’ 268 with a 7.4 454, when im running 3400-3800 my oil pressure is only hitting 30psi? Should it not be higher? At idle it sits around 20psi? Suggestions

Yeah, Kevin is right. We have a 454 and the cruising oil pressure is a bit higher but nothing wrong with 20 - 30 psi. The oil will get where it needs to be.

 

[Thornton69]

Have you checked it with a mechanical gauge? The OEM gauge can be reading high or low. Sounds like you are in an area I would not want to be assuming anything.

 

[AJ Heuvel]

Sounds ok to me. I think the 454s ran a little lower oil pressure. Does it run good? Knocking?
20psi at idle is just fine. I wouldn't worry.

Yeah it runs great, just didnt seem right to me

 

[AJ Heuvel]

Have you checked it with a mechanical gauge? The OEM gauge can be reading high or low. Sounds like you are in an area I would not want to be assuming anything.

Yeah given the boats age, i may go down that road to be sure

 

[AJ Heuvel]

Yeah, Kevin is right. We have a 454 and the cruising oil pressure is a bit higher but nothing wrong with 20 - 30 psi. The oil will get where it needs to be.

Great thank you

 

[sbw1]

Our 370 Express had noticeably lower oil pressure on its port engine. This was on a new boat that I owned for 11 years. That engine was always lower. The mechanic looked at it when the boat was new and said don’t worry about it. The pressure was high enough and it was probably just variation in the gauges. We switched to 40 weight oil after the boat was a few years old and the port engine pressure did not change much if at all. It passed a mechanical survey in 2004 with flying colors.

 

[AJ Heuvel]

View attachment 101745
Our 370 Express had noticeably lower oil pressure on its port engine. This was on a new boat that I owned for 11 years. That engine was always lower. The mechanic looked at it when the boat was new and said don’t worry about it. The pressure was high enough and it was probably just variation in the gauges. We switched to 40 weight oil after the boat was a few years old and the port engine pressure did not change much if at all. It passed a mechanical survey in 2004 with flying colors.

Thanks for the positive input, sounds to me like i shouldnt have too much to worry about

 

[northern]

One of our 454 was reading low at the gauge. Changed the sending unit it went up 20 PSI.