low oil presure in Lancia HPE

[Yoni]

Hi all

I will realy need your advice here...I have Lancia HPE 1600 83' and when i start the car the oil preasure is in the middle but after 10 - 15 min (usaully after i turn right) the oil preasure drops near the read zone and if i take a fast right turn the lamp goes on! ....the oil amount is on the max and I use the standart type 50/30 and the engine had an overhull 30.000 ago. I really dont want to remove the engine carter to get to the pump cuz its very hard job so do you have any advice?

thank you very much,
Yoni.

[Hamish]

Yes - sell it now.....
But seriously folks: sounds like the oil pump is on the way out - sorry
I don't think that's the right oil you've mentioned, but I can't remember off the top of my head what it should be but I'd bet on it being SAE multigrade 15/40 (pretty much standard for 'twinks'). It could be that as you're in a warm climate (Israel if I remember right?) the SAE rated oil is different, but I'd have thought a 15/40 would cope up to around 35-40 degrees. Someone might know better ofcourse.
How are you measuring the oil level? If you're doing it from the dashboard push button 'tell-tale' do NOT rely on that as a guide, the manual test isn't much better..... I tended to drain the oil out and make sure put the right amount back in. Laborious but then you know you've got it right.
What you could try is warming the engine up as usual then reving it up to around 5-6000 rpm for 15-20 seconds (if you're brave) having first checked the oil level is right..... What this does is - hopefully - free off any dirt that has accumulated around the pressure relied valve. Let the revs drop again and take it for a spin. If the pressure is still low then I suspect you have oil pump or big end trouble.
It's always worth fitting a properly baffled sump, expensive if you buy in but if you're 'handy' not that hard to make up. It;s not a cure for the problem but it will let your engine live a bit longer.....
Hope this helps.
Hamish

[Eitan]

I wont think I will sell yet ....but you know what when i bring the engine to 5000rpm the oil preasure is getting better but after a few min its back again on the min....maybe there is dert in that danm pump

thank you very much.

[idan]

well, i see that low oil pressure is a common problem in israel...
my beta coupe suffers from it too. the pump is just weak.
i managed to help it a bit by changing the oil to a good 20W50, and topping it a bit above the MAX level.
according to the one and only local beta specialist (pini), there is a good clearence between the MAX
level and the crank, so it's no problem - any comments on it?

i thought about adding an oil cooler, but i'm not sure that the lowering the temperature will not even out with
the added tubing drag in terms of oil level.

the problem as i see it is low availability of parts.
anyone wants to join in on an oil pump order? we may get a better price that way.

[Johnny Keppelman]

Let me add my two cents. Unless your engine is in pretty bad shape, very high miles or very infrequent oil changes, my guess is that the oil dender for the the dashboard guage is the problem. They are unbelievably crude little bellows designs and quit sending accurately after a few years. Get a new one and install it. I had to do that with my '81. Getting a red light on righthand turns is common with the now Scorpion/Monte Betas if you are turning hard enough. I took mine through race schools and saw the same thing. As Hammish says, only a well baffled pan/sump will change that. Install the Monte Carlo one or build one or ignore the problem. While I don't often drive that hard, the red light I did see in racing schools doesn't seem to have hurt my car. The cooler wont change anything because if you are using a 20-50 the remps shouldn't effect viscosity enough to change pressure. I'd say the first things to change is the old oil pressure sender to the gauge.

[Randy Adams]

I can confirm John's comments about the oil pressure sender. I have lost track of how many times I have changed this part on my 1981 2000 model. It is once again giving absurdly low readings. If the engine was actually putting out that little oil pressure, the motor would have seized on my recent highway jaunt on Christmas day.

Fiat actually dropped the oil pressure gauge on the 2000 series 124 Spider, obviously because they got tired of the complaints.

I do not remember having this problem with the oil senders in the smaller-engined Lampredi twin cam cars, including one 1976 Beta and several Fiat 124 Sports.

I recommend that you have a mechanic attach a shop oil pressure reader to confirm that the engine is fine. Buy a new oil sender for your peace of mind.

[Yoni]

Hi Idan

I dont think that the problem is in the oil pump because as you said the low oil preasure problem is prety common and I have been told that the low preasure problem could be also because of worn bushes in the engine...I dont think that the unit is fault because we have 2 units one is the red light and one is the guage...in fast breaks or right turns also the light turns on for 1 or 2 sec.

Idan I will be happy to talk to you about Lancia stuff so you have my e-mail and I hope you will write.

thanks,
Yoni.