I get nervous when my oil pressure stays above 40, as it does sometimes
when it is very cold. I worry that the relief valves are not opening
correctly. On the road, fully warmed up, my dual relief valve 1600 engines 
run between 30 and 40 psi. At idle the pressure drops to 20--lower if really 
hot. I had an engine once that dropped to under 5 psi at idle when it was hot. 
After checking the relief valves, changing the pump, and changing the oil 
cooler, I decided that the bearings must be worn. That engine was also very 
noisy.

Another thing, a mistake that the previous owner of my blue van made, one that
caused the engine to fail, was to hook up the smog equipment wrong. He had
it set up so that air pressure from the fan was routed through the 
carbon canister, and from there into the block via the port on the 
generator pedestal by the oil filler cap. The result was very high oil 
pressure, which was really air pressure! The engine always leaked
out the valve cover gaskets and the main seal.

J. Robert Lee, Ph.D.
jrl@netcom.com
'68 bug
'71 blue bus with sunroof
'71 blue and white bus with sunroof
'72 super beetle