Greetings hot weather Vanagonauts,

My 82 has a fairly new engine (3000 miles) is running 15 - 50 synthetic.  On
steep climbs or long freeway driving in the heat, my oil temp can go above
220.  I don't like to do that so I moderate my speed between 55 - 60 mph.
 Even then it can c,limb to undesirable levels.  When the temp goes high
like my oil pressure drops to under 20 psi  even at higher RPMs which freaks
me out.   I've experienced this twice now.  Then when I push  the clutch in,
 pressure drops  to almost  zero which I don't like at all.   So  I'm
thinking of switching back to castrol 20 50 which i used or years without
this much loss of pressure at temperature.     Cold engine oil pressure is
above 45 psi.  When its warm it pressure is steady around 32 PSI until it
gets hot, then it drops.  Thoughts from the oil gurus?.   Is it my oil pump?
  The oil I use?  Or just hot weather driving?   I don't think it did this
with Castrol 20 50.   Should I worry more?

Makes me want to get Cylinder head Temp (CHT) gauges to really start
freaking out.
Ken Wyatt
82 westy
SLC, UT

On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 9:22 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:
>
> How does your oil pressure respond to the conditions you describe below?
>  That is, does the oil pressure drop when you put the extra load on and the
> oil temperature increases above coolant temperature?  If it drops, does it
> drop to a level that would be undesirable?   When you are at load, and drop
> back to idle, what happens to oil pressure -- how low does it go?
>
> Thanks, mcneely
>
>